Longevity Boost Tied to Specific Nutrients, Not Caloric Restriction
Longevity Boost Tied to Specific Nutrients Cutting fat and protein extends fly lifespan without calorie restriction Cutting fat and protein extends fly lifespan without cutting calories, providing further insight into the effects of diet on longevity.
Caloric restriction is known to extend lifespan in many organisms.
Linda Partridge of University College London and colleagues wanted to determine whether, at least in flies, this is due to a total reduction of calories or a reduction of particular nutrients.
So the researchers varied the nutrients in the fly’s standard lab diet of yeast and sugar.
Both yeast (which contributes protein and fat) and sugar (carbohydrates) have the same calories per gram, allowing the researchers to adjust nutrient composition without affecting the calorie count.
They found that reducing both nutrients increased the flies’ life span, but cutting out the yeast had nearly as great an effect.
Flies on a calorie-restricted diet lived 82% longer than controls, flies on the yeast-restricted diet had a 65% gain and flies on a sugar-restricted diet had just about a 9% gain.
Partridge and colleagues suggest that yeast and sugar trigger different metabolic pathways with different effects on lifespan.
The research is reported in the journal PLoS Biology Read the full text here <a href=”"http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0030223″” Nutrients not Caloric Resriction Responsible for Life Extension