Our body has different functions, mechanisms, and ongoing processes that keep our bodies in good condition. One such mechanism is called “Autophagy,”. In easy words, this is a physiological mechanism that allows the cells to feed on themselves. But the question arises, “Is autophagy safe?” 

Cells are the building blocks of our bodies, and if they feed on themselves, our bodies will suffer in more ways than one.

• By clearing out damaged cells, autophagy can help delay the signs of aging at the cellular level.
• Prolonged fasting or calorie restriction intensifies autophagy, leading to enhanced cellular repair.
• During periods of stress, like exercise, autophagy helps prevent muscle breakdown by recycling damaged proteins.
• Autophagy aids in removing pathogens from cells, strengthening the immune response against infections.
• High temperatures or heat shock can trigger autophagy, aiding in cellular stress recovery.
• Autophagy plays a protective role in cardiac cells by helping them recover after injury, such as a heart attack.

To help you understand the severity of this mechanism, we shall discuss important information about autophagy, how it works, and its types. 

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know and whether it is beneficial. 

The word “autophagy” is derived from the Greek word “autophagy,” which means self-eating. It can be described as a natural process that breaks down the damaged and unwanted components present inside the cells of your body. 

You can think of autophagy as a natural recycling or detoxing method. 

This process results in efficient and healthier cells since it removes toxic accumulation and waste, providing cellular regeneration. The broken-down components are reused in cellular repair and for forming new cells. 

However, autophagy comprises different steps. To understand its mechanism clearly, continue reading and learn all about it. 

Autophagy is a recent discovery, but it has been occurring in humans since the start. This process was discovered in 1963 by Christian de Duve, a Belgian biochemist, working on how insulin affects the liver. 

During his studies, Christian discovered a process of cells cannibalizing parts of themselves through organelles known as lysosomes. 

In 1974, de Duve received a Nobel Prize in Medicine and roused an interest in autophagy and how this process works. 

Later, in 1983, Yoshinori Ohsumi, a Japanese biologist, further studied the autophagy process and identified specific genes that help regulate it. Ohsumi discovered that there are genes that catalyze this process. 

Without them, cells will not be able to repair and reuse themselves. Ohsumi received a Nobel Prize in 2016 for his Autophagy work on Autophagy.

The cytoplasm is a fluid present inside the cell, and organelles are small structures present inside the cytoplasm with specific functions. 

During the process of autophagy, cytoplasm and organelles get recycled. This process helps keep our bodies balanced by removing the damaged cell parts. Autophagy is triggered because of nutrient starvation in the cell, and these nutrients include glucagon and insulin. 

The pancreas produces these two hormones and helps regulate blood sugar levels.

After you eat, your body releases insulin. Still, while fasting, your body releases glucagon as the sugar level in the blood decreases. 

Glucagon signals your body to use the glycogen in the liver and increase blood sugar. The cells recycle themselves. Insulin doesn’t activate the process of autophagy, but glucagon does. 

Once Autophagy is activated, four steps occur: sequestration, transport, degradation, and utilization. Each of these steps is essential for autophagy and helps keep the balance. 

This process starts with the stretching of photophores, two membranes present in our cells, around cytoplasm and organelles to enclose them. 

Organelles and cytoplasm breakdown, and the double-membrane becomes an organelle called the autophagosome.

 Usually, the organelles and content inside the autophagosome are selected since they are present within range. 

The next step is that the autophagosomes must be joined with lysosomes, which will assist it in the breakdown process. A lysosome is a sac-like component inside the cell, containing proteins and enzymes that trigger biological mechanisms and processes. 

Autophagosomes cannot directly connect themselves to this organelle, so they first join together with an endosome. 

This connection between endosomes and autophagosomes creates an amphisome that can join easily with a lysosome. 

The third step is called the breakdown, which begins after the fusion of amphisome and lysosome occurs. 

As soon as these two components connect, the lysosome starts to release an enzyme called hydrolases, which breaks down the organelles and material in the original autophagosome.

 Now the autophagosome consists of cellular material which is broken down, such as amino acids and is known as autophagolysosome or autolysosome. 

 The broken-down cellular material is then excreted out of the autophagolysosome back into the cells and can be utilized again. 

These broken products are used for the formation of new proteins, fuel, and glucogenesis, a process in which the body creates sugar or glucose using non-carbohydrate sources. 

The process of autophagy has a direct effect inside the body, both outside and within the cell premises. These effects include:

Regarding the different types of autophagy, there are three types: macro-autophagy, micro-autophagy, and Chaperone-mediated autophagy. 

