Diet and longevity

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The relationship between diet and longevity encompasses diverse research studies involving both humans and animals, requiring an analysis of complex mechanisms underlying the potential relationship between various dietary practices, health, and longevity.

Contents

As of 2021, there is no clinical evidence that any dietary practice reverses the biological effects of aging. [1]

Fasting

The concept of fasting and longevity involves abstaining from food to decrease the incidence of diseases and increase lifespan. The use of fasting dates to the 5th century BC, as attributed to Greek physician Hippocrates who suggested that people with certain illnesses should abstain from food or drink as therapy. [2]

Although health can be influenced by diet, including the type of foods consumed, the amount of calories ingested, and the duration and frequency of fasting periods, [3] there is no good clinical evidence that fasting promotes longevity in humans, as of 2021. [1] [4] [5]

Calorie restriction

Calorie restriction is a widely researched intervention to assess effects on aging, defined as a sustained reduction in dietary energy intake compared to the energy required for weight maintenance. [1] [4] To ensure metabolic homeostasis, the diet during calorie restriction must provide sufficient energy, micronutrients, and fiber. [4] Some studies on rhesus monkeys showed that restricting calorie intake resulted in lifespan extension, while other animals studies did not detect a significant change. [1] [6]

According to preliminary research in humans, there is little evidence that calorie restriction affects lifespan. [1] [4]

Related Research Articles

Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated way to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight, or to prevent and treat diseases such as diabetes and obesity. As weight loss depends on calorie intake, different kinds of calorie-reduced diets, such as those emphasising particular macronutrients, have been shown to be no more effective than one another. As weight regain is common, diet success is best predicted by long-term adherence. Regardless, the outcome of a diet can vary widely depending on the individual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fat</span> Esters of fatty acid or triglycerides

In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.

Life extension is the concept of extending the human lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled biological limit of around 125 years. Several researchers in the area, along with "life extensionists", "immortalists", or "longevists", postulate that future breakthroughs in tissue rejuvenation, stem cells, regenerative medicine, molecular repair, gene therapy, pharmaceuticals, and organ replacement will eventually enable humans to have indefinite lifespans through complete rejuvenation to a healthy youthful condition (agerasia). The ethical ramifications, if life extension becomes a possibility, are debated by bioethicists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fad diet</span> Popular diet with claims not supported by science

A fad diet is a diet that is popular, generally only for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard scientific dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements; as such it is often considered a type of pseudoscientific diet. Fad diets are usually not supported by clinical research and their health recommendations are not peer-reviewed, thus they often make unsubstantiated statements about health and disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low-carbohydrate diet</span> Diets restricting carbohydrate consumption

Low-carbohydrate diets restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet. Foods high in carbohydrates are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and protein, as well as low carbohydrate foods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okinawa diet</span> Eating habits of the indigenous people of the Ryukyu Islands

The Okinawa diet describes the traditional dietary practices of indigenous people of the Ryukyu Islands, which were claimed to have contributed to their relative longevity over a period of study in the 20th century.

A low-protein diet is a diet in which people decrease their intake of protein. A low-protein diet is used as a therapy for inherited metabolic disorders, such as phenylketonuria and homocystinuria, and can also be used to treat kidney or liver disease. Low protein consumption appears to reduce the risk of bone breakage, presumably through changes in calcium homeostasis. Consequently, there is no uniform definition of what constitutes low-protein, because the amount and composition of protein for an individual with phenylketonuria would differ substantially from one with homocystinuria or tyrosinemia.

Calorie restriction is a dietary regimen that reduces the energy intake from foods and beverages without incurring malnutrition. The possible effect of calorie restriction on body weight management, longevity, and aging-associated diseases has been an active area of research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-protein diet</span> A diet high in protein

A high-protein diet is a diet in which 20% or more of the total daily calories come from protein. Many high protein diets are high in saturated fat and restrict intake of carbohydrates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healthy diet</span> Type of diet

A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy.

