Reduced calorie intake has show to extend the lifespan of mice of up to 40 percent longer and now new research suggests that eating a reduced calorie diet later in life can still improve longevity. Professor Stephen Spindler (University of California) and his collaborators will be reporting their findings at the Society for Experimental Biology’s Main Meeting in Glasgow being held today.

Eating a low calorie diet that is nutrient dense has shown to help prevent cancer, and also increase longevity in mice studies. Spindler and his colleagues would like to find drugs to mimic the longevity effect because of the difficulty for most people to eat a low calorie and nutritiously dense diet. One drug that is normally used to treat diabetic patients is showing some promise of mimicking a reduced calorie diet. Spindler and the researchers are not sure if healthy people would benefit from taking this drug and if taken over a lifetime, there is a toxicity that could contradict the longevity benefits.

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