In a new study from Pennington Biomedical Research Center, researchers found calorie restriction improves metabolic and immune responses that help determine both how long a person lives and how many years of good health they enjoy.
They found two years of modest calorie restriction reprogrammed the pathways in fat cells that help regulate the way mitochondria generate energy, the body’s anti-inflammatory responses, and potentially longevity.
In the study, the team used data from the longest-running calorie restriction clinical trial in humans.
They found that people who cut their calorie intake by about 14 percent over two years generated more T cells, which play a key role in immune function and slow the aging process.
As people age, their body produces fewer T cells. As a result, older people have a harder time fighting off infections and certain cancers.
Calorie restriction helps prevent the thymus from shrinking so the person generates more T cells.
In addition to improving immunity, an increase in T cells is associated with an improved ability to burn stores of fatty acids for energy.
That’s important because if a person doesn’t burn this fuel, the fat may build up in organs such as the muscle and liver, leading to insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes and aging.
The study had another important finding: a potential treatment to reduce age-related inflammation and improve metabolic health.
The team found calorie restriction also reduces the levels of gene encoding platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PLA2G7).
Reducing PLA2G7 produces health benefits that include lowering age-related inflammation and improving metabolic health.
If researchers can find a way to harness PLA2G7, they could create a treatment to extend a person’s healthspan, the time an individual experiences good health.
If you care about metabolism, please read studies that your metabolism changes as you age, but it is different from what you know, and this stuff in oranges may reduce obesity and prevent diabetes.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about new way to treat heart disease in type 2 diabetes, and results showing that common diabetes drug may reverse liver inflammation.
The study is published in Science and was conducted by Eric Ravussin et al.
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