CALORIE RESTRICTION:
A Sacrifice for More Life
Editors Note: The following submission by Lucas F. ('15) discusses calorie restriction and its affect on aging and lifespan.
Aging is a natural process, which every human being goes through. However as common as aging may be, its reasons for occurring are still not very well understood. Nevertheless, there is one key medical fact that every theory of aging must agree with: the fact that aging kills through loss of homeostasis, in other words the biological make up of one’s cell are over time constantly altered and eventually altered enough that they cannot function anymore. If one does not die from one disease, such as cancer, or from other external causes, such as homicide, then one will die of many competing losses of homeostasis, or what medical professionals call, natural causes (2012). The purpose of a theory of aging is to explain what is causing these losses of homeostasis or these changes in one’s internal environment.
Currently, the most popular theory is the free radical theory which suggests that aging is the process of accumulating damage to your cells, eventually leading to organ failure. However, according to more recent research, the damage and error that this theory proposes seems to be only an association with aging rather than its cause (2007). In the last few years, another theory has been published and gaining a lot more support. The hyperfunction theory, as it is called, suggests that the internal development that occurs during the growing phase of a human’s life from birth to maturity does not end and instead of cell activity decreasing and leveling off during the later phases of one’s life, it continues to complete the same tasks as it when was younger, thus leading to damaging over production of biological building material throughout the body (2006). Nevertheless, studies have shown that this process of over production or aging is able to be slowed by means of calorie restriction (CR) and drug supplements. CR has shown to extend the human life span as well as postpone the acquisition of age-related diseases such as cancer. CR is proving itself to be a hopeful solution for increasing human life span and making age-related disease a thing of the past (2010).
Before understanding how calorie restriction affects aging, it is important to understand the mechanism through which it expands one’s lifespan: TOR. TOR (target of rapamycin) is a pathway within eukaryotic cells that signals certain environmental information (nutrient and hormone levels, cell proliferation signals) to surrounding cells through a very complicated network as well as regulates the cell’s own growth and survival (2010). TOR is a driving force in a human’s development from birth to maturity, for once activated by nearby nutrients, it results in increased cell growth and the advancement of cells halted in the cell cycle (2006). TOR, acting as the cause for hyperfunction, continues the same role it had during development, even after the human is too old to grow. This leads to parts of people’s cells creating materials no longer necessary and a body overly saturated with useless building material leads to very fragile cells, susceptible to disease and organ damage. As this oversaturation increases, it inevitably leads to death. However rapamycin, a drug already common in the medical field to help bodies accept newly transplanted organs, has been shown to suppress TOR, keeping it deactivated, thus preserving many cells in a resting phase and prolonging one’s life (2012). Because calorie restriction, like rapamycin, leads to lesser activation of TOR, the driving force of aging, lessening one’s food intake extends one’s life.
The real questions facing scientists, is the extent to which CR and rapamycin can extend one’s life and the drawbacks to this seemingly amazing treatment and lifestyle choice. Studies show that CR has the possibility of extending a human’s life span by an average of 30% (2010). This figure does not account for future medical breakthroughs which also have the possibility of pushing that extension even further. However, despite its seemingly miraculous ability to slow the aging process and death, CR is not without its drawbacks. The practice of CR if overdone brings the risk of malnourishment and a weakened immune system. It is undetermined how few calories per day are too few, however after a certain threshold, eating too little increases the risk of age related diseases and shortens longevity (2012). Also humans have evolved to love food, making other means of the same process, like rapamycin, possibly more popular. And rapamycin, already a drug used in the medical field, is very toxic and overdosing is most certainly a possibility. The decision lies on how humans as a people should continue our history long endeavors of increased longevity.
Humans have always dreamed of finding the Holy Grail, now sought through the ways of medicine. But every step closer to achieving this dream brings with it its own problems and concerns. The question of if sacrificing the great pleasure of food for a longer life is worth it lies with us. Cutting our caloric intake fights human’s instinctual love of eating and is unnatural. And taking a drug like rapamycin is dangerous. Letting the dream of getting more chance in life take over one’s control on a drug’s intake can lead to death itself. On the other hand, CR has the possibility of becoming an incredible medical breakthrough; as big as the eradication of smallpox or the creation of the bubonic plague vaccine. The potency of calorie restriction and the understanding of its mechanisms are not yet clear. The efficacy of suppressing TOR through calorie restriction and rapamycin is not known, and as it stands now, it has the potential to be great but also to be incredibly dangerous.
