A balanced diet with moderate protein content could be crucial for a long, healthy life, according to a new study published in GeroScience by researchers from Waseda University, Japan.
The research team, led by Assistant Professor Yoshitaka Kondo, studied the dietary needs of young (6 months old) and middle-aged (16 months old) male mice who were fed diets with varying protein content (5 to 45%) for two months.
The team then analyzed the effects of the different diets based on measurements such as skeletal muscle weight, liver and plasma lipid profiles, and self‑organizing map (SOM) cluster analysis of plasma amino acid profiles.
What Were the Findings?
The researchers found that low-protein diets led to mild fatty liver development and increased hepatic lipid levels in middle-aged mice compared to their younger counterparts.
Conversely, a moderate-protein diet resulted in reduced blood glucose concentrations and lipid levels in both liver and plasma, indicating that it kept both young and middle-aged mice metabolically healthier.
On examining plasma amino acid concentrations in both age groups, the researchers observed variations in these levels depending on age and protein content in the diet.
Furthermore, they identified correlations between different protein intakes and the varying amounts of hepatic triglycerides and cholesterol levels through plasma amino acid profiles obtained using SOM analysis.
Why is This Important?
The findings of this study are significant because they suggest that protein requirements change over the course of life, which might apply to humans as well.
Thus, adjusting daily protein intake in meals could promote metabolic health. It’s also inferred that the ideal dietary macronutrient balance at each life stage could extend the health span, the period of life lived without diseases.
This study concludes that a balanced diet with a moderate amount of protein could be beneficial for maintaining metabolic health and extending the health span and lifespan.
It provides a further understanding of how age-specific dietary requirements can impact metabolic health and longevity.
If you care about nutrition, please read studies about how the Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies that olive oil may help you live longer, and vitamin D could help lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.
The study was published in GeroScience.
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