Valter D. Longo (born 1967) is an Italian-American
biogerontologist
Biogerontology is the sub-field of gerontology concerned with the biological aging process, its evolutionary origins, and potential means to intervene in the process. The term "biogerontology" was coined by S. Rattan, and came in regular use wi ...
and
cell biologist
Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...
known for his studies on the role of
fasting
Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...
and nutrient response genes on cellular protection aging and diseases and for proposing that longevity is regulated by similar genes and mechanisms in many
eukaryote
The eukaryotes ( ) constitute the Domain (biology), domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a membrane-bound cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms ...
s. He is currently a professor at the
USC Davis School of Gerontology
The USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology is one of the seventeen academic divisions of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, focusing on undergraduate and graduate programs in gerontology.
History
Founded in 1975, the Leonar ...
with a joint appointment in the department of Biological Sciences as well as serving as the director of the
USC Longevity Institute.
Early life and education
Valter Longo was born into a
Calabria
Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
n family in the
northern Italian city of
Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
in 1967.
As a child, he spent much of his time imitating
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
's guitar-playing style. At the age of 16, he moved to
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
to study jazz guitar,
and lived with extended relatives.
While there, he observed that his relatives in the United States were genetically similar to his family back home, but many of them were suffering from
diabetes
Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
and
cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...
due to diets rich in fat, meat, and sugar.
Three years later, he transferred to the
University of North Texas College of Music
The University of North Texas College of Music, based in Denton, is a comprehensive music school among the largest enrollment of any music institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. It developed the first jazz studies ...
to study jazz under
Jack Petersen.
To pay for his tuition, he worked at a gas station, repaired roofs, sold water filtration equipment, and joined the army as a reserve tank driver, narrowly avoiding deployment to combat during the 1991
Gulf War
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.
During his second year of music, Longo was selected to direct the university's marching band—an assignment he considered humiliating for someone aspiring to be a rock star. Consequently, he decided to shift his focus to studying nutrition and longevity.
He graduated from the
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...
in 1992.
In 1992 he joined the laboratory of
calorie restriction
Calorie restriction (CR, also known as caloric restriction or energy restriction) is a dietary regimen that reduces the energy intake from foods and beverages without incurring malnutrition. The possible effect of calorie restriction on body w ...
pioneer
Roy Walford
Roy Lee Walford, M. D. (June 29, 1924 – April 27, 2004) was a professor of pathology at University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, a leading advocate of calorie restriction for life extension and health improvement, and a crew m ...
at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
where he studied calorie restriction and aging of the
immune system
The immune system is a network of biological systems that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to bacteria, as well as Tumor immunology, cancer cells, Parasitic worm, parasitic ...
.
While Longo sees Walford as a pioneer, he describes the extreme diet Walford advocated as a "little crazy,"
as it severely restricted food intake during Walford’s time in the experimental habitat of
Biosphere 2
University of Arizona Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and i ...
. "When they exited Biosphere, they looked liked hell," Longo said. "Walford looked like a skeleton."
He completed his
PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
work in Biochemistry studying
antioxidant
Antioxidants are Chemical compound, compounds that inhibit Redox, oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce Radical (chemistry), free radicals. Autoxidation leads to degradation of organic compounds, including living matter. Antioxidants ...
enzyme
An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...
s and anti-aging genes under
Joan Valentine at
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
in 1997,
and his postdoctoral training under
Caleb Finch
Caleb Ellicott Finch (born July 4, 1939) is an American academic who is a professor at the USC Davis School of Gerontology. Finch's research focuses on aging in humans, with a specialization in cell biology and Alzheimer's disease.
Early life a ...
at the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
.
Career
Valter Longo is the Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences, as well as the director of the Longevity Institute at the
Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
, and the Longevity and Cancer Program at the IFOM Institute of Molecular Oncology in
Milan, Italy
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
.
In 2018, Longo led a team of researchers from the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
and
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, focusing on interventions to protect against aging and disease. The team received a new $10 million grant from the
National Institute on Aging
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), located in Bethesda, Maryland. The NIA itself is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.
The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand ...
.
