Key to anti-ageing is amino acids
8 Jan 2010 by Evoluted New Media
In order to avoid ageing we need to restrict our diet – the combination of proteins, not the number of calories that is.
In order to avoid ageing we need to restrict our diet – the combination of proteins, not the number of calories that is.
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Fruit fly used for studying anti-ageing |
Researchers at the newly founded Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne studied whether health benefits stem from a reduction in specific nutrients or calorie intake in general by manipulating the diet of female fruit flies.
Previous research showed dietary restriction increased longevity, but negatively affected fertility -female fruit flies reproduced less frequently with a reduced litter size even though their reproductive span lasted longer with a low calorie diet. Scientists believe this is the result of an evolutionary trait as essential nutrients are diverted towards survival instead of reproduction.
The researchers showed that longevity and fertility are affected by a combination of the type and amount of amino acids, whilst varying the amount of the other nutrients had little or no effect. Dr Matthew Piper from the Max Planck Group at UCL London told Laboratory News: “The normal fly diet is sugar and yeast. We individually modulated the nutrients found in yeast: carbohydrates, amino acids, lipids and vitamins to isolate what it is about yeast that is important for lifespan. We were very pleased to find that amino acids could recapitulate the effect of yeast addition. More specifically, the relative level of methionine was key to modulating the lifespan response.”
By carefully manipulating the balance of amino acids, lifespan and fertility were maximised indicating that it’s possible to extend lifespan without wholesale dietary restriction and without lowering the reproductive capacity.
Dr Piper concluded: “Studies with both mice and rats that point to the importance of dietary methionine for healthy lifespan. This gives us hope that the molecular mechanisms mediating the effect are conserved between flies and mammals and may therefore also be relevant for humans. We are now actively seeking the molecular pathways responsible for the effect as manipulating these directly may be more realistic than a dietary intervention for humans.”
