Forbes is carrying the best of recent articles on advances in the understanding of the biochemistry of metabolism, aging and calorie restriction. "If caloric restriction has such a huge benefit, couldn't we get it in an easier-to-swallow package? Such as, say, a pill? New research appearing in the journal Nature could be a big step in that direction. It shows how starvation triggers a particular gene that has already been linked by years of research to the processes of aging." There are uncertainties and much more research to go: "The genetic domino effect that his team uncovered may have less to do with extending life, he says, then with making it possible to survive caloric restriction at all. The life-extending results of caloric restriction could still be caused by something else."

Link: http://www.forbes.com/sciencesandmedicine/2005/03/03/cx_mh_0303aging.html