Micronutrients & recovery
PPARα and FXR have opposing effects on autophagy: PPARα induces autophagy during fasting to recover nutrients, while FXR suppresses it during the fed state.
Your body uses autophagy (cellular recycling) to recover nutrients when you are fasting, driven by PPARα. When you eat, FXR suppresses this process. This natural cycle suggests that intermittent fasting may leverage this mechanism to clear cellular debris and recover nutrients, provided the fasting periods are sufficient to trigger PPARα activation.
We found that the PPARα agonist induced autophagy, even when it was supposed to be off in the fed liver, while the FXR agonist suppressed it, even when it was supposed to be induced in the fasted liver.
Why this rating
Supported by genetic knockout models (Ppara-/-, Fxr-/-) and pharmacological agonist studies in mice.
Source
Nutrient-sensing nuclear receptors PPARα and FXR control liver energy balance
Geoffrey A. Preidis et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2017
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