Valter Longo

Last updated
Valter D. Longo
Born1967 (age 56–57)
Genoa, Italy
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of California, Los Angeles
Known for The Longevity Diet (2018)
The Fasting-Mimicking Diet (FMD).
Scientific career
Fields Cell biology
Biogerontology
Institutions USC Davis School of Gerontology
Doctoral advisor Joan Valentine

Valter D. Longo (born 1967) is an Italian-American biogerontologist and cell biologist known for his studies on the role of fasting and nutrient response genes on cellular protection aging and diseases and for proposing that longevity is regulated by similar genes and mechanisms in many eukaryotes. He is currently a professor at the USC Davis School of Gerontology with a joint appointment in the department of Biological Sciences as well as serving as the director of the USC Longevity Institute.

Contents

Early life and education

Longo was born in Genoa, Italy to Calabrian parents. [1] He moved to Chicago in the United States as a teenager in order to become a professional rock guitarist, and lived with extended relatives. [2] While there, he observed that his relatives in the United States, who were eating diets rich in fat, meat and sugar, were suffering from cardiovascular disease, which was rare among his family living in Italy. [2] He joined the United States Army Reserve as a way to pay for college, attending recruit training in Fort Knox. [2] He then attended the University of North Texas College of Music due to its renown as a jazz school, studying under Dan Haerle and Jack Petersen, among others. [2] While in college, Longo decided to change focus and study nutrition and longevity instead, inspired in part by his observations about his relatives, as well as his experience in military training. [2] [3] He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1992 with a degree in biochemistry.

In 1992 he joined the laboratory of "calorie restriction" pioneer Roy Walford at UCLA where he studied calorie restriction and aging of the immune system. He completed his PhD work in Biochemistry studying antioxidant enzymes and anti-aging genes under Joan Valentine at UCLA in 1997 and his postdoctoral training in the neurobiology of Alzheimer's disease under Caleb Finch at the University of Southern California.

Career

Since 1997, Longo has been a faculty member at the USC Davis School of Gerontology and Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center. He is a member of the formation of USC's Biology of Aging program as well as the director of the USC Longevity Institute, [4] also launched the USC Davis School of Gerontology's first study-abroad program, a summer class in the nutrition and genetics of aging in Italy. [5]

In 2011, he was profiled on Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman for his longevity-related research. [6]

In 2012, he discussed his fasting research with Michael Mosley in an episode of the BBC documentary series, Horizon called, Eat, Fast, and Live Longer . [7]

Longevity diet

With regard to longevity, Longo's promotes a mostly plant-based diet that also includes fish. [8] [9] In addition, he suggests implementing time-restricted eating, with daily eating windows of 11–12 hours. [10]

His research is focused on the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD). The FMD is a low-calorie, low-protein, moderate-carbohydrate, moderate-fat plant-based diet program, that he argues mimics the effects of periodic fasting or water fasting. The course lasts five days, while still aiming to provide the body with nutrition, [11] [12] and is considered a periodic fast. [13]

Longo "founded the L-Nutra technology company and developed the ProLon fasting-mimicking diet." [14]

Honors

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated way to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight, or to prevent and treat diseases such as diabetes and obesity. As weight loss depends on calorie intake, different kinds of calorie-reduced diets, such as those emphasising particular macronutrients, have been shown to be no more effective than one another. As weight regain is common, diet success is best predicted by long-term adherence. Regardless, the outcome of a diet can vary widely depending on the individual.

Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight, or to the metabolic state achieved after complete digestion and absorption of a meal. Metabolic changes in the fasting state begin after absorption of a meal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joel Fuhrman</span> American celebrity doctor (born 1953)

Joel Fuhrman is an American celebrity doctor who advocates a plant-based diet termed the "nutritarian" diet which emphasizes nutrient-dense foods. His practice is based on his nutrition-based approach to obesity and chronic disease, as well as promoting his products and books. He has written books promoting his dietary approaches including the bestsellers Eat to Live, Super Immunity, The Eat to Live Cookbook, The End of Dieting (2016) and The End of Heart Disease (2016). He sells a related line of nutrition-related products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fad diet</span> Popular diet with claims not supported by science

A fad diet is a diet that is popular, generally only for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard scientific dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements; as such it is often considered a type of pseudoscientific diet. Fad diets are usually not supported by clinical research and their health recommendations are not peer-reviewed, thus they often make unsubstantiated statements about health and disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okinawa diet</span> Eating habits of the indigenous people of the Ryukyu Islands

The Okinawa diet describes the traditional dietary practices of indigenous people of the Ryukyu Islands, which were claimed to have contributed to their relative longevity over a period of study in the 20th century.

Calorie restriction is a dietary regimen that reduces the energy intake from foods and beverages without incurring malnutrition. The possible effect of calorie restriction on body weight management, longevity, and aging-associated diseases has been an active area of research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healthy diet</span> Type of diet

A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empty calories</span> Calories with no nutritional value

In human nutrition, empty calories are those calories found in foods and beverages composed primarily or solely of calorie-rich macronutrients such as sugars and fats, but little or no micronutrients, fibre, or protein. Foods composed mostly of empty calories have low nutrient density, meaning few other nutrients relative to their energy content. Empty calories are more difficult to fit into a diet that is both balanced and within TDEE, and so readily create an unhealthy diet.

The USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology is one of the seventeen academic divisions of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, focusing on undergraduate and graduate programs in gerontology.

