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The Doctor's Kitchen Podcast

#163 Fasting as a Medical Tool for Longevity with Dr Elizabeth Thompson & Prof Valter Longo

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Fasting as a tool for health is becoming a popular question whenever I do live talks. The interest in fasting is huge. We’ve done a dive into fasting with previous guests on the podcast, check them out on www.thedoctorskitchen.com/podcasts  And today, I talk to Professor Valter Longo and Dr Elizabeth Thompson about fasting as a tool in diabetes and even to support cancer patients during chemotherapy.


We’ve had Professor Longo on the pod before, introducing what fasting means and how it works, so if you want more of an explanation into Fasting Mimicking Diets, FMD, make sure you listen to that episode first. We also dive into Dr Thompson’s own experience with fasting, the new data from Valter’s lab and others since we last spoke, the long-term effects, drawbacks and implementation. Remember, fasting is still an emerging therapeutic tool, so please exercise caution when trying these techniques and if possible do it with the guidance of a practitioner.


Dr Elizabeth Thompson is a very experienced medical doctor having trained in medicine at Oxford University and completed her clinical training at Guy’s Hospital in London. She’s also the Chief Executive of the National Centre for Integrative Medicine. She is also an experienced Medical Homeopath specialising in women’s health including the menopause and supporting the health and wellbeing of cancer patients.


Dr. Valter Longo is a Professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences and Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California - one of the leading centres for research on ageing and age-related disease.


The Longo laboratory published key findings on the 5 day periodic dietary intervention called Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD), and showed in randomised clinical trials that FMD reduces the risk factors and markers associated with ageing and diseases. Dr. Longo’s most recent studies focus on the use of FMD interventions to activate stem cell- based regeneration to promote longevity.


Professor Longo’s core objectives are to offer treatment and other health services to patients with serious diseases and to achieve these goals, Professor Longo devolves all profits from his books and FMD products to research and programs via his foundations.


Today we talk about


  • Dr Elizabeth Thompson’s personal experience with fasting
  • Recent findings on periodic fasting in cancer
  • Why fasting needs to be standardised
  • The drawbacks of fasting and why it isn’t a miracle cure
  • The long-term effects of periodic fasting
  • Why the implementation of fasting may be easier than you think
  • Protein & longevity – Are we eating too much protein?


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