Lower levels of insulin in the brain linked to longevity

Healthy weight link to longevity BBC News 6/20/07 "Keeping a healthy weight may help people live longer by limiting brain exposure to insulin...A study in mice found that reducing insulin signals inside brain cells increased lifespan...Previous research in fruit flies and roundworms has suggested that reducing the activity of the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels, can increase lifespan...The latest study looked at the effects of a protein, IRS2, which carries the insulin signal in the brain...Mice who had half the amount of the protein lived 18% longer than normal mice...Despite being overweight and having high levels of insulin, the mice were more active as they aged, and their glucose metabolism resembled that of younger mice...the engineered mice were living longer because the diseases that kill them, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, were being postponed due to reduced insulin signalling in the brain, even though circulating levels of insulin were high...it may be possible to design drugs to reduce IRS2 activity to reproduce the same effect, although they would have to be specific to the brain...Study leader Dr Morris White, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, said the simplest way to encourage longevity was to limit insulin levels by exercising and eating a healthy diet...Diet, exercise and lower weight keep your peripheral tissues sensitive to insulin. .."That reduces the amount and duration of insulin secretion needed to keep your glucose under control when you eat..."Therefore, the brain is exposed to less insulin."...His team is now planning to look at possible links between IRS2 signalling and dementia, which research has shown is associated with obesity and high insulin levels..."

In case you think IRS2 has something to do with revenue... it actually stands for Insulin Receptor Substrate 2. What I find interesting about this research is the divide made between insulin exposure in the brain and the rest of the body. Now, why is this happening in mice? And to what extent is it happening to us, if at all?

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