What is Autophagy
Christian de Duve, the scientist behind the discovery of the lysosome, coined the term autophagy, “self-eating”, to describe this process. The new vesicles were named autophagosomes.
Who invented Autophagy – Japanese Nobal Price winning Prof Yoshinori Ohsumi in 2016
In the lysosomes of our cells its components are processed for reuse. The mechanisms of this process were mostly unknown until the early 1990s, when Yoshinori Ohsumi conducted a series of groundbreaking experiments with yeast, where he detected autophagy and identified genes important for the process
Autophagy is a process by which cellular components are captured into organelles called autophagosomes and then brought to the lysosome or vacuole to be broken down and recycled for other uses. It frequently comes into play during starvation, allowing cells to survive periods of privation. Yoshinori Ohsumi.
What food increase autophagy?
Coffee, green tea, turmeric, ginger, Ceylon cinnamon, ginseng, garlic, certain mushrooms (chaga and reishi), pomegranate and elderberries are all known to increase autophagy.
They found that autophagy, a cell-cleaning process, kicks in after fasting, but only when fasting occurs during the night. Autophagy (Greek for self-eating) is known to slow aging by cleaning up and recycling damaged components of the cell
Research suggests that autophagy and fasting go hand in hand, as you can ramp up the autophagic process by limiting your eating window. So, by simply not eating for an extended period of time, you can kickstart your body’s natural detoxification process
Cells use autophagy to get rid of damaged proteins and organelles, to counteract the negative effects of ageing on the body.
In addition to exercise or restrictive eating, intermittent fasting is one of the best ways to induce autophagy. However, waiting just a few hours between meals does not translate to immediate autophagy time. Your body requires low liver glycogen to enter this phase, which requires a 14 to 16-hour fast.
Coconut oil eases your hunger and stimulates autophagy by increasing ketone levels — especially in the absence of carbs.
“We found that olive oil reduces brain inflammation but most importantly activates a process known as autophagy,” explained senior investigator Domenico Praticò, MD, Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Microbiology and the Center for Translational Medicine at LKSOM.
Can you feel autophagy?
While it may be difficult to properly measure autophagy, here are some signs of autophagy: Low blood glucose – When your blood sugar drops, your body raises cortisol, growth hormones, and ketones. This can enable the beginning of autophagy. Elevated ketones – As your blood sugar lowers, your ketones elevate
Does cinnamon stimulate autophagy?
Super antioxidant-rich spice cinnamon, renowned for its blood sugar lowering actions, has also been shown increase autophagy.
Can you drink lemon water during a fasting (Lemon water is alkaline and hence can prevent gastrisis)?
Fasting involves abstaining from eating for a given period for weight loss, religious, medical, or other purposes. Considering its low calorie content, plain lemon water will not break your fast in most cases.
According to some researchers, fasting for 10–16 hours can cause the body to turn its fat stores into energy, which releases ketones into the bloodstream. This should encourage weight loss. This type of intermittent fasting plan may be a good option for beginners.
Can sleeping be considered as fasting?
While you sleep, you’re not consuming any food or drinks, so you’re actually in a completely fasted state.
Cancer treatment with autophagy
In some circumstances, autophagy protects tumor cells from cancer therapy while, in others it is associated with cancer cell killing. Modulation of autophagy may represent an important therapeutic opportunity to enhance the efficacy of anticancer therapies.
Autophagy is reported to be mainly involved in promoting cancer cell motility.
Prof M T R Jayasinghe,
Senior Professor,
University of Moratuwa,
Sri Lanka.
