[Paleopsych] NS: Low fat, low protein diet boosts longevity

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Low fat, low protein diet boosts longevity
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7442&print=true

      * 10:35 31 May 2005
      * Alison Motluk

    The idea that animals live longer if they eat less has been shown to
    be not entirely correct - at least in fruit flies. For these insects,
    it is the type of food and not just the quantity that controls their
    longevity.

    It has been known for some time that calorie restriction significantly
    lengthens the lifespan of many non-primate species - everything from
    worms to fleas to mice. Linda Partridge at University College London,
    UK, and colleagues wanted to see if the effect was merely due to a
    reduction of total calories or of particular nutrients in the diet.

    So the researchers divided up their Drosophila melanogaster fruit
    flies into four groups and put them on different diets. The control
    group got the standard fruit fly lab meal of yeast, which contains
    protein and fat, and sugar - a meal boasting about 1200 kilocalories
    per litre.

    The second group was fed on a calorie-restricted diet, with equal
    amounts of yeast and sugar - about 521 kilocalories per litre. The
    third group was given more yeast than sugar, while the fourth group
    got more sugar than yeast. The latter two diets had about 860
    kilocalories per litre each.

Choice meal

    The flies on the calorie restricted diet lived the longest - 82%
    longer compared to the controls. But the flies on the higher calorie
    diet with reduced yeast intake did very well too.

    Lowering the amount of protein and fat in the flies diet helped
    increase lifespan by nearly 65%. It accounts for nearly all of the
    effect, says Partridge. It cannot just be calories. Eating less sugar
    increased longevity only by about 9%.

    Brian Kennedy, a researcher who works on calorie restriction and
    ageing at the University of Washington in Seattle, US, says: It's
    these detailed studies that are going to unlock the secrets [of the
    effects of calorie restriction].

    Journal reference: PLoS Biology (vol 3, p e223)

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Weblinks

      * [18]Linda Partridge, University College London
      * [19]http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbtcee/flies/Linda_Partridge.html
      * [20]Brian Kennedy, University of Washington
      * [21]http://depts.washington.edu/mcb/facultyinfo.php?id=218
      * [22]Public Library of Science Biology
      * [23]http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=index-html&i
        ssn=1545-7885

References

   12. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624991.400
   13. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624991.400
   14. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7347
   15. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7347
   16. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624941.900
   17. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624941.900
   18. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbtcee/flies/Linda_Partridge.html
   19. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbtcee/flies/Linda_Partridge.html
   20. http://depts.washington.edu/mcb/facultyinfo.php?id=218
   21. http://depts.washington.edu/mcb/facultyinfo.php?id=218
   22. 
http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=index-html&issn=1545-7885
   23. 
http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=index-html&issn=1545-7885