Ouroboros on Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting (IF) as an alterative approach to obtaining the health benefits of calorie restriction (CR) seems to be attracting more research interest these days, though given the comparatively sparse studies and variation in results, I think it's early to be guessing whether IF is better or worse than straight calorie restriction as a practice in humans. The most interesting result to date is that CR and IF work in quite different ways, in worms at least - not what I would have expected. From Ouroboros: researchers "established a fasting diet regimen in C. elegans to study molecular pathways involved in fasting induced longevity. They found that alternate day fasting (ADF) had a 40.4% increase in lifespan, and intermittent fasting (IF: every two days) had a 56.6% increase in lifespan over ad libitum fed worms. In contrast, chronic CR only increased lifespan by an average of 13.2%. CR and IF may have similar effects on lifespan, but results reported in this paper indicate that signals in each of these processes are distinct. skn-1 and pha-4 have been shown to be essential genes in the CR longevity phenotype, but are dispensable in IF longevity."
Link: http://ouroboros.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/an-intermittent-fasting-pathway-to-longevity/