More On Protein Restriction In Flies

The ever-useful Randall Parker has more on recent research into protein restriction versus calorie restriction in fly experiments. Be sure to look at Robert Bradbury's comment to the post as well:

There has always been some evidence that certain types of protein restriction may extend lifespan via mechanisms other than strict caloric restriction. One has to look at what caloric restriction probably does -- it probably decreases the production of free radicals from the mitochondria and therefore the downstream oxidative damage. However what protein restriction does is signal the upregulation of the recycling of proteins, esp. damaged proteins. So you can lower the ratio of damaged proteins to good proteins by either reducing the source of the damage or increasing the rate at which the damage is removed. Now, if some of the damaged proteins happen to be those in the mitochondria (which is likely to be the case) then protein restriction may increase the fraction of mitochondria with undamaged proteins which are less likely to cause free radical damage (damaged [sloppy] mitochondrial proteins increase free radical production).

Will this translate to humans? Who knows, and too early to say. Plain, vanilla calorie restriction still has robust science behind it for human health and longevity - but it's a far cry from any form of plausible and effective longevity therapy or radical life extension.

Comment Submission

Post a comment; thoughtful, considered opinions are valued. New comments can be edited for a few minutes following submission. Comments incorporating ad hominem attacks, advertising, and other forms of inappropriate behavior are likely to be deleted.

Note that there is a comment feed for those who like to keep up with conversations.