Life-span facts have always been shrouded in ambiguity, though studies have hinted at the connection between reduction in calories and longevity.
Life-span facts have always been shrouded in ambiguity, though studies have hinted at the connection between reduction in calories and longevity. Now, a novel report has suggested that growth hormone, as well as insulin has a bearing on the influences of calorie restriction and does contribute to extending life.
Dr. Andrezej Bartke from Southern Illinois University in Springfield and his team studied the effects of insulin and growth hormone and its impact on calorie restriction that leads to longevity. A battery of experiments was conducted on normal mice and mutant mice.The team found out that limiting calories increases the longevity in the normal mice. When the mice were fed less, the lifespan was found to increase by about 19 percent in normal male mice and by about 28 percent in normal female mice.
But, just the opposite was observed in the mutant mice, where calorie restriction did not increase the life span, as these mice were lacking the growth hormone receptor.
To quote the words of Dr. Andrezej Bartke, who summed up the findings with the following words: "The present findings show that growth hormone resistant mice fail to respond normally to calorie restriction, a very effective life-extending intervention. The key implication of this study is that growth hormone receptor and thus presumably the normal, physiological actions of growth hormone are important in regulation of aging and life span”
