GLASGOW, Scotland, April 4 (UPI) -- Reducing calorie intake later in life can still induce many health and longevity benefits, University of California researchers report.
Previous research had shown reduced calorie intake over a lifetime can increase health and longevity, but study author Stephen Spindler found reducing calorie intake later in life not only increased longevity, it could play a role in preventing cancer.
The crucial mechanism of low-calorie diets later in life may be to stimulate the body to eliminate damaged cells on the road to becoming cancerous.
Such diets may also stimulate repair in damaged cells like neurons and heart cells, according to findings presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting in Glasgow.
The study is also published in the Annual Review of Nutrition.
