Quite quickly, the Internet was filled with many pseudo-originals of this diet. But the fact is that its creators sell the original version of the diet, so the Internet version is more likely a fake. the site acquired the original version from the authors themselves in order to find out whether this is really a revolution in nutrition or another product intended only to enrich its creators.

Sirtfood from the point of view of the authors

"Sirtuin" products

The meaning of the diet - the menu should consist only of a combination of these products, and ... active fitness classes. The authors claim that this combination will lead to rapid weight loss and protect against disease.

Sirtfood as is

Ingredients:

• 75 g kale
• 30 grams of arugula
• 5 g parsley
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1 cm ginger
• half a green apple
• half a lemon
• half teaspoon matcha green tea

First phase The diet lasts 7 days and includes calorie restriction and lots of juice. During this time, weight is lost. If everything is done correctly, then on the 8th day it should take about 3 kg.
For the first 3 days, calorie intake is limited to 1000 per day. Based on 3 glasses of juice and 1 meal.
From day 4 to day 7, calorie intake increases to 1500: 2 glasses of juice per day and 2 meals (naturally, meals should consist only of sirtfood products).

Second phase lasts 2 weeks. There are no hard and fast guidelines for calorie counts, just 3 proper meals and 1 glass of juice.

The diet cycle can be repeated as many times as you like. The authors especially emphasize that in the future, after the completion of the diet, it is necessary to include sirtfood dishes in the menu more often, drink juice and do fitness.

Actually, this diet is more like an attempt to orient the reader towards lifestyle changes than a revolutionary word in nutrition.
So let's try to look at the facts.

Sirtfood: just the facts

Perhaps the only thing we can agree with is that the recommended products are each in their own way useful for the body. But the connection of this benefit with sirtuins is not obvious.
So far, only studies on animals and cell cultures have shown interesting results. For example, increased levels of sirtuins have been found to increase lifespan in yeast, worms, and mice.
Some evidence, not yet fully proven, suggests that sirtuins may play an important role in reducing inflammation and slowing the progression of heart disease and Alzheimer's disease. However, sirtuins have not yet been tested in humans.

How healthy is this diet?
Absolutely not a fact. Like all diets, the sirtfood diet is restrictive, and in its process the body does not receive some of the vitamins and minerals necessary for normal functioning. Add here the need to purchase a juicer, an original recipe book and the exoticism of some products ... In this regard, she even loses to many other diets.
3 weeks is clearly not enough time for the active consumption of the above products to seriously affect the improvement of health. But adding these products to the diet is still worth it, and without any diets.

The question of possible side effects from such a diet is gently bypassed. But for people with diabetes, calorie restriction and drinking a lot of juice for the first few days can cause dangerous spikes in blood sugar levels.

What is its effectiveness?
All evidence for the effectiveness of sirtfood is based only on the words of the authors themselves. The book presents the result of an experiment in which 39 people from the visitors of their fitness center took part. For a week, the participants followed the diet, exercised daily, and each, on average, lost just over 3 kg. Needless to say, the duration and number of participants calls into question the advertised effectiveness.
Any diet based on a drastic reduction in calories and an increase in physical activity, hello to exactly the same result. The problem is that after the end of such a diet and a return to the usual diet, even with the obligatory addition of “necessary” products to the menu, the weight will return. This has long been proven and is the problem of all diets.

Given all of the above, we make a diagnosis: sirtfood is not something really revolutionary in nutrition. Any diet will lead to similar results, so whether to buy Sirtfood Original or not is your choice.

La Vie en Rouge
"Life in Red": the benefits of red wine from the point of view of science - a myth or...?
Valery Yudin, Pharmacy Weekly

"The measure of life is not in its duration, but in how you used it"
Michel de Montaigne

More than once we have heard or read about the positive effects of moderate consumption of dry red wine on human health. However, the position about its therapeutic properties was known at the dawn of human civilization - even then wine became a global socio-religious symbol associated with many benefits, including it was endowed with healing and magical properties.

