Topics of Interest: Calorie Restriction
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Since the 1930s, investigators have consistently found that laboratory rats and mice live up to 40 percent longer than usual and also appear to be more resistant to age-related diseases when fed a diet that has at least 30 percent fewer calories than they would normally consume. Now researchers are exploring whether and how caloric restriction will affect aging in monkeys and other nonhuman primates.
NIA has also begun preliminary studies of calorie restriction in people. A pilot study tested 6 months of calorie restriction on 48 people and provided the basis for the 5-year CALERIE study. This study involves 250 healthy volunteers ages 25 to 45 and is being conducted at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Tufts University in Boston, and Washington University in St. Louis.
See NIA research news related to Calorie Restriction below.
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NIH study finds calorie restriction does not affect survival
August 29, 2012Scientists have found that calorie restriction—a diet comprised of approximately 30 percent fewer calories but with the same nutrients of a standard diet—does not extend years of life or reduce age-related deaths in a 23-year...
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Understanding of mTOR pathway and lifespan refined in new study
June 25, 2012Investigators have identified interventions that extend lifespan in model systems. For example, caloric restriction (CR) – a reduction in caloric intake while maintaining adequate nutrition – has been shown to increase insulin...
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Compound improves health, increases lifespan of obese mice
August 18, 2011Researchers have reported that obese male mice treated with a synthetic compound called SRT1720 were healthier and lived longer compared to non-treated obese mice. The experimental compound was found to improve the function of the liver,...
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Study finds fasting may help reduce negative side effects of chemotherapy
July 28, 2011Valter Longo and colleagues proposed that a treatment used to prolong life in some laboratory organisms could offer protection against the negative effects of chemotherapy. That treatment is fasting, a special type of dietary...
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Media Availability: Low calorie diet affects aging-related factors
April 4, 2006What: Results from a controlled clinical trial indicate that overweight people who cut their calories by 25 percent for six months have reduced fasting insulin levels and core body temperature, two markers for which lower levels have been...
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Meal skipping helps rodents resist diabetes, brain damage
April 28, 2003A new mouse study suggests fasting every other day can help fend off diabetes and protect brain neurons as well as or better than either vigorous exercise or caloric restriction. The findings also suggest that reduced meal frequency can...
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Fasting forestalls Huntington's disease in mice
February 10, 2003Decreasing meal frequency and caloric intake protects nerve cells from genetically induced damage, delays the onset of Huntington's disease-like symptoms in mice, and prolongs the lives of affected rodents, according to investigators at...
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Two new studies suggest that caloric restriction in monkeys may extend their life and health
October 2, 1997Two recent animal studies offer a possible explanation for how caloric restriction might possibly enhance human health and help extend life as well. One new study from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and Dr. Roy Verdery at the...
