Eating less can lead to a longer life: massive study in mice shows why. Weight loss and metabolic improvements do not explain the longevity benefits. Immune health, genetics and physiological indicators of resiliency seem to better explain the link between cutting calories and increased lifespan.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08026-3

From the linked article:

Eating less can lead to a longer life: massive study in mice shows why

Weight loss and metabolic improvements do not explain the longevity benefits of severe dietary restrictions.

Cutting calorie intake can lead to a leaner body — and a longer life, an effect often chalked up to the weight loss and metabolic changes caused by consuming less food. Now, one of the biggest studies1 of dietary restrictions ever conducted in laboratory animals challenges the conventional wisdom about how dietary restriction boosts longevity.

The study, involving nearly 1,000 mice fed low-calorie diets or subjected to regular bouts of fasting, found that such regimens do indeed cause weight loss and related metabolic changes. But other factors — including immune health, genetics and physiological indicators of resiliency — seem to better explain the link between cutting calories and increased lifespan.

“The metabolic changes are important,” says Gary Churchill, a mouse geneticist at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, who co-led the study. “But they don’t lead to lifespan extension.”

Should someone who is already at the ideal body weight try to eat less in order to secure these benefits? Or is someone at the ideal body weight already assumed to be eating the optimal number of calories for these benefits?