Vicente Juan Masip. The Last Supper. 1560s Prado Museum

The current popular opinion about the benefits of moderate wine drinking was first expressed by the father of medicine - Hippocrates. However, the benefits of red wine in the prevention of cardiovascular disease first became the focus of scientific research only relatively recently - after in 1992, French scientists Serge Renaud and Michel de Lorgeril in the journal "The Lancet published a study showing that the French have a low mortality rate due to coronary heart disease, despite the same high fat intake as other Europeans and Americans, and despite the prevalence of other risk factors among them, including smoking. This phenomenon has been called the "French paradox" ( french paradox), which scientists explain by the "Mediterranean diet" inherent in the French, which includes a relatively large consumption of red dry wine (Renaud S., de Lorgeril M., 1992).

In 1997, the results of a Dutch epidemiological study showed that the level of coronary artery disease in elderly men is inversely proportional to their consumption of flavonoids, which are contained, among other things, in red wine (Hertog M.G., Feskens E.J., Kromhout D., 1997) . Then, as a result of other studies, the antioxidant, hypocholesterolemic, cardioprotective, anticancer effect of red wine and / or biologically active substances included in its composition was shown or confirmed (Wu J.M., Wang Z.R., Hsieh T.C. et al., 2001; Das D.K., Maulik N., 2006; Das S., Santani D., Dhalla N.S., 2006; Das S., Das D.K., 2007; Penumathsa S.V., Maulik N., 2009).

Among these components, a flavonoid was found resveratrol, which has antioxidant properties and belongs to the class of biologically active substances - sirtuins.

Sirtuins (sirtuins; from the English Silent Information Regulator 2 (Sir2) proteins) are a class of enzymes found in all organisms, from bacteria to humans. It is assumed that sirtuins regulate the processes of aging, transcription, apoptosis and resistance to stress (eg, starvation) and are responsible for the lifespan of some organisms. The name Sir2 is applied to the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in which this enzyme was found, the fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster, and the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Similar proteins, characteristic of other yeasts, are called Hst1, and for humans - SIRT1

Resveratrol is found in the skin and seeds of grapes, and it is from them that it enters red wine during its maturation. Under extreme conditions, this substance is produced not only by grapes, but also by many other plants. About 2 dozen other substances synthesized by plants in response to stress have similar properties. About five years ago, many researchers put forward or supported the hypothesis that this substance - resveratrol - can not only help us resist stress (fever, hunger), but also slow down the aging process, which will be discussed below (Fig. 1) .

"Forever Young Forever drunk"

The beneficial properties of resveratrol are believed to be associated with its ability to activate the Sir2 enzyme (from the English. silent information regulator - information silence regulator), belonging to the group of sirtuins, which were associated with longevity 10 years ago. It was then that biology professor Leonard P. Guarente from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge (USA) discovered that the lifespan of yeast when they added additional copies of the gene encoding the Sir2 enzyme was significantly higher than those that have a standard set of this gene (Kaeberlein M., McVey M., Guarente L., 1999). Four years later, David Sinclair, postdoctoral fellow of the aforementioned Professor L. Guarente, published a paper in which he showed that resveratrol was able to activate sirtuins in yeast and thus increase their lifespan (Howitz K.T., Bitterman K.J., Cohen H.Y. et al. , 2003). D. Sinclair further continued his work on the study of this substance. Through his research, he demonstrated that roundworms fed on resveratrol had a half lifespan increase (Wood J.G., Rogina B., Lavu S. et al., 2004). At the same time, scientists were struck not so much by the similarity of the reaction of different organisms as by the fact that this phenomenon was observed in an adult worm, whose cells no longer divide and in which the replicative mechanism of aging characteristic of yeast does not work.

A logical question arose: how does the gene encoding the Sir2 protein “work”?

“When you are silent, it is pleasant to listen to you…”

The researchers found that this gene encodes an enzyme with unusual properties. The DNA molecule in a cell is in a compact form: it is wound on "coils" formed by histones (nuclear proteins necessary for the assembly and packaging of DNA strands into chromosomes; there are five types of histones, named H1, H2A, H2B, H3, H4 and H5 - Fig. 2).

With the activation of DNA transcription, histone acetylation occurs under the action of the enzyme histone acetyltransferase (eng. histone acetyltransferases– HAT). Acetyl groups attached to histones act as “chemical markers” that maintain the required DNA packing density: histone acetylation introduces a negative charge on their surface, which leads to repulsion of histones from each other. As a result, previously closed DNA becomes available for transcription enzymes. If some of these “marks” are removed, then the DNA wraps around the histone “coil” too tightly, and the enzymes that ensure the isolation of circular ribosomal DNA (rDNA) from it, which are responsible for the synthesis of ribosome components, turn out to be blocked. Sections of DNA in this superdense state are called silent. silent) because none of their genes can be activated.