The CRON-diet is a nutrient-rich, reduced calorie diet developed by Roy Walford, Lisa Walford, and Brian M. Delaney. The CRON-diet involves calorie restriction in the hope that the practice will improve health and retard aging, while still attempting to provide the recommended daily amounts of various nutrients. Other names include CR-diet, Longevity diet, and Anti-Aging Plan. The Walfords and Delaney, among others, founded the CR Society International to promote the CRON-diet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protein–energy malnutrition</span> Medical condition

Protein–energy undernutrition (PEU), once called protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), is a form of malnutrition that is defined as a range of conditions arising from coincident lack of dietary protein and/or energy (calories) in varying proportions. The condition has mild, moderate, and severe degrees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Very-low-calorie diet</span> Diet with very or extremely low daily food energy consumption

A very-low-calorie diet (VLCD), also known as semistarvation diet and crash diet, is a type of diet with very or extremely low daily food energy consumption. VLCDs are defined as a diet of 800 kilocalories (3,300 kJ) per day or less. Modern medically supervised VLCDs use total meal replacements, with regulated formulations in Europe and Canada which contain the recommended daily requirements for vitamins, minerals, trace elements, fatty acids, protein and electrolyte balance. Carbohydrates may be entirely absent, or substituted for a portion of the protein; this choice has important metabolic effects. Medically supervised VLCDs have specific therapeutic applications for rapid weight loss, such as in morbid obesity or before a bariatric surgery, using formulated, nutritionally complete liquid meals containing 800 kilocalories or less per day for a maximum of 12 weeks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western pattern diet</span> Modern dietary pattern

The Western pattern diet is a modern dietary pattern that is generally characterized by high intakes of pre-packaged foods, refined grains, red meat, processed meat, high-sugar drinks, candy and sweets, fried foods, industrially produced animal products, butter and other high-fat dairy products, eggs, potatoes, corn, and low intakes of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, pasture-raised animal products, fish, nuts, and seeds.

Intermittent fasting is any of various meal timing schedules that cycle between voluntary fasting and non-fasting over a given period. Methods of intermittent fasting include alternate-day fasting, periodic fasting, such as the 5:2 diet, and daily time-restricted eating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diet and obesity</span> Effect of diet on obesity


Diet plays an important role in the genesis of obesity. Personal choices, food advertising, social customs and cultural influences, as well as food availability and pricing all play a role in determining what and how much an individual eats.

In biology, energy homeostasis, or the homeostatic control of energy balance, is a biological process that involves the coordinated homeostatic regulation of food intake and energy expenditure. The human brain, particularly the hypothalamus, plays a central role in regulating energy homeostasis and generating the sense of hunger by integrating a number of biochemical signals that transmit information about energy balance. Fifty percent of the energy from glucose metabolism is immediately converted to heat.

CALERIE is a trial currently underway in the U.S. to study the effects of prolonged calorie restriction on healthy human subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weight management</span> Techniques for maintaining body weight

Weight management refers to behaviors, techniques, and physiological processes that contribute to a person's ability to attain and maintain a healthy weight. Most weight management techniques encompass long-term lifestyle strategies that promote healthy eating and daily physical activity. Moreover, weight management involves developing meaningful ways to track weight over time and to identify the ideal body weights for different individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luigi Fontana (medical researcher)</span> Italian/Australian physician scientist, professor, environmentalist and author

Luigi Fontana, M.D., PhD, FRACP is a physician scientist who studies healthy longevity, with a focus on calorie restriction, endurance exercise and metabolism. He is the Leonard P Ullmann Chair in Translational Metabolic Health at the Charles Perkins Centre, where he directs the Charles Perkins Centre Royal Prince Alfred Clinic and the CPC RPA Health for Life Research, Educational and Clinical Program. He is also a Professor of Medicine and Nutrition in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney and a Clinical Academic in the Department of Endocrinology at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, Australia. Fontana was a professor of medicine and co-Director of the Healthy Longevity Program at Washington University School of Medicine.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Lee MB, Hill CM, Bitto A, Kaeberlein M (November 2021). "Antiaging diets: Separating fact from fiction". Science. 374 (6570): eabe7365. doi:10.1126/science.abe7365. PMC   8841109 . PMID   34793210.
  2. "Fasting". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  3. Longo, Valter D.; Anderson, Rozalyn M. (2022). "Nutrition, longevity and disease: From molecular mechanisms to interventions". Cell. 185 (9): 1455–1470. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.04.002. PMC   9089818 . PMID   35487190.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Flanagan, Emily W.; Most, Jasper; Mey, Jacob T.; Redman, Leanne M. (2020-09-23). "Calorie restriction and aging in humans". Annual Review of Nutrition. 40 (1): 105–133. doi:10.1146/annurev-nutr-122319-034601. ISSN   0199-9885. PMC   9042193 . PMID   32559388.
  5. "Intermittent Fasting Schedules".
  6. Mattison, Julie A.; Colman, Ricki J.; Beasley, T. Mark; et al. (2017-01-17). "Caloric restriction improves health and survival of rhesus monkeys". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 14063. doi:10.1038/ncomms14063. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   5247583 .