Molecules That Might Stop Aging & Disease

Jimmy Eriksson — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 03:01:43 +0000

Science is entering a new bandwagon, at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Research is addressing the nexus of how dietary restriction alleviates proneness to aging and diseases.

A reasonable explanation is given by Charles Mobbs, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience and of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in his research work published in the November’s 17th edition of the Journal, Public Library of Science Biology. The study was entitled as “Role of CBP and SATB-1 in Aging, Dietary Restriction, and Insulin-Like Signaling,”

The research scrutinized the influence that high-caloric and dietary restriction had on biochemical response. The research showed that lower-calorie diet did eventually delay the age related illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease. The dietary restriction being in proteins, fats or carbohydrates seemed to have little influence on the molecular puzzle. According to Dr. Mobbs, it is not the amount of calorie consumed that matters. The influence that a restricted-diet has on glucose metabolism is the key point as the glucose metabolizes influence oxidative stress. This means that a high calorie diet may increase the risk of age related disease as it contributes to more oxidative stress.

CREB-binding protein (CBP) is induced through dietary restriction. This does eventually manage genes and thereby monitors the overall cellular function. It is a fact that if the beneficial effect of CBP can be perfectly copied then drugs performing the same function as dietary restriction could be made available. It is believed by scientists that this could possibly extend life span by making human less prone to old-age-illness.

According to Dr. Mobbs, the CBP variation determines the lifespan of mammals by 80 percent. If an equilibrium balance of around 10 percent restriction was found for human, then life span could increase a little. However, a too high dietary restriction would reduce life span, as people would die from starvation.

Research found that if dietary restriction reduces the caloric intake by around 30 percent for mammals, then their life span increased by approximately 50 percent. It also significantly reduced the risk of age related illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease.

The research used roundworms, which were genetically modified so that they would suffer from Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. The reduction of the dietary consumption of the worm enabled close evaluation of the lifespan and the proneness of old-age-disease. The research showed that lifespan increased by around 65 percent while risk of old-age disease shrank by 50 percent.

The fact that dietary restriction does activate CBP gave us ground to establish these findings. As the activation process of CBP was blocked, all the positive inhibited effect of CBP did also stop. This proved that CBP has a positive and protective role during dietary restriction.

High-calorie Diets

Dr Mobbs, in his second part of the research, focuses on the effect that high-calorie had on CBP. Usually, high-calorie can cause diabetes as the glucose metabolism becomes paralyzed. Mice were used for this particular research. It was found that diabetes diminished the activation of CBP. This would mean that high-calorie diet would have an accelerating effect on aging and contradictory result to dietary restriction.

The research concludes that dietary restriction promotes CBP, and thereby inhibiting glucose metabolism that develop oxidative stress. This process eliminates damage of tissues and reduces the growth of cancer cells that are a cause of oxidative stress. Moreover, the protective benefit is only prevalent as long as a dietary restriction is maintained; if higher calorie diets are consumed the protective effect will be gone as the glucose metabolism alters.

It is important to understand the protective role CBP has on age. Drugs and Medicine can thereafter be developed to imitate the positive effect of CBP.

Reference;
Scientists find molecular trigger that helps prevent aging and disease

Anti Aging, Gerontology, Health And Aging, Immortality, Longevity