A new study has discovered a molecular pathway that is a key determinant of the ageing process and could explain why eating less could extend lifespan.
“We’re getting closer and closer to a good understanding of how caloric restriction works. This study is the first direct proof for a mechanism underlying the anti-ageing
effects we observe under caloric restriction,” said Tomas A. Prolla at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The team found that an enzyme known as Sirt3 has anti-ageing effects in mammals, according to John M. Denu of UW-Madison’s Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.
Under reduced-calorie conditions, levels of Sirt3 amp up, altering metabolism and resulting in fewer free radicals produced by mitochondria, structures inside cells that produce energy and that are the sources of highly reactive forms of oxygen known as free radicals, which damage cells and promote the effects of ageing.
—ANI