Basic Pursuits

For years scientists have known that the only way to increase lifespan in many, many
creatures (rats most often) is to restrict the amount of calories that they eat.

It has been a mystery why this is so, but that mystery may be close to being
solved. Researchers at the University of Florida recently completed a study
using rats that tests the phenomenon of autophagy.

Say what?

"Autophagy is a housekeeping mechanism that keeps cells free of damaged and
thereby detrimental mitochondria and other toxic materials while recycling
their building blocks - nutrients needed by the cell,” said Stephanie
Wohlgemuth, a lecturer in UF’s department of aging and geriatrics and the
study’s lead author. “So if that process is maintained with age — or even
increased — that can only be beneficial.”

When you lower the calories and keep the nutrition high, autophagy ramps up and
the aging process slows down. "The stress of a low-calorie diet(that induces autophagy) was enough to boost cellular cleaning in the hearts of older
rats by 120 percent over levels seen in rats that were allowed to eat what they
wanted," according to the report.

The researchers maintain that autophagy is in response to the stress induced by
lower caloric intake. I wonder. Perhaps it's just the opposite. Autophagy can
take place because the cells are not under the constant stress of constantly eliminating the waste of excess food.