Valter Longo
Edna Jones Professor in Gerontology and Professor in Biological Science; Director, USC Longevity Institute · University of Southern California, Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Impact
Valter Longo studies conserved mechanisms of ageing in yeast, mice and humans, focusing on nutrient-responsive signalling pathways that regulate stress resistance and on how they can be modulated to prevent or treat cancer, Alzheimer's disease and other diseases of ageing. He is best known for developing the fasting-mimicking diet (FMD), a periodic low-calorie, plant-based regimen: his group reported in Cell Metabolism (2015) that it promoted multi-system regeneration and healthspan in mice, and a 2017 randomised trial in Science Translational Medicine found reductions in markers and risk factors for ageing, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. He directs the USC Longevity Institute at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and the Longevity and Cancer Program at IFOM in Milan. Commercial interest: he founded L-Nutra, which markets FMD-based products including Prolon; according to Prolon's website he donates the profits from his L-Nutra shares to the Create Cures Foundation. He has written general-audience books, including The Longevity Diet, and TIME named him in 2018 among the 50 most influential people in health care.
Metrics
Research output
350 works · 37,407 citations · h-index 88 OpenAlex ↗
Selected publications
- Extending Healthy Life Span—From Yeast to Humans ↗ 2010 · 3,088 citations
- Fasting: Molecular Mechanisms and Clinical Applications ↗ 2014 · 1,459 citations
- Impact of intermittent fasting on health and disease processes ↗ 2016 · 1,206 citations
- Biodemographic Trajectories of Longevity ↗ 1998 · 1,055 citations
- Fasting, Circadian Rhythms, and Time-Restricted Feeding in Healthy Lifespan ↗ 2016 · 1,044 citations
Research funding
49 NIH awards · USD 29M total NIH RePORTER ↗
- Dietary Restriction, GH/IGF-1 & Mechanisms of Cellular Protection and Regeneration National Institute on Aging · 2018 · USD 2M
- Dietary Restriction, GH/IGF-1 & Mechanisms of Cellular Protection and Regeneration National Institute on Aging · 2020 · USD 2M
- Dietary Restriction, GH/IGF-1 & Mechanisms of Cellular Protection and Regeneration National Institute on Aging · 2019 · USD 2M
- Dietary Restriction, GH/IGF-1 & Mechanisms of Cellular Protection and Regeneration National Institute on Aging · 2021 · USD 2M
- Dietary Restriction, GH/IGF-1 & Mechanisms of Cellular Protection and Regeneration National Institute on Aging · 2022 · USD 2M
Links
Research fields
Associated labs
Sources & review · profile last updated 2026-09-29
- https://gero.usc.edu/faculty/longo/ 2026-09-23
- https://www.l-nutra.com/about/ 2026-09-23
- https://prolonlife.com/pages/valter-longo 2026-09-23
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/l-nutra-secures-36-5m-investment-from-mubadala-raising-series-d-proceeds-to-83-5m-and-accelerating-global-expansion-of-its-longevity-and-medical-nutrition-therapies-302666171.html 2026-09-23
- https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5qAeNNEAAAAJ&hl=en 2026-09-23
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2015.05.012 2026-09-23
- https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aai8700 2026-09-23