Eat Less, Live Longer?

Could controlling your diet lead to a longer life? New research from the NYU Langone Medical Center suggests this may indeed be the case. In an analysis encompassing over 10,000 genes, it was found that calorie restricted diets halt the normal rise and fall of activity in around 900 genes linked to aging and memory formation in the brain.

The study used female mice which, as is the case in humans, are more prone to dementia than their male counterparts. The animals were fed on a food pellet diet that provided 30 percent fewer calories than that of the control groups. The resulting changes in gene expression were assessed by examining tissue from the hippocampus – a region of the brain known to be affected earliest in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

It has been well-known for a long time that these kind of dietary regimes prolong the lives of rodents and other mammals, though as yet the effects in humans are not well understood. What is noteworthy about this study is that it is the first to show the genetic impact on the memory and learning regions of aging brains. The results suggest that diets with fewer calories derived from carbohydrates hinder some aspects of aging and chronic disease. Calorie restricted diets arrested expression levels in a number of genes associated with the aging phenotype. There is ample evidence that this may extend to all mammals – including humans.

Senior study investigator Stephen D. Ginsberg believes the research ‘widens the door to further study into calorie restriction and anti-aging genetics’. However, he also warns that calorie reduced diets are not ‘the fountain of youth’. While the discovery is promising, more research is needed before we can be certain of seeing the same results in humans.