Why Autophagy is so important

Think internal recycling whenever autophagy is brought up in discussion, as autophagy has massive importance in the bodies own detoxification system cannot be understated. This incredible self eating process may be the answer to disease prevention and support a healthy body and immune system.

What is Autophagy

Autophagy is one of the most fascinating discoveries of recent times and is highly studied for it’s importance on health and combatting degenerative disease. Autophagy removes toxins and reduces inflammation in the body that leads to unwanted stress and disease. What’s more is that Autophagy has been shown to slow down the ageing process.

From the Greek word for self-eating, Autophagy is a regulated process that helps recycle degraded and dysfunctional cells. This self-eating process scans the body for anything that’s old and needs removing from the body and salvages anything that the body can use to create new cells or use for energy.

The process collects cellular components and then takes them back to the bodies recycling centre known as the lysosome for processing and to be broken down to enable utilisation.

Nobel Prize Winning Findings

Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the Nobel prize in 2016 in physiology and medicine for work carried out on further understanding the importance of Autophagy.

How Autophagy works

1. Removes internal microbes from cells known as xenophagy
2. Removes toxins build up from infections
3. Modulates the immune response caused by infection

Link between Autophagy and mTOR

Scientists have discovered what is known as the on/off switch for autophagy.

The body is in either a state of growth (anabolic) or rest and repair (autophagy). The link with mTOR is how it responds to nutrients in cells and how they turn off the autophagy process.

Conversely Sirtuin genes that are activated by resveratrol actually inhibit mTOR. Interestingly Sirtuin increases autophagy.

Autophagy benefits

Activation of autophagy slows down the ageing process and the risk of degenerative and neuro diseases enabling the body to self-optimise through correct balance.

Big headlines as Autophagy has been linked to reducing cancer and may other diseases. Therefore, activation of the state can be treated as critical to body function.

Effects on life span and ageing

Preventing the circulation of damaged cells and activating the autophagy process can help with the accumulation of damaged cellular components and stimulates metabolic efficiency of cells in the body.

When ours cells are not working properly, or dysfunctional mitochondria of the body can be harmful by producing Reactive Oxygen Species or ROS which is associated with cellular degradation. Autophagic states can remove ROS to potentially help extend life span.