Research Finds Potential Keys to Protecting From Obesity and Prolonging Healthy Lifespan

A study published today at eLife found that adding the nutrient selenium to the diet helps prevent obesity and provides metabolic benefits to mice.

The results can lead to interventions that reproduce many of the anti-aging effects associated with dietary restrictions while allowing people to eat normally.

Some types of diets have been shown to extend healthy life expectancy, or healthy life expectancy. One of the proven ways to extend healthy life expectancy in many organisms, including non-human mammals, is to limit the dietary intake of an amino acid called methionine.

Recent studies suggest that the effects of methionine restriction on healthy life expectancy are likely to be conserved in humans. It may be possible to practice methionine restriction, such as by adhering to a vegan diet, but such a diet may not be practical or desirable for everyone. In the current study, a research team at the Orentreich Foundation for the Advancement of Science (OFAS) in Cold Spring, NY, has developed an intervention that produces the same effects as methionine restriction while allowing individuals to eat. Aimed at. Regular unlimited diet.

An important clue for developing such treatments is that methionine restriction causes a decrease in the amount of an energy-regulating hormone called IGF-1. If a treatment is found that causes a similar reduction in IGF-1, this may also have beneficial effects on healthy life expectancy. Previous studies have shown that selenium supplementation reduces circulating IGF-1 levels in rats, suggesting that this may be an ideal candidate.

The team first studied whether selenium supplementation provided the same protection against obesity as methionine restriction. They fed young male and older female mice one of three high-fat diets: a control diet containing typical amounts of methionine, a methionine-restricted diet, and typical amounts of methionine and selenium. Food containing the source. For both male and female mice of all ages, the authors found that selenium supplementation completely protects against the dramatic weight gain and fat accumulation found in control-fed mice and limits methionine. I found that it was about the same as.

Next, they investigated the effects of three diets on physiological changes normally associated with methionine restriction. To do this, they measured the amount of four metabolic markers in blood samples from previously treated mice. As expected, they found a dramatic decrease in IGF-1 levels in both male and female mice. They also saw reduced levels of the hormone leptin, which controls food intake and energy consumption. Their results show that selenium supplementation produces most, if not all, of the characteristics of methionine restriction, suggesting that this intervention may have similar positive effects on healthy life expectancy. doing.

To gain insight into the beneficial effects of selenium supplementation, researchers used another organism, the yeast. The two most widely used measurements of healthy yeast life expectancy are chronological life expectancy, which indicates how long a dormant yeast can survive, and replication life expectancy, which measures the number of times yeast cells can produce new offspring. is. The team has previously shown that methionine restriction prolongs the lifespan of yeast over time, so we tested whether selenium supplementation would do the same. After all, yeast grown under selenium-supplemented conditions had a 62% longer chronological lifespan (13 to 21 days) and a 9-generation longer replication lifespan compared to controls. This shows that supplementing yeast with selenium has a benefit on healthy life expectancy that can be detected by testing cell aging multiple times.

“One of the main goals of aging research is to identify simple interventions that promote human health,” said Ja Johnson, senior author and senior scientist at OFAS. “Here we present evidence that short-term administration of organic or inorganic selenium sources provides multiple health benefits to mice, most notably dietary obesity prevention in the long term. These supplements are expected. The compounds also prevent age-related illnesses and prolong the overall survival of mice. Hope that many of the benefits observed in mice also apply to humans. I am. “

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