Five years ago, a surgeon from Italy with diabetes and hypertension turned to my Foundation’s clinic. His endocrinologist had initially prescribed increasing doses of metformin, followed by two GLP-1 receptor agonist medications known for their weight-loss effects. These drugs, however, had little impact on his blood sugar levels or body weight, leading the Italian surgeon to resign himself to the prospect of the severe complications associated with diabetes. This was a fate I knew all too well, as kidney damage caused by diabetes had claimed the lives of two diabetic cousins I lived with after moving to Chicago.
With the endocrinologist’s consent, the Foundation’s nutritionists in Italy recommended the “Longevity Diet,” a predominantly vegan regimen with fish added 3-4 times per week. After nine months, the patient’s blood sugar and systolic blood pressure showed only slight improvements (from 140 to 133 mg/dL and 140 to 135 mmHg, respectively), and he continued taking medication. At that point, three 5-day cycles of the fasting mimicking diet were introduced.
Two randomized clinical trials—one conducted at Heidelberg University in Germany on 40 patients and another at Leiden University in the Netherlands on 100 patients—had shown reductions in blood sugar or medication usage in the majority of patients after 6-12 monthly fasting mimicking diet cycles. These cycles not only managed the disease but also led many patients toward disease reversal.
After just three fasting mimicking diet cycles within ten months, the Italian patient’s fasting glucose dropped to 90 mg/dL, and his systolic blood pressure to 120 mmHg, enabling doctors to discontinue his diabetes and hypertension medications. Eighteen months after starting the treatment, the patient was no longer a patient but a healthy individual, with the results still evident five years later. While the pescatarian diet led to a 3kg / 6.6 lbs weight loss in nine months, the three fasting mimicking diet cycles brought this total loss to 14 kg / 30.8 lbs. Interestingly, the Dutch study and others concluded that fasting mimicking diet’s effect on blood sugar is largely independent of weight loss.
Another significant, though not yet clinically confirmed, observation is that in the three years following his initial treatment, the Italian surgeon required only a few annual fasting mimicking diet cycles and a personalized Longevity Diet to maintain normal blood sugar and blood pressure levels. Larger studies are needed to confirm these results, but at least three additional clinical trials, beyond those mentioned above, suggest that fasting mimicking diet may impact blood sugar, fat mass, and blood pressure in diabetic and prediabetic patients.
This indicates that cycles of fasting mimicking diet and other innovative nutritional interventions have the potential to help doctors and nutritionists not only manage diabetes but treat it in certain patients. These approaches target rejuvenation mechanisms and reduce abdominal and liver fat, with additional effects on hypertension and kidney damage.
Prof. Valter Longo
