Review article
Aging and oxidative stress: Modulation by dietary restriction

https://doi.org/10.1016/0891-5849(96)00162-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Aging is an inevitable biological process that affects most living organisms. Despite the enormous consequences associated with the aging process, until recently, relatively little systematic effort has been expended on the scientific understanding of this important life process. Society, however, urged by an ever increasing older population, is challenging scientists from many disciplines to explore one of nature's most complex phenomena-biological aging. For the past two decades, research directed toward the basic understanding of biological aging mechanisms and possible aging interventions have given us new insights into the molecular bases and the biological events that contribute to age-related deterioration. To further investigate the aging processes, one probe uniquely suited to exploring the progression of aging in animal models is dietary restriction, currently the only antiaging intervention accepted by gerontologists and nutritionists. Recent research renders a better understanding of how reduced dietary intake extends the life span, supplying evidence that dietary restriction is a diverse and effective modulator of oxidative stress. It has been proposed that this antioxidative mechanism is the underlying anti-aging action of dietary restriction.

References (164)

  • J.P. Kehrer et al.

    Free radicals in biology: Sources, reactivities, and roles in the etiology of human diseases

  • K.J. Farmer et al.

    Relationship between superoxide anion radical generation and aging in the houseflies, Musca domestica

    Free Radic. Biol. Med.

    (1989)
  • R.T. Dean et al.

    Hypothesis: A damaging role in aging for reactive protein oxidation products?

    Mutat. Res.

    (1992)
  • M.H. Chung et al.

    Protection of DNA damage by dietary restriction

    Free Radic. Biol. Med.

    (1992)
  • C.E. Vaca et al.

    Interaction of lipid peroxidation products with DNA

  • J.J. Chen et al.

    Inhibition of adenine nucleotide translocase by lipid peroxidation byproducts

    Free Radic. Biol. Med.

    (1995)
  • B.P. Yu et al.

    Effect of age-related lipid peroxidation on membrane fluidity and phospholipase A2: Modulation by dietary restriction

    Mech. Ageing Dev.

    (1992)
  • K.M. Boje et al.

    Microglial-produced nitric oxide and reactive nitrogen oxides mediate neuronal cell death

    Brain Res.

    (1992)
  • B.S. Kristal et al.

    4-Hydroxyhexenal is a potent inducer of the mitochondrial permeability transition

    J. Biol. Chem.

    (1996)
  • R.S. Sohal et al.

    Effect of age and metabolic rate on lipid peroxidation in housefly, Musca domestica

    Mech. Age. Dev.

    (1981)
  • B.N. Berg et al.

    Nutrition and longevity in the rat. II. Longevity and onset of disease with different levels of food intake

    J. Geront.

    (1960)
  • E.J. Masoro et al.

    Dietary moduation of the progresson of nephropathy in aging rats

    Am. J. Clin. Nutr.

    (1989)
  • L.D. Youngman

    Protein restriction (PR) and calorie restriction (CR) compared: Effects on DNA damage, carcinogensis, and oxidative damage

    Mutat. Res.

    (1993)
  • M.H. Ross

    Length of life and calorie intake

    Am. J. Cln. Nutr.

    (1972)
  • P.J. Neafsey

    Longevity hormesis

  • H.E. Enesco et al.

    α-Tocopherol increases life-span in the rotifer Philodina

    Exp. Gerontol.

    (1980)
  • E.J. Masoro

    Food restriction in rodents: An evaluation of its role in the study of aging

    J. Geront.

    (1988)
  • B.P. Yu

    How diet influences aging process of the rat

  • R. Weindruch et al.

    The retardation of aging and disease by dietary restriction

    (1988)
  • B.P. Yu

    Food restriction research: Past and present status

  • B.P. Yu

    Cellular defenses against damage from reactive oxygen species

    Physiol. Rev.

    (1994)
  • H. Van Remmen et al.

    Gene expression and protein degradation

  • E.W. Busse

    Theory and therapeutics of aging

    (1973)
  • C.M. McCay

    Chemical aspects and the effect of diet upon aging

  • E. Stuchlikova et al.

    New aspects of the dietary effect of life prolongation in rodents

  • B.P. Yu

    Putative intervention

  • R. Weindruch et al.

    Dietary restriction in mice beginning at 1 year of age; Effect of life span and spontaneous cancer incidence

    Science

    (1982)
  • R. Weindruch et al.

    Modification of age-related immune decline in mice dietary restricted from or after midadulthood

  • Y. Higami et al.

    Duration of dietary restriction-An important determinant for the incidence and age of onset of leukemia in male F344 rats

    J. Gerontol.

    (1994)
  • Y. Higami et al.

    Antitumor action of dietary restriction is lesion-dependent in male Fischer 344 rats

    J. Gerontol.

    (1995)
  • H.A. Johnson

    Is aging physological or pathological?

  • R. Holliday

    The ancient origins and causes of ageing

    News Physiol. Sci.

    (1992)
  • Z. Medvedev

    An attempt at rational classification of theories of ageing

    Biol. Rev.

    (1990)
  • J.F. Dice

    Cellular and molecular mechanisms of aging

    Physol. Rev.

    (1994)
  • B.L. Strehler

    A critique of theories of biological aging

  • A. Comfort

    The biology of senescence

    (1979)
  • M. Rose et al.

    Evolution of aging

  • A. Kowland et al.

    Towards a network theory of ageing: A model combining the free radical theory and protein error theory

    J. Thor. Biol.

    (1994)
  • Cited by (0)

    1

    Byung Pal Yu Ph.D. is a Professor of Physiology in the Department of Physiology at The University of Texas at San Antonio, TX. He graduated from Central Missouri State College, Warrenburg, MO, with a B.S. degree in chemistry and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1965 from the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, where he studied lipid biochemistry. Dr. Yu is a member of the American Physiological Society, the International Society for Free Radical Research, and the Oxygen Society. He is also a member of the Fellow of the Geronotological Society of America for which he was chairman of the Biological Sciences Section. In addition, Dr. Yu was President of the American Aging Association. He currently serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Gerontology. His current research interests are in the areas of free radicals, lipid peroxidation, aging, and dietary restriction.

    View full text