Luigi Fontana (biogerontologist)

Luigi Fontana, M.D., Ph.D. (born in Trento, Italy on April 22, 1969) is an internationally known human systems biologist and one of the world’s leaders in the field of nutrition and healthy longevity in humans. He is currently a Professor of Medicine and Nutritional Sciences at University of Brescia, Italy and at Washington University in St. Louis, USA, where he co-directs with John Holloszy (one of the top world experts in the field of exercise physiology and preventive medicine)^[1] the Longevity Research Program.

Fontana’s pioneering studies on the effects of dietary restriction in humans have opened a new area of nutrition-related research that holds tremendous promise for the prevention of multiple age-related chronic diseases and for the understanding of the biology of human ageing.^[2] His work defines integrative human biology, and has helped direct how different aging phenotypes can and should be applied to various human populations based on both molecular and physiological parameters.^[3]^[4] As such Fontana’s work has the most profound importance as nutritional and pharmacological strategies are formulated and tested for improving healthspan in humans.^[5]

His research includes findings that long-term calorie restriction with adequate nutrition in humans reduces multiple risk factors in a variety of diseases, such as cardiovascular disease^[6] and cancer.^[7]^[8]^[9] The Fontana laboratory has also shown that calorie restriction opposes the expected age-associated changes in myocardial stiffness and autonomic function. Both left ventricular diastolic function and heart rate variability indexes, two well accepted markers of cardiovascular aging, were significantly improved by calorie restriction, and resemble those of individuals 20 years younger on a typical Western diet.^[10]^[11] He was also instrumental in launching a number of important clinical studies to investigate whether or not calorie restriction without malnutrition in humans result in the same biological adaptations that occur in long-lived experimental calorie restricted animals.^[12] Nowadays, the concept of “dietary restriction” is an important intervention to promote human health is well accepted in the scientific community, but this was not the case back in the 2001 when Dr. Fontana began his pioneering research for addressing the complicated cross-talk between calorie restriction and metabolic health in humans. He has also made important scientific contributions in understanding the role of dietary protein intake and quality in modulating cancer risk in humans.^[13]^[14]^[15] Fontana in collaboration with the group of Samuel Klein has demonstrated that (1) visceral fat is an important site for IL-6 secretion, and is associated with increased systemic inflammation^[16] and (2) weight loss induced by diet and exercise, but not surgical removal of large amounts of subcutaneous abdominal fat, improves insulin sensitivity and reduces inflammation in overweight and obese patients.^[17]^[18]

Dr. Fontana has published over 100 manuscripts in prestigious journals including Science, Nature, Cell, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Cell Metabolism, Cell Reports, Circulation, Journal American College of Cardiology, Diabetes, Aging Cell and PNAS.^[19] He has been invited to present his work at international conferences and top medical schools and research institutes around the world, including Harvard University, Cambridge University, Yale University, Universitè Paris “Pierre et Marie Curie”, Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Baylor College of Medicine, Buck Institute for Research on Aging, University of Sydney, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, National University of Singapore among others. Dr. Fontana’s is the recipient of three prestigious awards: the 2009 American Federation Aging Research (AFAR) Breakthroughs in Gerontology Award, the 2011 Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, and the 2016 American Federation of Aging Research Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award.^[20]^[21] He is a Scientific Member of the Board of Directors of the American Aging Association, and Editor in Chief of the scientific journal "Nutrition and Healthy Aging".

In 2003 and 2009, he was featured in The New York Times, “Food for Holiday Thought: Eat Less, Live to 140?” by David Hochman.^[22] and “The Calorie-Restriction Experiment” by John Gertner^[23] In 2006, he was interview by The Wall Street Journal, “Reducing Your Daily Calories by 40%: The Science Behind 'Starvation' Diets” by Tara Parker-Pope.^[24] In 2008, he was featured in the Newsweek Magazine, “The Search for Longer Life” by Anne Underwood.^[25] In 2010, he was featured in The Time Magazine, “Health Checkup: How to Live 100 Years - Eat Less, Live Longer?” by Bryan Walsh.^[26] In August 2012, he was featured in the BBC Horizon documentary Eat, Fast, Live Longer by Michael J. Mosley.^[27]

Fontana is also an environmentalist. In 2013, he wrote with Daniel Kammen^[28] and Vincenzo Atella^[29] a perspective article on the beneficial role of efficient use of energy and food in promoting human, environmental, and planetary health, and sustainable economic development.^[30] Fontana and colleagues believe that it is possible to "substantially enhance human and environmental health, societal wealth and well-being, but this requires a profound transformation in the way we live, and a new environment-centered industrial and economic system". They argue that most of the knowledge and technology to transform the world and begin a new industrial revolution already exist today. We only need to relinquish the idea of "producing more energy, food, and other products at lower cost in favor of a new paradigm that opts for less but high-quality energy, food and materials for a healthier life and environment". Fontana thinks that it is essential to educate people and the next generation of health professionals about the importance of "reducing calorie intake by increasing the consumption of a variety of minimally processed plant foods and by significantly reducing the intake of animal source foods"; interventions that will result in "a significant increase in healthspan and reduction of health care costs, environmental pollution, soil erosion, water pollution and shortage, CO2 production and global warming". Fontana, Atella & Kammen also claim that “both individual and societal wealth, happiness, and well-being do not depend merely on the acquisition of material goods and on economic growth, but are powered by our physical and psychological health, the quality of life and the richness of our social relationships, and foremost by the health of the environment that supports all life on earth, our Natural Capital that must be preserved”.

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