The Okinawa Centenarian Study is a study of the elderly people of Okinawa, Japan. The study, funded by Japan's ministry of health, is the largest of its kind ever carried out. Over the years, the scientists involved have had access to more than 600 Okinawan centenarians.

The CRON-diet is a nutrient-rich, reduced calorie diet developed by Roy Walford, Lisa Walford, and Brian M. Delaney. The CRON-diet involves calorie restriction in the hope that the practice will improve health and retard aging, while still attempting to provide the recommended daily amounts of various nutrients. Other names include CR-diet, Longevity diet, and Anti-Aging Plan. The Walfords and Delaney, among others, founded the CR Society International to promote the CRON-diet.

Caleb Ellicott Finch is an American academic who is a professor at the USC Davis School of Gerontology. Finch's research focuses on aging in humans, with a specialization in cell biology and Alzheimer's disease.

Intermittent fasting is any of various meal timing schedules that cycle between voluntary fasting and non-fasting over a given period. Methods of intermittent fasting include alternate-day fasting, periodic fasting, such as the 5:2 diet, and daily time-restricted eating.

<i>Fat Head</i> 2009 film by Tom Naughton

Fat Head is a 2009 American documentary film directed by and starring comedian and health writer Tom Naughton. The film seeks to refute both the documentary Super Size Me and the lipid hypothesis, a theory of nutrition started in the early 1950s in the United States by Ancel Keys and promoted in much of the Western world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criticism of fast food</span> Overview about the criticism of fast food

Criticism of fast food includes claims of negative health effects, animal cruelty, cases of worker exploitation, children-targeted marketing and claims of cultural degradation via shifts in people's eating patterns away from traditional foods. Fast food chains have come under fire from consumer groups, such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a longtime fast food critic over issues such as caloric content, trans fats and portion sizes. Social scientists have highlighted how the prominence of fast food narratives in popular urban legends suggests that modern consumers have an ambivalent relationship with fast food, particularly in relation to children.

Sean Curran is an American gerontologist who is Professor of Gerontology and Vice Dean at the USC Davis School of Gerontology with joint appointments in Molecular and Computational Biology. He also serves as the Dean of Faculty and Research. His expertise is the molecular genetics of healthspan and longevity with an emphasis on biology, genetics, nutrition, and diets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luigi Fontana (medical researcher)</span> Italian/Australian physician scientist, professor, environmentalist and author

Luigi Fontana, M.D., PhD, FRACP is a physician scientist who studies healthy longevity, with a focus on calorie restriction, endurance exercise and metabolism. He is the Leonard P Ullmann Chair in Translational Metabolic Health at the Charles Perkins Centre, where he directs the Charles Perkins Centre Royal Prince Alfred Clinic and the CPC RPA Health for Life Research, Educational and Clinical Program. He is also a Professor of Medicine and Nutrition in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney and a Clinical Academic in the Department of Endocrinology at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia. Fontana was a professor of medicine and co-Director of the Healthy Longevity Program at Washington University School of Medicine.

The relationship between diet and longevity encompasses diverse research studies involving both humans and animals, requiring an analysis of complex mechanisms underlying the potential relationship between various dietary practices, health, and longevity.

<i>The Longevity Diet</i> 2018 book

The Longevity Diet is a 2018 book by Italian biogerontologist Valter Longo. The subject of the book is fasting and longevity. The book advocates a fasting mimicking diet (FMD) coupled with a mostly plant based diet that allows for the consumption of fish, for greater longevity.

References

  1. ↑ Longo, Valter, during XII Premio Simpatia della Calabria, Reggio di C, 4 September 2018
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Valter Longo (2016). "From Ligurian to Chicagoan". The Longevity Diet . Penguin Random House. ISBN   9781743772751. Archived from the original on 2023-03-15. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  3. ↑ "Faculty Profile: Valter Longo". USC Davis School of Gerontology. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  4. ↑ "USC Longevity Institute". USC. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Riggs, Jonathan. "Gerontology and Genoa's Lifestyle". USC News. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  6. ↑ "USC in the News". USC Media and Public Relations. Archived from the original on 26 August 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  7. ↑ Eat, Fast, and Live Longer
  8. ↑ "Plant-based diet, a little protein and enough exercise lead to long life, USC professor says". ABC News. 2018-02-21. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  9. ↑ "Fasting Mimicking Diet Could Fight Disease, Increase Longevity: 9 New Questions for Dr. Longo (Interview)". Blue Zones . Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  10. ↑ Newcomb, Beth (2023-11-23). "New Article Outlines the Characteristics of a "Longevity Diet"". University of Southern California . Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  11. ↑ University of Southern California (February 16, 2017). "Scientifically-designed fasting diet lowers risks for major diseases". ScienceDaily. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  12. ↑ King, Jennifer (June 19, 2015). "Fasting diets and longer life may go hand-in-hand, new research finds". ABC. ABC Health. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  13. ↑ Landro, Laura (April 11, 2017). "Can Different Forms of Fasting Make You Healthier?". Dow Jones & Company. Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  14. ↑ Fasting-Mimicking Diet: A DIY Meal Plan
  15. ↑ "Nathan W. Shock Memorial Lecture Award Winners". National Institute on Aging. Archived from the original on 22 November 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  16. ↑ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Longo,+Valter%5BAuthor%5D
  17. ↑ "The Longevity Diet by Valter Longo". Penguin Random House . Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  18. ↑ "La dieta della longevità". www.vallardi.it. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.