Currently, the most popular theory is the free radical theory which suggests that aging is the process of accumulating damage to your cells, eventually leading to organ failure. However, according to more recent research, the damage and error that this theory proposes seems to be only an association with aging rather than its cause (2007). In the last few years, another theory has been published and gaining a lot more support. The hyperfunction theory, as it is called, suggests that the internal development that occurs during the growing phase of a human’s life from birth to maturity does not end and instead of cell activity decreasing and leveling off during the later phases of one’s life, it continues to complete the same tasks as it when was younger, thus leading to damaging over production of biological building material throughout the body (2006). Nevertheless, studies have shown that this process of over production or aging is able to be slowed by means of calorie restriction (CR) and drug supplements. CR has shown to extend the human life span as well as postpone the acquisition of age-related diseases such as cancer. CR is proving itself to be a hopeful solution for increasing human life span and making age-related disease a thing of the past (2010).
Before understanding how calorie restriction affects aging, it is important to understand the mechanism through which it expands one’s lifespan: TOR. TOR (target of rapamycin) is a pathway within eukaryotic cells that signals certain environmental information (nutrient and hormone levels, cell proliferation signals) to surrounding cells through a very complicated network as well as regulates the cell’s own growth and survival (2010). TOR is a driving force in a human’s development from birth to maturity, for once activated by nearby nutrients, it results in increased cell growth and the advancement of cells halted in the cell cycle (2006). TOR, acting as the cause for hyperfunction, continues the same role it had during development, even after the human is too old to grow. This leads to parts of people’s cells creating materials no longer necessary and a body overly saturated with useless building material leads to very fragile cells, susceptible to disease and organ damage. As this oversaturation increases, it inevitably leads to death. However rapamycin, a drug already common in the medical field to help bodies accept newly transplanted organs, has been shown to suppress TOR, keeping it deactivated, thus preserving many cells in a resting phase and prolonging one’s life (2012). Because calorie restriction, like rapamycin, leads to lesser activation of TOR, the driving force of aging, lessening one’s food intake extends one’s life.
The real questions facing scientists, is the extent to which CR and rapamycin can extend one’s life and the drawbacks to this seemingly amazing treatment and lifestyle choice. Studies show that CR has the possibility of extending a human’s life span by an average of 30% (2010). This figure does not account for future medical breakthroughs which also have the possibility of pushing that extension even further. However, despite its seemingly miraculous ability to slow the aging process and death, CR is not without its drawbacks. The practice of CR if overdone brings the risk of malnourishment and a weakened immune system. It is undetermined how few calories per day are too few, however after a certain threshold, eating too little increases the risk of age related diseases and shortens longevity (2012). Also humans have evolved to love food, making other means of the same process, like rapamycin, possibly more popular. And rapamycin, already a drug used in the medical field, is very toxic and overdosing is most certainly a possibility. The decision lies on how humans as a people should continue our history long endeavors of increased longevity.
Humans have always dreamed of finding the Holy Grail, now sought through the ways of medicine. But every step closer to achieving this dream brings with it its own problems and concerns. The question of if sacrificing the great pleasure of food for a longer life is worth it lies with us. Cutting our caloric intake fights human’s instinctual love of eating and is unnatural. And taking a drug like rapamycin is dangerous. Letting the dream of getting more chance in life take over one’s control on a drug’s intake can lead to death itself. On the other hand, CR has the possibility of becoming an incredible medical breakthrough; as big as the eradication of smallpox or the creation of the bubonic plague vaccine. The potency of calorie restriction and the understanding of its mechanisms are not yet clear. The efficacy of suppressing TOR through calorie restriction and rapamycin is not known, and as it stands now, it has the potential to be great but also to be incredibly dangerous.
Blagosklonny, M. V. (2006). Aging and immortality: quasi-programmed senescence and its pharmacologic inhibition Cell Cycle, 5, 2087-2102.
Blagosklonny, M. V. (2012). Answering the ultimate question "What is the Proximal Cause of Aging?" Impactaging, 4(12), 861-877.
Blagosklonny, M. V. (2010). Calorie restriction: Decelerating mTOR-driven aging from cells to organisms (including humans). Cell Cycle, 6, 683-688.
Blagosklonny, M. V. (2007). Paradoxes of Aging Cell Cycle, 6(24), 2997-3003.
Blagosklonny, M. V. (2012). Answering the ultimate question "What is the Proximal Cause of Aging?" Impactaging, 4(12), 861-877.
Blagosklonny, M. V. (2010). Calorie restriction: Decelerating mTOR-driven aging from cells to organisms (including humans). Cell Cycle, 6, 683-688.
Blagosklonny, M. V. (2007). Paradoxes of Aging Cell Cycle, 6(24), 2997-3003.
