Research
Macro partitioning
Enhancing autophagy through genetic or pharmacological means improves glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, and resistance to obesity in high-fat diet models.
Boosting your body's natural cleanup processes (autophagy) can help you stay lean and sensitive to insulin, even if you eat a high-fat diet. This suggests that maintaining cellular health through fasting or exercise is as important as the food you eat.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
ubiquitous and moderate overexpression of Atg5 in mice, resulting in increased autophagy, leads to a leaner phenotype, an increased glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, and resistance to age-induced obesity
Why this rating
Supported by multiple genetic mouse models (Atg5-Tg, TFEB-Tg) showing consistent metabolic benefits.
Source
The mTOR–Autophagy Axis and the Control of Metabolism
Nerea Deleyto-Seldas et al. · Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology · 2021
DOI 10.3389/fcell.2021.655731
narrative_reviewCited 325×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- Inhibition of mTORC1 activity is a necessary physiological trigger for initiating autophagy during nutrient deprivation, which recycles cellular components to sustain blood glucose and amino acid levels.Good
- Sustained hyperactivation of mTORC1 in skeletal muscle eventually causes atrophy and myopathy by inhibiting autophagy, whereas acute activation promotes hypertrophy.Good
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