The effectiveness of anti-aging diets is being questioned

Researcher Mitchell Lee and colleagues reviewed the literature on anti-aging diets. They also investigated potential common mechanisms of their action. According to the review, the efficacy and safety of these diets for humans has yet to be thoroughly studied.

More recently, alternative anti-aging diet methods have been described that provide new potential clinical applications. These include:

• intermittent fasting;
• diets that mimic fasting;
• ketogenic diets;
• time-limited food intake;
• eating a limited amount of protein and certain amino acids.

Despite the widespread popularization of some of these diets, many questions remain about their effectiveness outside the laboratory setting.

The researchers summarized the available literature on anti-aging diets and concluded that although these interventions have been well studied in organisms such as mice, flies and yeast, it is currently impossible to know if such diets affect biological aging in humans.

“Further research should focus both on a better understanding of the cellular and molecular mediators of anti-aging diets under tightly controlled laboratory conditions, and on genetic and environmental changes that may affect the health of people on such diets,” – reported by Mitchell Lee.

Research also shows that the physiological effects of these diets are too confusing, even when studied in protozoa. Researchers have found intriguing similarities between anti-aging diets. The general mechanism of anti-aging diets may be related to the inhibition of the mTOR protein kinase. This evolutionarily conserved signaling pathway could provide the molecular basis for drugs that could be useful in extending human lifespan.