Low methionine ingestion by rats extends life span.
Dietary energy restriction has been a widely used means of experimentally extending mammalian life span. We report here that lifelong reduction in the concentration of a single dietary component, the essential amino acid L-methionine, from 0.86 to 0.17% of the diet results in a 30% longer life span of male Fischer 344 rats. Methionine restriction completely abolished growth, although food intake was actually greater on a body weight basis. Studies of energy consumption in early life indicated that the energy intake of 0.17% methionine-fed animals was near normal for animals of their size, although consumption per animal was below that of the much larger 0.86% methionine-fed rats. Increasing the energy intake of rats fed 0.17% methionine failed to increase their rate of growth, whereas restricting 0.85% methionine-fed rats to the food intake of 0.17% methionine-fed animals did not materially reduce growth, indicating that food restriction was not a factor in life span extension in these experiments. The biochemically well-defined pathways of methionine metabolism and utilization offer the potential for uncovering the precise mechanism(s) underlying this specific dietary restriction-related extension of life span.
Orentreich
N
N
Orentreich Foundation for the Advancement of Science, Inc., Biomedical Research Station, Cold Spring-on-Hudson, NY 10516.
Matias
J R
JR
DeFelice
A
A
Zimmerman
J A
JA
D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D004435:Eating; D002149:Energy Intake; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D015430:Weight Gain
D008715:Methionine