Longevity Daily: 6th August, 2020

Everyday our team of researchers in Oxford are inundated with scientific, and medical research articles that have the potential to improve health, wellbeing, and longevity. In this blog we highlight a few of them that caught our attention today.

1. Recently, intermittent fasting (IF), and time-restricted-feeding (TRF) diets have been gaining in popularity as a way to lose weight, and improve health. But does this type of diet actually help with weight loss?
   • To answer this question researchers at the University of Chicago conducted a the world’s first human randomized controlled clinical trial.
   • In this clinical trial they they tested whether 4-h TRF (eating only between 3 and 7 p.m.), 6-h TRF (eating only between 1 and 7 p.m.), or a control group (no meal timing restrictions), for 8 weeks had any effect on body weight and cardiometabolic risk factor.
   • Their published results show that “4- and 6-h time-restricted feeding induce mild reductions in body weight over 8 weeks and show promise as interventions for weight loss.” TRF may also benefit cardiometabolic health.
     
     
2. Type 2 diabetes is increasing globally at an alarming rate. The aging population, and proliferation simple carbohydrate rich foods are key enablers of this trend. Since 1957 Metformin has been the main drug to treat people with type 2 diabetes. But a lot has changed since 1957, and is metformin still effective?
   • To answer this question Danish researchers conducted a systematic review of 18 randomized controlled trials which included a total of 10, 860 where patients were given Metformin for anywhere between 1 to 11 years.
   • After review all this data across all the various trials the authors of this report conclude the following: “There is no clear evidence whether metformin monotherapy compared with no intervention, behaviour changing interventions or other glucose-lowering drugs influences patient-important outcomes.”
     
     
3. Some species do not appear to follow the standard ‘laws’ of ageing, displaying negligible increases in mortality risk as they age. Understanding what makes these species different can help guide efforts to delay ageing in humans.
   • In a study of naked mole-rats, an exceptionally long-lived rodent species, researchers analysed plasma metabolites in these animals and compared them to other, shorter-lived species.
   • Low circulating levels of specific amino acids resembled those observed in hibernating ground squirrels and in some long-lived animal models such as calorie restricted mice.
   • Modifying the ageing metabolomic profile to a more youthful state may enable humans to lead healthier and longer lives.