The Truth about The Sirtfood Diet

The Sirtfood Diet became popular in 2020 after the singer Adele endorsed it for weight loss and improved health. The drastic transformation of Adele, who lost around 45kgs, encouraged the public to follow this diet. Soon after, it gained fame across the globe to lose weight, improve wellbeing, including dark chocolate and matcha in everyday life.

What is Sirtfood Diet?

Created in 2016 by two British nutritionists, the plan promotes a diet based on polyphenol-rich foods, such as kale and buckwheat. Consuming these activates sirtuin, which suppresses appetite and speeds up metabolism, which stimulates the so-called "skinny gene" in the body (Goggins & Matten, 2017). Sirtuins are a type of protein that protects cells from dying or becoming inflamed. They can also boost metabolism, regulate appetite, increase muscle tone, and burn fat (Santos et al., 2021).

The Sirtfood Diet is based on two stages.

Stage1: This is an intensive 7-day program designed as introduction to food rich in sirtuins and aid fat loss. The person consumes approx 1000 calories in the first three days. In each of them, he/she drinks three green sirt juices and ingest a meal rich in sirtfoods. From the fourth to the seventh day, they should increase their caloric intake to approx 1500, with two green sirt juices and two meals a day.

Stage 2: This is maintenance and lasts 14 days, with the goal is to lose weight steadily. The person can eat three balanced meals rich in sirtfoods, in addition to green juice (Goggins & Matten, 2017). Both phases can be repeated as often as the person likes to increase fat loss.

We offer the first phase to the public as an introductory to sirtfoods and an intense 7 days of detox. The second phase which we call it Sirt Momentum is available exclusively to past participants to maintain their sirtfood momentum, post 7 days detox.

Some foods that are part of the sirtfood diet, rich in polyphenols, are matcha, cocoa, red onion, strawberries, lemon, green apple, walnuts, arugula, capers, chicory, celery, extra virgin olive oil, coffee, parsley, kale, dates, turmeric, proteins (salmon and chicken) in addition to the well-known detox juices.

The effectiveness of polyphenols related to obesity have been proven scientifically. Several studies investigated the effectiveness of polyphenols. In a clinical study by Aires et al. (2019), obese mice were given a polyphenol-rich diet to investigate its effectiveness. The results showed improvement in endotoxemia and plasma lipid levels, prevention of macrophage aggregation to adipose tissues, and reduction in cholesterol accumulation. Moreover, a polyphenol-rich diet also increases lifespan, and that the long-term effects of the Sirtfood diet are beneficial to our body. The adipose tissue determines the nature of obesity. These findings showed that a polyphenol-rich diet stimulates weight loss and improves health. Moreover, the sirtfoods are rich in antioxidants which has been found to mitochondrial metabolism through elevation in PGC-1α protein levels and sirtuins, as proposed in a study recruiting 30 obese people (Timmers et al., 2011). Obesity causes deficiency in PGC-1α protein levels, as suggested by Pérez et al. (2019). This shows that polyphenols-rich foods used in the sirtfood diet are effective to improve the metabolism of obese people.

Similarly, a study by Huang et al. (2016) proposed that other polyphenol-rich food like matcha also stimulate lipid metabolism leading to weight reduction. Rastmanesh (2011) also supported polyphenol-rich food based on evidence for achieving and maintain healthy body weight. There is indeed a lack of evidence in comparing the effectiveness of different weight loss regimens with a sirtfood diet. However, the studies related to polyphenol-rich foods prove the effectiveness of sirtfoods.

Several studies have proved that a calorie-restricted diet is an effective strategy to lose weight safely. Brehm et al. (2003) and Maekawa et al. (2020) showed that a calorie-restricted diet is as effective as a low carbohydrate diet, which many tend to follow when it comes to losing weight. In a calorie-restricted diet, fat mass and body weight decreases (Varady, 2011). The evidence implies that calorie restriction is an effective strategy to reduce weight.

