{"id":572,"date":"2017-04-07T01:39:27","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T01:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshmitteldorf.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=572"},"modified":"2017-04-07T01:39:27","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T01:39:27","slug":"is-fasting-senolytic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2017\/04\/07\/is-fasting-senolytic\/","title":{"rendered":"Is fasting senolytic?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I am finishing a four-day fast today. \u00a0In the hope of synergizing senolytic modalities, I took 2.5 g of quercetin last night and another 2.5 g this morning. \u00a0I don\u2019t take quercetin regularly, because studies in mice show that daily administration <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=0B97CJJ5YOfctZ1NBOXFsX2NMZW8\">doesn\u2019t lengthen lifespan<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/0531556582900274\">may shorten it<\/a>. \u00a0But for the present, quercetin is the most readily-available senolytic agent we have. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s my speculation that fasting might prime senescent cells for elimination, in the same way that fasting has been shown to <a href=\"http:\/\/stm.sciencemag.org\/content\/4\/124\/124ra27.short\">prime cancer cells for elimination<\/a> by chemotherapy or radiation. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluezones.com\/2016\/04\/fasting-for-longevity\/\">Valter Longo<\/a> has been at the center of the latter research, and he tells me that he is testing the senolytic hypothesis now, with no results yet.<\/p>\n<p>Quercetin is a flavonol found in many vegetables and fruits, especially capers, radishes, cilantro and onions.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/81\/Quercetin.svg\/250px-Quercetin.svg.png\" width=\"250\" height=\"168\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Quercetin by itself has been found to be only a weak senolytic in mice, and it has not yet been tested in humans. \u00a0It is somewhat better when <a href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2015\/03\/13\/kill-senescent-cells-before-they-kill-you\/\">combined with dasatinib<\/a>, but dasatinib is highly toxic and not something I would experiment with based on current knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>People have asked about my fasting discipline. \u00a0I answer that different people have vastly different experiences, and you won\u2019t know until you try for yourself. \u00a0I fast regularly one day a week, and when I take on a longer fast there is often a hump to get over on the second day, sometimes headaches and malaise. \u00a0I use enema to clear the colon on the second day, and often this seems to help. \u00a0I take caffeine daily while fasting, which is more than in my regular life.<\/p>\n<p>The chief complaint I have after the second day is that I am too mellow, content to lie in bed. \u00a0No restlessness during sitting meditation. \u00a0Time slips by, and I feel no urgency about accomplishing anything. \u00a0I read things I might not otherwise find time for. \u00a0I go for long walks and entertain wide-ranging thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am finishing a four-day fast today. \u00a0In the hope of synergizing senolytic modalities, I took 2.5 g of quercetin last night and another 2.5 g this morning. \u00a0I don\u2019t take quercetin regularly, because studies in mice show that daily administration doesn\u2019t lengthen lifespan, and may shorten it. \u00a0But for the present, quercetin is the &#8230; <a title=\"Is fasting senolytic?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2017\/04\/07\/is-fasting-senolytic\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Is fasting senolytic?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is fasting senolytic? - Josh Mitteldorf<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2017\/04\/07\/is-fasting-senolytic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is fasting senolytic?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am finishing a four-day fast today. \u00a0In the hope of synergizing senolytic modalities, I took 2.5 g of quercetin last night and another 2.5 g this morning. \u00a0I don\u2019t take quercetin regularly, because studies in mice show that daily administration doesn\u2019t lengthen lifespan, and may shorten it. \u00a0But for the present, quercetin is the ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2017\/04\/07\/is-fasting-senolytic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Josh Mitteldorf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-07T01:39:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/81\/Quercetin.svg\/250px-Quercetin.svg.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Mitteldorf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Mitteldorf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/07\\\/is-fasting-senolytic\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/07\\\/is-fasting-senolytic\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Mitteldorf\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/214c5d1dad9f15c48f03128d5cfccdb1\"},\"headline\":\"Is fasting senolytic?\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-07T01:39:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/07\\\/is-fasting-senolytic\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":328,\"commentCount\":54,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/07\\\/is-fasting-senolytic\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/upload.wikimedia.org\\\/wikipedia\\\/commons\\\/thumb\\\/8\\\/81\\\/Quercetin.svg\\\/250px-Quercetin.svg.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/07\\\/is-fasting-senolytic\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2017\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/07\\\/is-fasting-senolytic\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/07\\\/is-fasting-senolytic\\\/\",\"name\":\"Is fasting senolytic? 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. This makes the mechanism challenging to understand and to model. more at http:\\\/\\\/mathforum.org\\\/~josh\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/AgingAdvice.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/author\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is fasting senolytic? - Josh Mitteldorf","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2017\/04\/07\/is-fasting-senolytic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is fasting senolytic?","og_description":"I am finishing a four-day fast today. \u00a0In the hope of synergizing senolytic modalities, I took 2.5 g of quercetin last night and another 2.5 g this morning. \u00a0I don\u2019t take quercetin regularly, because studies in mice show that daily administration doesn\u2019t lengthen lifespan, and may shorten it. \u00a0But for the present, quercetin is the ... 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. 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