Aging and Cholesterol Metabolism

Mc Auley, Mark

Abstract

Diet is the only known intervention which has been conclusively shown to extend life span. It can be argued the key role diet has to play in the aging process came to prominence as a result of the seminal studies of Mc Cay and colleagues in the 1930s (Mc Cay et al. 1935). These studies revealed that caloric restriction (CR), without inducing malnutrition or nutrient deficiency in rats, could significantly extend their life span. Almost a century on from this pioneering work, it has been shown that CR extends both the median and maximal life span of Drosophila melanogaster and in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (Lopez-Lluch and Navas 2016). In addition, CR extends the life span of certain primates (Colman and Anderson 2011) and possibly humans (Fontana et al. 2004). The studies in humans are intriguing because they raise the question, does CR in humans simply improve overall metabolic health, which in turn augments health.

• Online Publication Date: Jan 1, 2022
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Feb 19, 2025
• Publisher: Springer
• Pages: 220-225
• Book Title: Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging
• ISBN: 9783030220082
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22009-9_122