Intermittent fasting plus calorie restriction could be the key to living longer, study in mice suggests
- In an experiment, mice that ate at night – when they are normally active – and consumed fewer calories lived 35 per cent longer than a control group
- The research suggests cutting calories has positive effects that are magnified when combined with intermittent fasting in time with the circadian clock
Not only what we eat, but also when we eat it could play a role in how long we live, new research on mice suggests.
The idea that reducing the amount of calories you eat can extend your lifespan has been around for a while. But recently, a team from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in Dallas, in the United States discovered that caloric restriction extended mice’s lifespans the most when the mice ate in accordance with their circadian clocks.
The circadian clock is an internal timekeeping device that make sure our cells are primed for food, sleep and activity.
The work of the team, which is led by neuroscience professors Joseph Takahashi and Carla Green, was published in the journal Science in May.
“It really cemented this idea that aligning your eating with your circadian rhythms is so important to overall health,” said Green.
Future studies could yield clues about how human eating habits factor into our lifespans, she said.
