The PROLON Fasting Mimicking Diet: Data for Kidney Protection

At the Kahn Center for Cardiac Longevity, we have a toolbox that is broad and includes food based approaches. For over 7 years, one of those tools has been the PROLON 5-day Fasting Mimicking Diet (www.prolonlife.com/drkahn). There are many research and clinical trials demonstrating the benefits of this science backed program.

Until now, data for a benefit for kidney function has not been presented but a new study using the Fasting Mimicking Diet on kidney function has been published. 

STUDY

Cycles of a fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) promote regeneration and reduce damage in the pancreases, blood, guts, and nervous systems of mice, but their effect on kidney disease is unknown. In addition, a FMD has not been tested in rats.

Here, we show that cycles of a newly developed low-salt FMD (LS-FMD) restored normal proteinuria and nephron structure and function in rats with puromycin-induced nephrosis compared with that in animals with renal damage that did not receive the dietary intervention. LS-FMD induced modulation of a nephrogenic gene program, resembling renal developmental processes in multiple kidney structures. LS-FMD also activated podocyte-lineage reprogramming pathways and promoted a quiescent state in mature podocytes in the rat kidney damage model.

In a pilot clinical study in patients with chronic kidney disease, FMD cycles of 5 days each month for 3 months promoted renoprotection, including reduction of proteinuria and improved endothelial function, compared with that in patients who did not receive the FMD cycles.

These results show that FMD cycles, which promote the reprogramming of multiple renal cell types and lead to glomerular damage reversal in rats, should be tested further for the treatment of progressive kidney diseases.

DISCUSSION

The editor of the journal that published this animal and human study said:

"Fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs) promote tissue health in many organs; however, it is unknown how FMDs affect chronic kidney disease and podocyte health specifically. Villani et al. tested a low-salt FMD in a rat puromycin-induced nephropathy model and found that cycles of the diet improved glomerular function and promoted signatures of podocyte renewal over time. In a pilot clinical study including 13 patients with chronic kidney disease, three FMD cycles resulted in decreased proteinuria and improved metabolic parameters. Improved proteinuria was maintained up to 1 year after the FMD cycles in these patients. Together, these data suggest that FMDs could be promising interventions for kidney disease management".

In patients with chronic kidney disease, the loss of podocytes—part of the kidney's glomerular filtration barrier—causes irreversible disease progression. So far, physicians and researchers have found no way to effectively prevent podocyte damage, loss, and deterioration leading to end-stage kidney disease.

Dr. Valter Longo, founder of the PROLON Fasting Mimicking Diet (www.prolonlife.com/drkahn) and senior author of this research commented on the study:

"These results show that FMD cycles can promote reprogramming/regeneration in mice and rats but also increase circulating progenitor cells in humans, so they should be tested further for treatment of progressive kidney diseases. This fasting-mimicking diet seems to induce changes in gene expression that slow kidney degradation, suggesting potential interventions for patients with chronic kidney disease."

We will continue to select patients at the Kahn Center for the use of PROLON often 3 months in a row and then 2-4 times a year (www.prolonlife.com/drkahn).