There has been a lot of interest in the latest diet craze of intermittent fasting, whereby people eat all they want for a few days, followed by a short period of a very low calorie intake. A study from a team at Harvard Medical School has now looked at this way of eating in greater detail. Participants on the study were asked to eat 25 per cent of their optimal daily calorie intake for one day, and follow this with a day of eating 175 per cent of their daily calorie intake.

This pattern of alternating days was continued for three weeks. The team monitored various health measurements throughout the trial period. The key results showed the diet reduced insulin levels, suggesting it has anti-diabetic benefits, but also there was an increase in the anti-ageing protein SIRT3. The researchers suggest intermittent fasting is linked to levels of oxidative stress in the body. They believe the diet may over time help the body develop a better response to stress, and hence trigger protective anti-ageing pathways.