Scientists have found that the Sir2 protein is one of the enzymes that cleaves acetyl groups from histones and thus participates in maintaining genes in a “silent” state. This enzyme is active only in the presence of the coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide - NAD +), which is involved in most metabolic processes. And, consequently, the relationship between the nature of nutrition and aging was also found.

Eat less, live longer?

Perhaps someone will be surprised, however, according to scientists, life expectancy directly depends on the number of calories consumed. The restriction regimen usually consists of reducing the amount of food consumed by 30–40% compared to what is considered normal for the species. Absolutely all living creatures - from rats and mice to dogs and primates - on such a diet not only live longer, but also have better health: the incidence of many diseases decreases, including cancer, diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders . However, reproductive abilities, the researchers note, are weakening.

Scientists have long believed that with a reduced amount of food consumed, metabolism slows down, and with it the amount of toxins formed, by-products of the digestive process, decreases. Today, this point of view is recognized as erroneous - a low-calorie diet does not slow down the metabolism at all, either in mammals or in lower organisms. On the contrary, according to D. Sinclair and L. Guarente, there is an acceleration and change in metabolism. A calorie deficit is the same biological stress factor as a lack of food, which turns on the body's defense systems, mobilizing them to fight for survival. In mammals, this changes the efficiency of the cellular repair and energy production systems, and delays apoptosis (programmed cell death).

In experiments on yeast, it was found that nutrient deficiency triggers mechanisms in them that increase the enzymatic activity of Sir2, one of which activates energy production and produces NAD + (which activates Sir2) as a by-product and at the same time reduces the level of its antagonist, the reduced form nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), which inactivates Sir2. Obviously, by changing the ratio of NAD + /NADH in the cell, it is possible to influence the activity of Sir2, and, consequently, the lifespan.

Do not take, Lord, for drunkenness - take for medicine

In 2007, D. Sinclair and Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. – a biopharmaceutical company that D. Sinclair founded together with venture capitalist Christoph Westphal in Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA) to develop sirtuin activators – after screening, a large number of small molecular weight compounds were obtained, among which the search for mammalian sirtuin activators was carried out – SIRT1. The results of this study were published in the journal Nature (Milne J.C., Lambert P.D., Schenk S., 2007). The researchers found three substances (SRT1720, SRT2183, SRT1460), whose activity in relation to the activation of this enzyme was more than 1 thousand times more powerful than resveratrol (Milne J.C., Lambert P.D., Schenk S. et al., 2007). In addition, one of the substances discovered showed the ability to increase insulin sensitivity in obese mice and rats, thus suggesting the possibility of using these new substances in the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus. Less than a year later, at the end of April 2008, British multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline plc acquired Sirtris Pharma for $720 million. USA. Two of the company's drugs are currently in phase II clinical trials - the first for the treatment of cancer and both for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Between the first and second...

However, optimism regarding the potential properties of these substances over time was somewhat overshadowed by reports of research results, according to which resveratrol does not directly activate SIRT1, but is active only when covalently associated with a fluorophore - it is this conjugate that was determined during previous screenings, and also showed effectiveness against increased SIRT1 activity in previous studies (Kaeberleina M., McDonaghc T., Heltweg B. et al., 2005; Beher D., Wu J., Cumine S. et al., 2009). And the results of the study, published Jan. 8 this year in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, have sparked even more controversy between those who believe in resveratrol's unique properties and those who think it's "too good to be true." » (Pacholec M., Chrunyk B.A., Cunningham D. et al., 2010).

Currently, researchers led by biochemist Kay Ahn from the Department of Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Endocrine Diseases and Structural Biology of the Pfizer Global Research and Development Laboratory of the American corporation Pfizer Inc." confirmed that the molecules isolated by Sirtris Pharma scientists do not directly activate SIRT1, unless they form conjugates with fluorophores (Pacholec M., Chrunyk B.A., Cunningham D. et al., 2010).

