The Nobel
Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016 was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discoveries of" Mechanisms for
autophagy".
Let’s understand What Is Autophagy............
·
The word autophagy originates from the Greek words auto- meaning “self”, and phagein- meaning “to eat”. Thus, autophagy denotes “self
eating”. It is like pressing a
refresh button of the body. That is the system basically created for survival
at the time of starvation; but we can use it for our benefit....... without starving ourselves..........
How it starts....?
·
When the body is in fed state, Insulin hormone
is predominant. It functions, so that energy can get into the cells and they
can utilize it for routine work. Whereas, when the body is fasting, Glucagon
increases to maintain the level of blood glucose; so that we do not feel dizzy.
·
According to studies, glucagon increases
Autophagy; which ultimately means that the person has to remain in the fasting
state to initiate it. It’s also found that after 12 hours of fasting, Autophagy
starts; after 20 hours, it increases drastically and after 24 hours, it plateaus.
Apoptosis Vs Autophagy
·
Apoptosis is the body’s natural mechanism to
kill the cells, when it is no longer able to save itself from the serious
disease or the chronic insult.
·
Autophagy is the induced response to clear out
only unwanted cellular material with the help of an organelle called Autophagosome.
After the degradation of old unnecessary
material in Autophagosome, it spits out amino acid, which could be used to create
more Energy or Build new cells.
So, why it is beneficial..............?
Let’s understand by an Example......
·
When we are young, cell multiplication rate in
our body is at its peak, so we are energetic because all the work in our body
gets done efficiently. However, when we grow older, cell multiplication rate
decreases that will, eventually, decrease our efficiency.
So, if we want to be more effective at older
age...........what can we do........?
You guessed it.......make the existing cells more efficient.......which
could be done by... AUTOPHAGY.....!
·
Autophagy makes cell more productive by clearing
out debris and unproductive material from it.
How to enter the Autophagy mode....
- The best way to activate Autophagy on a regular basis is Intermittent Fasting. If we consider 16:8 methods, we can stay in Autophagic state for atleast 4 hours per day.
- Exercise is also an activator of Autophagy in muscles, liver, pancreas, and adipose tissue.
As compared to a person who never trained, a chronic exerciser can enter
the Autophagy mode easily.
- Ketogenic Diet- 10% caloric intake from Carbs and the rest from Fat will trigger Autophagy. Due to less Carbs, the insulin level of the body remains low and the Glucagon level stays high. As we have seen before that Glucagon will promote Autophagy,so does the ketogenic diet.
Benefits of Autophagy: --
- Cancer prevention: - Yes, Cancer prevention. Let us learn the difference between Normal and Cancerous cells.
- Normal body cells respire
in the presence of O2 that takes place in Mitochondria,;
while , the Cancer cells respire without O2.Even if the
respiration in the presence of O2 will give more Energy- 36
ATPs ,than anaerobic- without O2 ,respiration, in which only 2
ATPs are generated. This is because of damage to the Mitochondrial DNA in
Cancer. As Autophagy clears out the damaged proteins (DNA is also a protein
structure) from the body, it prevents Mitochondrial damage and hence,
CANCER.
- Neural protection: - Beta-
Amyloid—an essential protein for neural growth and repair, when clumps
together, produces plaque in the Brain. That plaque- called as
Neurofibrillary tangles in medical term, accumulates in the brain over the
years and disrupt communication
between neural cells, and also cause inflammation. This is responsible for
neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's disease.
- Autophagy is capable of getting rid of that unnecessary plaque
material and protects the brain.
- Helps weight loss, while keeping the body in a good Shape: - Let’s
imagine......
- There are two people: Person A and B, both of them loose 100
pounds of weight. A does it via intermittent fasting and B does it via
caloric restriction. So, A will activate autophagy mode. After both have
lost weight, A will look younger than B, because B will have Skin
Curtains- Flabby leftover tissues after weight loss, while A will not have
it.
- In person A, because of Autophagy, excess skin and connective
tissue will be taken up by the body and recycled, so he will have his skin
properly attached to the underlying muscle , while in B, leftover skin
will be hanging over the body.
- Prevents Diabetes and Hypertension: - In both of those diseases, AGEs
(Advanced Glycated End Products) are the main victim. AGEs cause
vasculopathy and increase the risk of Insulin resistance. Autophagy gets
rid of AGEs and protects the body against all the damage that it might
cause.
- Boosts immunity: - Autophagy bridges the role between innate and
adaptive immune systems. Moreover,
it also has the capacity to engulf and destroy the viral particles at a
faster rate.
- Gives young look: - Because Autophagy gets rid of excessive skin,
it also removes wrinkles in the process, making the person look younger
than he is.
Due to those
benefits, it is recommended that one follows the lifestyle that induces
Autophagy....!
Remember,
When animals in
the wild fall sick, they stop eating and drive their body to the stage, where
it activates Autophagy. They do not go to Doctors, Autophagy cures them.
MCT oil, coffee,
green tea and cinnamon are the foods that can enhance Autophagy. So, be sure to
include them in your diet.
And
Next time when
your friend is feeling down, share this article with him........