Compound mimics calorie restriction. (Biomedicine).A chemical agent now under development mimics the health benefits of long-term calorie restriction
Calorie restriction or Caloric restriction (CR) is the practice of limiting dietary energy intake in the hope that it will improve health and retard aging. and may help ward off diseases of aging such as diabetes and heart disease. Animals whose food intake is restricted to about two-thirds of what they would otherwise consume develop diabetes and heart disease later in life than do animals that eat to their heart's content, says Barbara C. Hansen of Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University, mainly at Baltimore, Md. Johns Hopkins in 1867 had a group of his associates incorporated as the trustees of a university and a hospital, endowing each with $3.5 million. Daniel C. in Baltimore (SN: 3/15/97, p. 162). However, such severe calorie restriction isn't a likely way of preventing disease in people. The new agent mimics a compound called peroxisome Peroxisome An intracellular organelle found in all eukaryotes except the archezoa (original lifeforms). In electron micrographs, peroxisomes appear round with a diameter of 0.1–1. proliferator activated receptor-delta, or PPAR-delta. In the body, PPAR-delta and related compounds handle cholesterol and fat and govern cells' sensitivity to insulin (SN: 4/17/01, p. 238). To see whether the PPAR-delta mimic wards off diseases of aging, Hansen took six middle-aged male monkeys with abnormally high concentrations of fatty acids in their blood. The animals also had abnormally low concentrations of high-density-lipoprotein-linked (HDL (Hardware Description Language) A language used to describe the functions of an electronic circuit for documentation, simulation or logic synthesis (or all three). Although many proprietary HDLs have been developed, Verilog and VHDL are the major standards. ) cholesterol, or good cholesterol 'good' cholesterol A popular term for HDL-cholesterol, see there. Cf 'Bad' cholesterol. . In monkeys and people, these conditions increase the risk of heart disease. The monkeys were also less sensitive to insulin than normal, an early sign of diabetes. After 4 weeks on the PPAR-delta mimic, the monkeys had HDL cholesterol HDL cholesterol n. See high-density lipoprotein. HDL Cholesterol About one-third or one-fourth of all cholesterol is high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. concentrations in their blood that were on average 79 percent higher than when they started. They also had fatty acid concentrations 56 percent below their initial concentrations, and the animals' sensitivity to insulin increased over the course of the study. Moreover, the agent had no apparent side effect, Hansen reported last month at a meeting on metabolic diseases in Tempe, Ariz. "Especially for HDL, I've never seen a more powerful agent," Hansen says. Although the study is small, if it holds up in people, "the public health impact could be enormous," says Andrezej Bartke of Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University, main campus at Carbondale; state supported; coeducational; est. 1869, opened 1874 as a normal school, renamed 1947. It has a center for archaeological investigation and a fisheries research laboratory. There is also a campus at Edwardsville. in Carbondale. The new compound is already being tested in people, Hansen says. |
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