Posted on 12/16/2024 8:43:58 PM PST by ConservativeMind
A combination of intermittent fasting and a specialized biomedical bandage can restore bone healing in aged mice to levels seen in young animals, according to research.
"Key to bone repair is a type of cell called osteoprogenitors, which create new bone tissue," explains Joshua Reeves.
First, they analyzed the changes that occur in the bone of mice during aging, finding a clear decline in both bone structure and healing capacity with age. The team noticed a reduction in blood vesselspwithin periosteal bone-forming tissue, beginning in adulthood. They also observed changes in aging osteogenic (bone-forming) compartments, including increased actin levels and elongated cell nuclei—both markers of heightened stiffness.
Furthermore, aged mice showed a decline in bioenergetic pathways, particularly in mitochondrial function. These alterations led to a reduced number and impaired function of osteoprogenitors, weakening bone health and repair capacity.
Intermittent fasting—a dietary approach that alternates between periods of eating and fasting—has been shown to improve bone mineral density in adult animals. Therefore, the team tried combining Wnt3a bandage treatment with intermittent fasting in aged mice with calvarial bone defects.
Under these conditions, aged mice achieved bone repair levels comparable to their much younger counterparts. Further analysis revealed that intermittent fasting, in particular, rejuvenated osteoprogenitors by boosting mitochondrial activity and reducing age-related cellular stress. These effects could also be mimicked by targeting specific pathways with supplements like nicotinamide mononucleotide, which enhances mitochondrial energy production.
Additionally, shifts in the gut microbiome—particularly increases in a bacterium called Akkermansia muciniphila—played a key role in enhancing tissue health and repair.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Akkermansia muciniphila:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkermansia_muciniphila
Examples of high-galactooligosaccharide foods include:
—chickpeas
—lentils
—cashews
—pistachios
—broccoli
—Brussels sprouts
I want aware that mice had bones!!!
Want=wasn’t
[—lentils
—cashews
—pistachios
—broccoli]
That’s some good stuff right there
I love lentil soups (yeah, the canned ones)
Intermittent fasting is easy for mice. They just take away your food dish.
Yeah, LOL
“It just goes ro show ya….fisting and light bondage improve bone healing in mice.” - Rosanne Rosanadana
According to research
Interesting. Given the life span of mice, I have to wonder what the term “Intermittent Fasting” means for them. For Humans it’s generally going between 16 to 22 hours without eating every day (some say 12 hours is enough, but that’s wimping out). For mice, might Intermittent Fasting be 4 hours or so? Likewise, if mice go 16 hours, is that more equivalent to several days of fasting for humans?
I ask because the definition of Intermittent fasting for humans (16 to 22 hours) barely causes any biological changes in humans as one needs to fast 36 hours minimum to get to really start to get some biological changes (16 hours of fasting does tend to limit overall calories, but that’s about it).
“In aged mice with critical-size defects, alternating-day intermittent fasting restored osteogenic compartment health, improving CD90+ cell function as well as bone remodelling and significantly enhanced bone repair to levels comparable to younger animals. This effect was recapitulated by even shorter- term supplementation of the gut bacteria Akkermansia muciniphila or nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN – an NAD+ precursor) in aged mice, highlighting the multifaceted mechanisms of action of intermittent fasting. We further identify mitochondrial dysfunction as a key component in age-related decline in osteoprogenitor function and show that both cyclical nutrient deprivation or NMN rejuvenate mitochondrial health and enhance osteogenesis in vitro.”
Thanks CM, I figured you’d read it! So, for humans, it may (maybe ‘probably’) means several days of fasting to get the same result. Sounds like a good thing to study!
Started a water fast Sunday night at 8 pm. Not hungry at all at this point. Going to try to go to Wednesday night at 8 pm.
This ‘study’ is heading in one direction - which is to justify denying food and nutrition to elderly patients with bone fractures.
Elderly people in general, tend to be malnourished. The last thing they need, with or without broken bones, is a program that includes fasting.
This is counterintuitive and WRONG.
The lead author is “a former PhD student?” 🙄
https://betterbones.com/fractures-and-healing/speed-up-fracture-healing/
The nutritional demands of healing
Each stage of the fracture healing process brings with it increased nutritional demands. For starters, the whole process requires a great deal of energy—which is generally supplied through the intake of calories in food. Next, healing requires the synthesis of new proteins, which is dependent upon an ample supply of amino acids derived from dietary proteins.
Provide the body with adequate energy
Fracture healing requires more energy than you might expect. Thus, it’s appropriate to increase your caloric intake to promote healing. In traumatic fractures of the long bones, for example, there is an immediate increase in metabolic demands that can translate into a caloric demand three times that of normal. While a normally active adult may require 2,500 calories a day, a bedridden, injured patient with multiple fractures may need 6,000 calories per day! If this demand is not met, the healing process is compromised.
Increase your protein intake
Bone can be imagined as being somewhat like a sponge made of living protein upon which mineral crystals are embedded. By volume, roughly half of bone is comprised of protein. When a fracture occurs, the body is called upon to gather protein building blocks together to synthesize a new structural bone protein matrix. In addition, protein supplementation increases growth factors like insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), a polypeptide that exerts a positive effect on skeletal integrity, muscle strength, immune response, and bone renewal. Protein malnutrition or under-nutrition leads to a “rubbery” callus, compared to the rigid calluses of those with adequate or high protein intake. Numerous studies document the acceleration of fracture healing with even a modest 10- to 20-gram increase in protein intake. The benefits of supplemental protein are important to everyone and especially important to those with malnutrition or low baseline protein intake. In fact, among elderly hip fracture patients, poor protein status at the time of fracture predicts fracture outcome. Those with low protein status take longer to heal, and have more complications, including death.
Fasting is for people who are healthy and well-nourished. Malnourished people shouldn’t fast.
You are having electrolytes and plenty of water, correct? You have to be careful coming off that amount of fasting, too. You can’t eat a lot at once.
.
Yes, lots of water and electrolytes. I thought that it would be hard to do but so far there is nothing to it. I was a little hungry on day 2 but that passed. I bought beef broth but didn’t need to use it.
I’ve been doing my usual 2 hours a day at the gym, tread mill, free weights, sauna and steam. I was a little over 5 lbs. lighter this AM.
I’ll tap out at 8PM tonight.
Not bad for a guy who is about to be 69. People say I look 45-50 but everyone in my family looks much younger than they are and most live to be about 100.
The only things that seemed different has been that I feel more flexible in my joints and some very vivid dreams at night (not those kind of dreams, lol).
I’m going to keep doing multi-day fasts periodically and will probably change to not eating but once a day. I did like stuff with sugar in it, but cravings for sugar are gone.
I got the idea from Dana White. Here is a page about that:
https://fastholic.com/nutrition/dana-white-fasting-diet
I could be his stunt double; I look almost exactly like him body wise even though I’m 14 years older.
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