"There are no failed experiments, there are experiments with unexpected endings"
(Richard Buckminster)

Despite this embarrassment, L. Guarente, who is currently the scientific consultant of Sirtris Pharma, believes that such recent research results should not upset or inspire concern. Although the substances synthesized by his company are able to "work" in vitro and only in the form of fluoro-ro-for-conjugated peptides, but the situation is completely different, he says. in vivo. Thus, the journal "Nature", among others, published the results of studies according to which the activity of the SIRT1 enzyme was higher in cell culture and in animal models after the introduction of substances found by "Sirtris Pharma". In addition, resveratrol did not have any effect on the lifespan of yeast that lacked the gene encoding the Sir2 enzyme, indicating that the activity of this enzyme depends on the presence of this gene (Howitz1 K.T., Bitterman K.J., Cohen H.Y. et al., 2003) .

At the same time, according to a statement made by GlaxoSmithKline, the results of K. Ahn's study exclude any possibility of direct activation of SIRT1 outside of the experiment. in vitro. However, there are still those whom these results do not stop. Another former member of L. Guarente's lab, Brian Kennedy, who is currently at the University of Washington in Seattle, points out that the results of cell culture studies are difficult to interpret, especially because resveratrol, like believed to interact with many enzymes. B. Kennedy, who in 2005 became the first of those who reported that resveratrol activates SIRT1 only in vitro and only when conjugated with fluorophores, considers that resveratrol does not show specificity, but still can be effective in vivo. It remains only a mystery what activates this target process, and it is unlikely that SIRT1 is the key target.

Woe from wine

In the second part of his latest study, K. Ahn also tried to reproduce the results obtained in the Sirtris Pharma laboratory on lowering blood glucose levels in obese experimental mice. However, the result was disastrous - several of these mice even died, despite the fact that they received the same dose of SRT1720, SRT2183, SRT1460 and resveratrol, which was indicated in an article published in Nature. However, at the same time, K. Ahn hastened to emphasize that the experiments being carried out in vivo different researchers may differ slightly from each other. “In our case,” he noted, “we did not observe beneficial effects, however, we do not want to draw far-reaching conclusions based on these results.”

One of the reasons for such a discrepancy between the results, D. Sinclair believes, is that K. Ahn and his colleagues did not have complete information about the characteristics of the studied substances, which they themselves synthesized for their study. Thus, he believes, it is impossible to know for sure how pure these substances were and whether they are even the same as those synthesized by the scientists at Sirtris Pharma. And the fact of the death of experimental animals, D. Sinclair believes, indicates that, probably, the substances were not sufficiently purified.

Those who are skeptical about the results obtained earlier by D. Sinclair continue to doubt. The enthusiasm for Sirtris Pharma's sirtuin activators and resveratrol was premature, says Richard Miller of the University of Michigan Geriatrics Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. found that the activation of metabolism increases the lifespan of mammals (Harrison D.E., Strong R., Sharp Z.D., 2009). These substances, he believes, may well have a positive effect on health, but the very first results do not seem convincing enough, and all subsequent facts suggest that the system will be much more complex than it might have seemed before.

However, a growing body of research demonstrating the beneficial effects of sirtuins and resveratrol-a does not encourage scientists to rush to write off the newly discovered substances. “If I were asked to list ten proteins that deserve the most attention in connection with aging in mammals, then sirtuins would be on this list,” says R. Miller. “The only thing is they wouldn’t be at the top of the list.”

... As one character from the film "Carnival Night" said, "is there life on Mars, is there life on Mars - this is unknown to science." Perhaps, so far, science cannot say for sure about the benefits of wine either: is there “life” in red, is there “life” in red ... But be that as it may, we will still appreciate it primarily for its rich bouquet and taste. The main thing is not to forget Avicenna’s advice: “Wine is our friend, but deceit lives in it: if you drink a lot, it’s poison, if you drink a little, it’s medicine.”

The Sirtfood Diet is a way of eating that is based on switching to foods that are rich in polyphenols. Polyphenols from foods cause the activation of sirtuins, proteins called the “rejuvenation gene” and “slim gene”, designed to promote weight loss, improve well-being and health.

Sirtuins may have beneficial effects on the body.

The sirtfood diet is a trendy new way to eat

The sirtfood diet was developed by two graduates of the University of Surrey in England who received a master's degree in food science - Aidan Gogins and Glen Matten. Their plan includes a combination of calorie restriction and green smoothie drinking with increased dietary intake of foods rich in sirtuin activators.

