Dogs lives extended by calorie restiction

Dogs Lived 1.8 Years Longer On Low Calorie Diet: Gut Flora May Explain It ScienceDaily 4/20/07 "Changes caused to bugs in the gut by restricting calorie intake may partly explain why dietary restriction can extend lifespan, according to new analysis from a life-long project looking at the effects of dietary restriction on Labrador Retriever dogs...Those with a restricted intake of calories lived, on average, about 1.8 years longer than those with a greater intake and they had fewer problems with diseases such as diabetes and osteoarthritis, plus an older median age for onset of late-life diseases...differences in the makeup of gut microbes between the two sets of dogs could partly explain their metabolic differences. The dogs that were not on a restricted diet had increased levels of potentially unhealthy aliphatic amines in their urine. These reflect reduced levels of a nutrient that is essential for metabolising fat, known as choline, indicating the presence of a certain makeup of gut microbe in the dogs. This makeup of gut microbes has been associated in recent studies with the development of insulin resistance and obesity...Professor Jeremy Nicholson from Imperial College London said: "This fascinating study was primarily focused on trying to find optimised nutritional regimes to keep pet animals such as dogs healthy and as long-lived as possible. However these types of life-long studies can help us understand human diseases and ageing as well, and that is the added bonus of being able to do long-term non-invasive metabolic monitoring."...The team believes that one important outcome of this work will be the ability to improve the design of products' nutritional properties that mimic the health benefits of dietary restriction in pet dogs."

Huge study here, doesn't seem to be getting much press elsewhere. Maybe in time.

If I can get the original study I'll post more details.

Imperial College London release.

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