Macro-autophagy and the term autophagy are used interchangeably, and this article only focuses on this type. However, there are two additional types, and these include:

Micro-autophagy is a process in which cytoplasmic content enters the lysosome via deformation or invagination of the lysosomal membrane. 

This type of autophagy doesn’t make use of the phagophore membrane. Instead, it uses the lysosome, which draws the cell’s contents towards it and breaks it down. 

Chaperone-mediated autophagy, aka CMA, is not like macroautophagy or microautophagy and is more targeted. Instead of engulfing the bulk cytoplasm, CMA targets specific proteins to break down. 

Then chaperone protein binds these proteins and carries out a cellular process that makes them into a 3D shape. This shape allows them to function properly.

 Since these proteins are called chaperone proteins, they help collect other proteins and transport them into the lysosome membrane to help them re-utilize. 

While this is a natural process of our bodies, there are ways you can support the process and help it start. But before you learn how to induce it, you must wonder whether this process is healthy. 

Autophagy does not consume energy, but uses damaged cells and non-functioning cell organelles to produce energy for the body. 

When the cells are undergoing autophagy, they enter a state of preservation, and this state makes the cells more resistant to diseases and other issues such as cellular stress.  

Now that you know how healthy autophagy is, you can read about inducing this process in your body. To induce autophagy, you can follow the following tips:

Since Autophagy is directly related to nutritional deficiency, one of the easiest ways to induce it is by intermittent fasting.

 This provides you with the same autophagy benefits as lengthier fasts, but without having you carry out lengthy fasts. You can keep an easy intermittent fast and induce autophagy instead of staying hungry and fasting all day. 

The 16:8 method is a great example; you can fast for 16 hours and eat for 8. 

Autophagy’s fundamental process is glucogenesis, which is when the body produces its own glucose using non-carb sources. The Keto diet helps control your carb intake and is based on a diet that is high in fat and low in carbohydrates. 

This makes the keto diet ideal for autophagy, so when the body gets deprived of glucose, it produces its own by using the stored fat in your body. 

When it burns the stored fat, it produces ketones, which have neuroprotective qualities. 

The body induces autophagy to maintain energy as it adjusts from being glucose-dependent to fat-dependent by using ketones. 

Exercise is similar to fasting since it puts stress on your body. When you exercise, your body starts to fix the injured muscle tissues, which activates the process of autophagy. 

Apart from the above three methods, some specific food items also promote and help induce autophagy. 

These food items include: apple, onions, green tea, nuts, red wine, berries, soybeans, and turmeric. Even coffee helps in inducing this process in specific tissues. 

Autophagy is essential for many functions of the body, and this makes it incredibly beneficial. These benefits include:

The autophagy process has properties that protect your cells, and this helps in preventing the formation of cancer in your body. 

This process also helps in preventing the accumulation of toxins in the damaged cells. Since it removes harmful toxins, the infected cells cannot gather in one place, reducing the risk of tumor formation. 

Mental illnesses are directly related to harmful or damaged brain cells, which is where autophagy can help. 

This process helps deal with damaged cells and renews them; it recycles the healthy organelles of the cell and creates new ones, so all the damaged cells get destroyed in the body. 

This protects you against mental health illnesses.  

Autophagy helps destroy the damaged cells present in your body, preventing disease formation and increasing your lifespan. 

Autophagy targets damaged components in your cells and any foreign item that enters the cell, such as toxins and bacteria.

 So these bacterias cannot create diseases since Autophagy helps eliminate them as soon as they enter your body. 

By removing these toxins, your body can fight diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis from spreading and increasing in the body. 

Since Autophagy works on creating new brain cells, neurodegenerative diseases stay at bay. These diseases may include Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s. 

All of these diseases are due to a build-up of abnormal proteins. 

So Autophagy prevents them from accumulating, breaks them down, and eliminates them from your brain. 

This is a common question asked by people learning about this process, and the answer is a little complicated. While Autophagy does not have a direct link to weight loss, it does help in inducing the weight loss process. 

Autophagy helps in removing the cells that do not have a function in the body processes. 

So this makes the metabolic process more effective, which in turn helps with bloating and weight loss. 

Moreover, autophagy is induced by fasting and exercising and doing a combination of both will naturally lead to a loss in weight. 

Autophagy is an important process of your body that maintains balance and keeps your cells in good condition. It recycles damaged cells and excretes toxins and bacteria out of your body. 

This procedure is essential for protecting you from neurodegenerative disorders and cancer and has many other benefits for your health.