Sirtuin is a type of protein found in mammals potentially important for quality and longevity. They even called it the "longevity gene" and the "slenderness gene". The great interest of researchers in sirtuins began at the beginning of the twenty-first century, when it was found that their increased concentration is associated with the extension of the life of yeast. The authors used a sirtfood diet in a scientific report and developed a plan based on this, which is concluded in their book "Sirtfood Diet", published in January 2016. Since then, the diet has become increasingly popular, especially due to celebrity use.

The basis of the Sirtfood diet is vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices rich in polyphenols, which activate sirtuins in the body, so there is a more efficient use of energy, faster fat burning in the body.

The 20 strongest sirtuin activators are:

• paprika bird's eye chili
• buckwheat
• capers
• celery with leaves
• cocoa
• olive oil
• green tea
• lovage
• Date finger
• parsley
• red chicory
• Red onion
• red wine
• arugula
• strawberry
• turmeric
• walnuts

In collaboration with the authors of the diet, the chef of the cookbook offers dishes rich in sirfoods, such as sirtkasha, chicken breasts with cabbage, red onion and salsa with tomatoes and chili peppers or truffles with walnuts and dates. Many people who use a variety of diets may like the fact that the sirtfood diet is considered long-term and is not restrictive, and allows and even includes red wine and dark chocolate containing more than 85% cocoa in the diet.

Sirtfood Diet - Rules

The sirtfood diet involves a strict eating plan for only the first three weeks of the diet. The next step is not to focus on calories and macronutrient proportions in the diet, but choosing the best foods for your health.

Although the authors emphasize that the sirtfood diet does not account for calories, the first phase of the diet includes more restrictions. The diet begins - on a three day diet, provide yourself with 1000 calories - 3 green smoothies that can be made with cabbage, celery, parsley, green tea and lemon, as well as one full meal suggested by the authors of the book. On the fourth day - is 1500 kcal and consists of two cocktails and two products rich in sirtfoods. During the first week, you can lose three kilograms.

The second phase of the diet lasts 14 days, in which you eat daily in three meals and drinks (cocktails). According to the authors, this guarantees a stable reduction in body weight. Intervals between meals should be at least 1.5 hours. It is important to avoid foods generally considered unhealthy: store-bought sweets, fast food, fast food, and processed white flour.

Stages of the sirtfood diet:

stage I

• 1-3. day - 1000 kcal; 3 cocktails + 1 meal
• 4-7. day - 1500 kcal; 2 cocktails + 2 dishes

• 8-14. day - no signs of calorie content; 1 cocktail + 3 meals a day

• From the 15th day, the absence of strict recommendations; as the biggest part of eating sirtfoods

Can sirtfood really help you lose weight?

An experiment was conducted that showed that people who are physically active and using the sirtfood diet, on average, lose 3 kg per week without losing muscle mass. Some even noted an increase in muscle mass, and all participants in the study reported a significant improvement in well-being.

Nutritionists, however, are skeptical about the result of the experiment, because fat loss is a long process, and reducing its content in the body by 3 kg in such a short period of time is almost unrealistic. They suggest that weight loss is largely due to loss of glycogen and water. In addition, the use of a diet up to 1000 kcal and 1500 kcal and exercise always leads to weight loss, and the effect is mainly due to a decrease in the calorie content of foods and non-sirt foods.

Of course, eating a diet based on foods rich in polyphenols is very healthy, and certainly won't hurt anyone. Polyphenols have a very wide positive effect on the body, which has been confirmed by numerous scientific studies. According to experts, the weight loss effect of the diet is mainly responsible in the first week, which imposes calorie restriction.

Sirtuins, which are activated in the body by polyphenols, can speed up metabolism and promote fat loss. Participates in the metabolism of fats and glucose and plays a large role in prolonging the life of cells associated with insufficient energy supply. These reports sound very promising, but so far there have been few studies that have been able to confirm weight loss from sirtuins.

Good to know

Sirtuins play an important role in the aging process and the regulation of lifespan, are involved in the replication and repair of defective genetic material, the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates, deactivate free radicals, and, under the right conditions, slow down the aging process. Sirtuins are activated in the case of a low-calorie diet, which provides about 30-50% less energy than the body needs.