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The impact of low-protein high-carbohydrate diets on aging and lifespan

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Abstract

Most research on nutritional effects on aging has focussed on the impact of manipulating single dietary factors such as total calorie intake or each of the macronutrients individually. More recent studies using a nutritional geometric approach called the Geometric Framework have facilitated an understanding of how aging is influenced across a landscape of diets that vary orthogonally in macronutrient and total energy content. Such studies have been performed using ad libitum feeding regimes, thus taking into account compensatory feeding responses that are inevitable in a non-constrained environment. Geometric Framework studies on insects and mice have revealed that diets low in protein and high in carbohydrates generate longest lifespans in ad libitum-fed animals while low total energy intake (caloric restriction by dietary dilution) has minimal effect. These conclusions are supported indirectly by observational studies in humans and a heterogeneous group of other types of interventional studies in insects and rodents. Due to compensatory feeding for protein dilution, low-protein, high-carbohydrate diets are often associated with increased food intake and body fat, a phenomenon called protein leverage. This could potentially be mitigated by supplementing these diets with interventions that influence body weight through physical activity and ambient temperature.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge funding from the Aging and Alzheimers Research Institute, NHMRC grants #571328 and #1084267 and our co-authors in studies cited in this review. RdC and SJM are funded by the Intramural Program of the National Institute on Aging, NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, Australia

    David G. Le Couteur, Samantha Solon-Biet, Victoria C. Cogger, Alistair Senior, David Raubenheimer & Stephen J. Simpson

  2. Ageing and Alzheimers Institute and ANZAC Research Institute, Concord Hospital, Concord, 2139, Australia

    David G. Le Couteur, Samantha Solon-Biet & Victoria C. Cogger

  3. Translational Gerontology Branch, National Institute ON Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA

    Sarah J. Mitchell

  4. School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Alistair Senior & Rafael de Cabo

  5. School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, Australia

    David Raubenheimer & Stephen J. Simpson

  6. Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, Australia

    David Raubenheimer

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  1. David G. Le Couteur
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Correspondence to Stephen J. Simpson.

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Le Couteur, D.G., Solon-Biet, S., Cogger, V.C. et al. The impact of low-protein high-carbohydrate diets on aging and lifespan. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 73, 1237–1252 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-015-2120-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-015-2120-y

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