A 2024 study shows the potential for fasting mimicking diets (FMD) to reduce kidney damage and loss of function in kidney disease.

Best-selling author of "The Diabetes Code," Dr. Jason Fung says that recent FMD studies are compelling as they show benefits that go beyond affecting blood-glucose levels and weight, the kidney health benefits typically linked to fasting.

"They did another study ... [of] different kidney disease, like IgA nephritis and types of glomerular nephritis that aren't related at all, and they also showed a reduction in the damage to the kidneys," he says.

Nephritis is inflammation of the kidney tissues, including the glomeruli, which is crucial to the kidney's blood filtering role.

A nephrologist (kidney-specialized physician) and expert in low-carb dieting and intermittent fasting, Fung joined "Vital Signs with Brendon Fallon" to explain what gives FMDs their power and how they are done.

"Fasting actually causes a complete change in how your body works," Fung says, adding that "when those nutrient sensors go down -- insulin, mTOR ... your body shifts to a sort of regenerative, survival mode."

Fung likens doing a conventional five-day fast (with nothing but water) to running a marathon -- even if people do it once, they might not do it again, he says.

The fasting-mimicking diet is a way to get 80 percent of fasting's health benefits, with half the difficulty usually involved, he adds.

Fung reveals his own way of doing an FMD at home and how he guides his patients to begin the diet on "Vital Signs."