The workings of time restricted diets

The health benefits of time-restricted feeding are clear. Mimi Shirasu-Hiza and colleagues explore the underlying mechanism with a life-extending, age-delaying, intermittent time-restricted feeding regimen (iTRF) in Drosophila. They show that circadian-regulated autophagy is a critical contributor to iTRF-mediated health benefits in flies. Circadian regulation and autophagy are highly conserved processes that play roles in human ageing, and it’s therefore well possible that stimulating circadian-regulated autophagy in people may provide similar health benefits.