A lot of evidence has been highlighted in support of the sirtfood diet. The advantages of sirtfoods and calorie restrictions cannot be ignored, and have been proved. A study by Castro-Barquero et al. (2018) proposed that polyphenols-rick foods benefits include prebiotic effect, decrease in body weight, BMI, and decrease in fat cells. Nutritionally, the diet is rich in fruits and vegetables, which provide dietary polyphenols, vitamins, minerals, and glucosinolates (Pallauf et al., 2013).

Sirtfood diet is an effective method to reduce weight, as many of our past participants have experienced. The discussion supported by scientific evidence shows that sirtfoods are rich in polyphenols, which helps in increasing metabolism, decreasing fat mass and weight. Mice-based studies, as well as human-based studies, also prove the effectiveness of polyphenols-rich food. Moreover, proper clinical trials have presented the significant effects of a calorie restriction diet, which is also a part of a sirtfood diet.

References

Aires, V., Labbé, J., Deckert, V., de Barros, J. P. P., Boidot, R., Haumont, M., ... & Lagrost, L. (2019). Healthy adiposity and extended lifespan in obese mice fed a diet supplemented with a polyphenol-rich plant extract. Scientific reports, 9(1), 1-16.

Anhê, F. F., Roy, D., Pilon, G., Dudonné, S., Matamoros, S., Varin, T. V., ... & Marette, A. (2015). A polyphenol-rich cranberry extract protects from diet-induced obesity, insulin resistance and intestinal inflammation in association with increased Akkermansia spp. population in the gut microbiota of mice. Gut, 64(6), 872-883.

Brehm, B. J., Seeley, R. J., Daniels, S. R., & DAlessio, D. A. (2003). A randomized trial comparing a very low carbohydrate diet and a calorie-restricted low fat diet on body weight and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy women. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 88(4), 1617-1623.

Castro-Barquero, S., Lamuela-Raventós, R. M., Doménech, M., & Estruch, R. (2018). Relationship between Mediterranean dietary polyphenol intake and obesity. Nutrients, 10(10), 1523.

Goggins, A., & Matten, G. (2017). The Sirtfood Diet. Simon and Schuster.

Huang, C. C., Tung, Y. T., Huang, W. C., Chen, Y. M., Hsu, Y. J., & Hsu, M. C. (2016). Beneficial effects of cocoa, coffee, green tea, and garcinia complex supplement on diet induced obesity in rats. BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 16(1), 1-10.

Maekawa, S., Niizawa, M., & Harada, M. (2020). A comparison of the weight loss effect between a low-carbohydrate diet and a calorie-restricted diet in combination with intragastric balloon therapy. Internal Medicine, 59(9), 1133-1139.

Pallauf, K., Giller, K., Huebbe, P., & Rimbach, G. (2013). Nutrition and healthy ageing: calorie restriction or polyphenol-rich MediterrAsian diet?. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2013.

Pérez, S., Rius‐Pérez, S., Finamor, I., Martí‐Andrés, P., Prieto, I., García, R., ... & Sastre, J. (2019). Obesity causes PGC‐1α deficiency in the pancreas leading to marked IL‐6 upregulation via NF‐κB in acute pancreatitis. The Journal of pathology, 247(1), 48-59.

Rastmanesh, R. (2011). High polyphenol, low probiotic diet for weight loss because of intestinal microbiota interaction. Chemico-biological interactions, 189(1-2), 1-8.

Santos, S. H. S., Guimarães, V. H. D., Oliveira, J. R., & Rezende, L. F. (2021). Sirtuins and metabolic regulation: food and supplementation. In Sirtuin Biology in Cancer and Metabolic Disease (pp. 39-59). Academic Press.

Timmers, S., Konings, E., Bilet, L., Houtkooper, R. H., van de Weijer, T., Goossens, G. H., ... & Schrauwen, P. (2011). Calorie restriction-like effects of 30 days of resveratrol supplementation on energy metabolism and metabolic profile in obese humans. Cell metabolism, 14(5), 612-622.

Varady, K. A. (2011). Intermittent versus daily calorie restriction: which diet regimen is more effective for weight loss?. Obesity reviews, 12(7), e593-e601.