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Uh oh, I've got to stop practicing that 'life's too short,
eat dessert first' philosophy...       Carole


--- Judith Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Skip the Calories And Save Your Brain
>  by Amy Norton
>
>  NEW YORK, June 30, 2000 (Reuters Health) - While
> low-calorie diets have
> been linked to a longer lifespan in both animals and
> humans, the reason
> for the association has been unclear. Now researchers
> have evidence from
> studies in mice that cutting calories shields brain cells
> from the
> decline that comes with aging.
>
> According to investigators at the University of
> Wisconsin-Madison, the
> study suggests that calorie intake may help determine a
> person's risk
> for degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer's and
> PARKINSON'S
> disease.
>
> Cheol-Koo Lee and his colleagues report their findings in
> the July issue
> of Nature Genetics.
>
> In experiments with mice, Lee's team used a gene chip, a
> new type of
> gene-scanning technology, to rapidly determine the
> activity of more than
> 6,000 genes in the animals' brain
> tissue.
>
> The researchers found that aging boosted the activity of
> some genes and
> decreased it in others. As the mice aged, activity
> increased in genes
> responsible for inflammation and the stress response--two
> key factors
> related to cell damage. In addition, activity declined in
> genes involved
> in repairing cell damage. Co-investigator Dr. Richard
> Weindruch told
> Reuters Health that inflammation in the brain isbelieved
> to be related
> to certain diseases such as Alzheimer's.
>
> Since it is known that animals live longer on restricted
> diets,
> Weindruch said, his team expected that brain tissue from
> mice raised on
> low-calorie diets would show fewer aging-related gene
> shifts. The
> researchers had previously shown this to be true in mouse
> skeletal
> muscle.
>
> Indeed, when Weindruch and his colleagues compared
> elderly mice raised
> on a low-calorie diet with those on a standard diet, they
> found the
> calorie-deprived mice had maintained a more youthful
> balance of gene
> activity.
>
> Exactly how calorie intake affects genes over a lifetime
> is unknown,
> according to Weindruch. He said it is possible that
> restricting energy
> intake results in basic changes in energy metabolism,
> which in turn
> helps regulate gene activity.
>
> Weindruch also noted that a study in Parkinson's patients
> has suggested
> that high calorie intake contributes to the risk for the
> disease. "These
> findings," he said, "provide a link at the molecular
> level."
>
> SOURCE: Nature Genetics 2000;25:294-297.
>   Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited.
>
> --
> Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
> [log in to unmask]
>                         Today’s Research...
>                                 Tomorrow’s Cure


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