Research
Adherence
Interventions that deplete glycogen stores, such as intermittent fasting, caloric restriction, and exercise, promote health by inducing moderate hormetic oxidative stress.
Regular exercise, fasting, or caloric restriction deplete glycogen, which triggers a healthy stress response (hormesis) that improves long-term health and longevity.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
main life- and health-span promoting interventions such as caloric restriction, intermittent fasting and exercise have in common that the depletion of glycogen stores, thus reducing the protective capacity of glycogen and exposing the cells to moderate hormetic oxidative stress.
Why this rating
Based on reviews and animal studies cited.
Source
Glucose as a Major Antioxidant: When, What for and Why It Fails?
Andriy Cherkas et al. · Antioxidants · 2020
DOI 10.3390/antiox9020140
narrative_reviewCited 98×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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