Cutting calories may be way to live longer

Saint Louis University researchers suggest cutting back on calories could be a promising strategy to live longer.

Calorie restriction has long been shown to slow the aging process in rats and mice, but scientists do not know how calorie restriction affects the aging process in rodents. One popular hypothesis is that it slows aging by decreasing a thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine, which then slows metabolism and tissue aging.

The study, published in Rejuvenation Research, found that calorie restriction — cutting approximately 300 to 500 calories per day — had a similar biological effect in humans and, therefore, may slow the aging process.