Dietary restriction in mice beginning at 1 year of age: effect on life-span and spontaneous cancer incidence.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Animal research with no human data.
PubMed 7063854 · doi:10.1126/science.7063854
What was done
Researchers evaluated the impact of adult-onset food restriction in 12- to 13-month-old mice from two long-lived strains. Restricted mice received nutrient-enriched diets following the concept of undernutrition without malnutrition and were compared to control mice.
What was found
Mice fed the restricted diet showed average increases of 10 to 20 percent in mean and maximum survival times compared to controls. Spontaneous lymphoma was also inhibited. Specific animal counts, baseline lifespans, and statistical significance values were not reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
The study shows that dietary restriction can extend lifespan and reduce spontaneous cancer in mice even when initiated in middle age rather than early life.
Limits
Findings in mice cannot be assumed to apply to humans. The abstract does not report sample sizes, specific caloric reduction amounts, numerical cancer incidence rates, or variance estimates.
Cited by
- supports Early research by Roy Walford and Rick Weindruch at the University of Wisconsin demonstrated that calorie restriction extends lifespan.