Luigi Fontana (medical researcher)

Luigi Fontana, M.D., Ph.D. is an Italian medical researcher who studies longevity, with a focus on calorie restriction and metabolism. He is a Professore Ordinario of Medicine and Nutritional Sciences at University of Brescia, Italy and a Research professor at Washington University in St. Louis.[1]

He earned his MD at University of Verona in 1994 and did his residency there until 1999; he earned his PhD at the University of Padova with a focus on metabolism in 2004. He earned a diploma in acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine from the So Wen Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine School in Milan in 1995.[1]

He did post-doc work at Washington University from 2001 to 2003, and then had an appointment there as a visiting scientist until 2013, when he was made a research professor. In 2011 he was appointed a Professore Straordinario in nutrition at the University of Brescia and was appointed Professore Ordinario in 2014.[1]

His research has focused on calorie restriction and its effects on aging. Around 2012 he started a long-term study of 45 members of the Calorie Restriction Society with the intention of tracking their health for around 12 years each.[2][3] He also has been a primary investigator in the CALERIE trial, which started in 2007, in which people were placed on a diet with 25% fewer calories and received regular counseling to help them remain on it.[2]

As of 2008 he did not believe that advocating for people to adapt a calorie restricted diet would be useful for public health, as he viewed it as not sustainable for most people, nor did he believe that drugs could ever be developed to mimic calorie restriction, since it has so many effects. Instead he argued that people should eat a healthy diet mostly of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and should eat moderately.[3]

As of 2018 his most-cited papers were:[4]

  • Fontana, L; Partridge, L; Longo, VD (16 April 2010). "Extending healthy life span--from yeast to humans". Science. 328 (5976): 321–6. doi:10.1126/science.1172539. PMC 3607354. PMID 20395504.
  • Fontana, L; Eagon, JC; Trujillo, ME; Scherer, PE; Klein, S (April 2007). "Visceral fat adipokine secretion is associated with systemic inflammation in obese humans". Diabetes. 56 (4): 1010–3. doi:10.2337/db06-1656. PMID 17287468.
  • Muegge, BD; Kuczynski, J; Knights, D; Clemente, JC; González, A; Fontana, L; Henrissat, B; Knight, R; Gordon, JI (20 May 2011). "Diet drives convergence in gut microbiome functions across mammalian phylogeny and within humans". Science. 332 (6032): 970–4. doi:10.1126/science.1198719. PMC 3303602. PMID 21596990.
  • Klein, S; Fontana, L; Young, VL; Coggan, AR; Kilo, C; Patterson, BW; Mohammed, BS (17 June 2004). "Absence of an effect of liposuction on insulin action and risk factors for coronary heart disease". The New England Journal of Medicine. 350 (25): 2549–57. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa033179. PMID 15201411.
  • Fontana, L; Meyer, TE; Klein, S; Holloszy, JO (27 April 2004). "Long-term calorie restriction is highly effective in reducing the risk for atherosclerosis in humans". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 101 (17): 6659–63. doi:10.1073/pnas.0308291101. PMC 404101. PMID 15096581.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Università degli Studi di Brescia. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  2. 1 2 Underwood, Anne (5 December 2008). "The Search for Longer Life". Newsweek.
  3. 1 2 Gertner, Jon (October 7, 2009). "The Calorie-Restriction Experiment". New York Times.
  4. ↑ "Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD". Google Scholar. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
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