Personal life and diet
Valter Longo is not married and has no children,
he said: "I'm dedicated to what I do and involved in many clinical trials."
With regard to longevity, Longo promotes a mostly
plant-based diet
A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. It encompasses a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of fiber-rich plant products such as vegetables ...
and eats fish no more than two or three times per week. In addition, he suggests implementing
time-restricted eating, with daily eating windows of 11–12 hours. His research is focused on the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD). The FMD is a low-calorie, low-protein, moderate-carbohydrate, moderate-fat
plant-based diet
A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. It encompasses a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of fiber-rich plant products such as vegetables ...
program, that he argues mimics the effects of periodic
fasting
Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...
or
water fasting
Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic state ...
. The course lasts five days, while still aiming to provide the body with nutrition, and is considered a periodic fast. Longo stated that the purpose of creating FMD was not to promote weight loss but to help end the global medical culture centered on pill consumption. He described this system as "prehistoric, it’s expensive, and it’s making us all broke." Longo founded the biotechnology company L-Nutra and developed the ProLon fasting-mimicking diet. ''
MIT Technology Review
''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...
'' reported that while ProLon was a commercial success, Longo was concerned about its potential impact on his scientific reputation. In 2017, after a series of articles about the product—one of which described him as sounding like a "snake oil salesman"—he announced that he would no longer accept consulting fees and would donate his company shares to charity.
Related media
In 2011, Longo was profiled on ''
Through the Wormhole
''Through the Wormhole'' is an American science Documentary film, documentary television series narrated and hosted by American actor Morgan Freeman. It began airing on Science Channel in the United States on June 9, 2010. The series concluded i ...
'' for his longevity-related research. A year later, he discussed his fasting research with
Michael Mosley
Michael Hugh Mosley (22 March 1957 – 5 June 2024) was a British television and radio journalist, producer, presenter and writer who worked for the BBC from 1985 until his death. He presented television programmes on biology and medicine and ...
in an episode of the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
documentary series, ''
Horizon
The horizon is the apparent curve that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This curve divides all viewing directions based on whethe ...
'' called, ''
Eat, Fast, and Live Longer''.
His appearances and interviews in documentaries and TV series include the 2012 movie ''Science of Fasting'', the 2020 series ''
The Goop Lab
''The Goop Lab'' (also known as ''The Goop Lab with Gwyneth Paltrow'') is an American documentary series about the lifestyle and wellness company Goop, founded by American actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who acts as host and executive producer ...
'', and ''
Down to Earth with Zac Efron
''Down to Earth with Zac Efron'' is an American documentary television series that premiered on Netflix on July 10, 2020. It stars Zac Efron and Darin Olien, who also act as executive producers of the series. The documentary revolves around Efro ...
''. Longo's studies on fasting inspired the documentary ''Fasting and The Longevity Revolution'', narrated by
Edward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. After graduating from Yale College in 1991 with a degree in history, he worked for a few months in Japan before moving to New York City ...
and directed by
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-nominated
Barry Alexander Brown
Barry Alexander Brown (born 28 November 1960 in Warrington, Cheshire) is an English born-American film director and editor. As a film editor, he is best known for collaborations with film director Spike Lee, editing some of Lee's best known films ...
.
Bibliography
Accolades
In 2018, Valter Longo was named one of the fifty most influential people in health care by ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', which called him "the fasting evangelist",
and in 2021 ''
Science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'' called him a pioneer in the nutrition and cancer field. Longo is also on
Clarivate
Clarivate Plc is a British-American Public company, publicly traded analytics company that operates a collection of subscription business model, subscription-based services, in the areas of bibliometrics and scientometrics; business intelligenc ...
's list of
Highly Cited Researchers for 2021–24.
References
External links
*
*
*
* at
National Library of Medicine
The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library.
Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. I ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Longo, Valter
1967 births
Biogerontologists
Living people
Italian emigrants to the United States
Cell biologists
Fasting researchers
Longevity researchers
People of Calabrian descent
Plant-based diet advocates
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
University of Southern California faculty
University of North Texas alumni
Scientists from Genoa