Food restriction has long been known to prolong life in rodents, and recent studies have shown it to have antiaging effects in regard to a variety of physiologic and pathologic processes. It has been suggested that these actions of food restriction relate to the reduction of metabolic rate per unit of body mass brought about by this dietary regimen. Data are presented in this report showing that food restriction can have a marked life-prolonging action in rats without reducing caloric intake per gram of body weight. Moreover, the food-restricted rats consumed a greater number of calories per gram of body weight during their lifetimes than did the rats fed ad lib, yet they lived longer. Thus, the data in this report do not support the concept that food restriction slows the rate of aging by decreasing the metabolic rate.

Action of food restriction in delaying the aging process

Metronidazole effects on microbiota and mucus layer thickness in the rat gut.

Dietary restriction (DR) increases life span and decreases age-related diseases in experimental animals It has received a great deal of attention in connection with the relationship between aging, nutrition, and oxidative stress because oxidative injury in several organ systems is a prominent feature in aging We investigated the possibility that DR can protect vulnerable liver lipids against age-related increases of peroxidation Male Fischer 344 rats fed ad libitum (AL) or dietarily restricted (maintained on 60% of AL food intake) were killed by decapitation at 4 (young) or 12 mon (adult) of age Phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide (PCOOH) concentration of liver was determined using a chemiluminescent high-performance liquid chromatographic method Liver PCOOH increased with age in adult rats, but less of an increase of PCOOH was seen in DR rats, which is consistent with results on production of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and oxygen-derived free radicals No significant differences were found in liver superoxide dismutase and catalase activity between AL and DR groups of young and adult rats Liver triglyceride and cholesterol contents were lower in DR than AL rats at 12 mon Fatty acid compositions of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine indicated that the ratio of (20:3n-6 + 20:4n-6)/18:2n-6, an index of linoleic acid (18:2n-6) desaturation, was lower in DR than in AL rats We concluded that DR suppresses age-related oxidative damage in liver by modulating the amount of lipid as well as fatty acid composition

M. Smaili

Papers

Dietary restriction decreases thiobarbituric acidreactive substances generation in the small intestine and in the liver of young rats