The Daily Telegraph - Features
Cut back calories
“There is a gene called mTOR which regulates how our cells sense nutrients and – depending on that – decide whether to grow or not,” explains Dr Nick Ktistakis, group leader at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, where researchers are studying the ageing process.
“Reducing the activity of mTOR has been shown to extend lifespan in many organisms, and would likely do so in humans. So, reducing mTOR activity is good for longevity,” he says.
One way to effectively switch off mTOR is to cut back on calories, according to studies in animals, which had their food cut by up to half.
However, scientists admit that the “sheer willpower” people would need to follow suit makes this unachievable and may also cause dangerous side effects such as too much weight loss.
Therefore, researchers are studying a pharmaceutical alternative: a drug called rapamycin. It was originally developed as an immunosuppressant for organ transplant patients but, like calorie restriction, switches off mTOR. “Rapamycin is one of the most robust life-extending drugs as it extends lifespan in rodents up to 15 per cent and is currently being tested in dogs. It is one of the most active areas of research,” says Prof Magalhaes.
However, studies have supported calorie-cutting for a longer life. A team at Columbia University found people who cut their food intake by 25 per cent for two years slowed their biological ageing by two to three per cent, judging by chemical tags that regulate the expression of longevity-related genes.
The researchers noted that intermittent fasting (fasting for short periods) or time-restricted eating (within a fixed window, such as 10am to 6pm) could trigger similar results.