10/05/2023
What is autophagy? (Part 2)
Autophagy is essential for a cell to survive and function.
1. Recycles damaged cell parts into fully functioning cell parts.
2. Gets rid of nonfunctional cell parts that take up space and slow performance.
3. Destroys pathogens in a cell that can damage it, like viruses and bacteria
Autophagy plays an important role when it comes to aging and longevity, too. As a person ages, autophagy decreases, which can lead to a build-up of cellular junk parts and, in turn, cells that aren’t functioning at their best.
Inducing autophagy
You can induce autophagy by stressing your cells to send them into survival mode. You can induce autophagy through:
1. Fasting: Fasting means that you stop eating for a certain amount of time. Fasting deprives your body of nutrients, forcing it to repurpose cell components to function.
2. Calorie restriction: Restricting your calories means decreasing the number of energy units, or calories, your body consumes. Instead of depriving your body of calories completely (as with fasting), you limit them. This forces your cells into autophagy to compensate for the lost nutrients.
3. Switching to a high-fat, low-carb diet: This type of diet, commonly referred to as a keto diet, changes the way your body burns energy, so that instead of burning carbs or sugar for energy, it burns fat instead. This switch can trigger autophagy.
4. Exercise: Exercise stimulates processes that increase the activity of ATGs, such as stressing your skeletal muscles. Exercise can induce autophagy, depending on the type of exercise you’re doing and its intensity.
5. Spermidine. Spermidine tricks the brain into autophagy.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/24058-autophagy #:~:text=You%20can%20induce%20autophagy%20by,repurpose%20cell%20components%20to%20function.
