Long life does not result from starvation

Caloric restriction may add up to 50 per cent to the life expectancy of worms and mice but it will not help humans to quite the same degree, according to two US scientists. John Phelan, of the University of California Los Angeles, and Michael Rose, of the University of California Irvine, say this is because longevity “is not a trait that exists in isolation, but one which evolves as part of a complex life history, with a wide range of underpinning physiological mechanisms involving, among other things, chronic disease processes”. Writing in the journal Aging Research Reviews, they say that in mice, for example, starvation reduces fertility, which in turn increases life span because the animal is not stressed by repeated matings and pregnancies.

Reuters