Despite the growing body of research indicating how adherence to a healthy diet and intake of plant-derived bioactive compounds may have beneficial effects on preserving body function, the real impact of dietary interventions on the aging process and age-associated diseases still remains vague. To date, the best-studied nutritional approach to extend life- and healthspan (in model organisms) is caloric restriction (CR). Around for decades, CR has proven to be a very robust and broadly applicable intervention that affects several aging-relevant molecular pathways and elicits a range of physiologically beneficial effects in all model organisms tested. However, a study of CR in humans is challenging and some well-established effects in model organisms have been difficult to translate. Likewise, the real-life applicability of CR is hardly sustainable in the long term; thus, alternative approaches that could mimic the physiological benefits of CR are of interest.
Recently, a variety of different nutritional strategies have been developed to produce CR-like effects on longevity, reduction of age-related disease, and maintenance of cellular and physiological functions. Examples include time-restricted eating (TRE), intermittent fasting (IF), alternate-day fasting (ADF), or specialized sub-forms thereof. Other interesting avenues in nutritional interventions to promote healthy aging include the modulation of macronutrient content, as done in ketogenic diets, the supplementation of specific dietary components, such as polyamines (spermidine, spermine), nicotinamides, vitamins, and novel caloric-restriction-mimetics (CRMs) which are believed to elicit specific health-benefiting effects. For many of those interventions, common features are life- and/or healthspan-extension across species-borders and the induction of autophagy.
Since many of those nutritional anti-aging interventions have entered clinical research, it is now time to assemble a comprehensive overview of their molecular and physiological effects, building the first bridge between groundbreaking basic research and clinical application. This Research Topis will gather articles on the molecular and physiological effects of CR and CR-alternatives/mimetics in pre-clinical and clinical application and their feasibility in practical use in medicine. Where do we stand, what comes next? Which nutritional intervention is close to being applied in health care and for which specific purpose? Can we personalize nutritional interventions?
We encourage authors to submit articles addressing the aforementioned topics and related relevant fields that aim at a better understanding of CR, CR-alternatives, and -mimetics on the molecular level and in the clinical application. All article types are welcome, including Original Research, Methods, (Mini) Reviews, Perspectives, and Opinion articles.
Despite the growing body of research indicating how adherence to a healthy diet and intake of plant-derived bioactive compounds may have beneficial effects on preserving body function, the real impact of dietary interventions on the aging process and age-associated diseases still remains vague. To date, the best-studied nutritional approach to extend life- and healthspan (in model organisms) is caloric restriction (CR). Around for decades, CR has proven to be a very robust and broadly applicable intervention that affects several aging-relevant molecular pathways and elicits a range of physiologically beneficial effects in all model organisms tested. However, a study of CR in humans is challenging and some well-established effects in model organisms have been difficult to translate. Likewise, the real-life applicability of CR is hardly sustainable in the long term; thus, alternative approaches that could mimic the physiological benefits of CR are of interest.
Recently, a variety of different nutritional strategies have been developed to produce CR-like effects on longevity, reduction of age-related disease, and maintenance of cellular and physiological functions. Examples include time-restricted eating (TRE), intermittent fasting (IF), alternate-day fasting (ADF), or specialized sub-forms thereof. Other interesting avenues in nutritional interventions to promote healthy aging include the modulation of macronutrient content, as done in ketogenic diets, the supplementation of specific dietary components, such as polyamines (spermidine, spermine), nicotinamides, vitamins, and novel caloric-restriction-mimetics (CRMs) which are believed to elicit specific health-benefiting effects. For many of those interventions, common features are life- and/or healthspan-extension across species-borders and the induction of autophagy.
Since many of those nutritional anti-aging interventions have entered clinical research, it is now time to assemble a comprehensive overview of their molecular and physiological effects, building the first bridge between groundbreaking basic research and clinical application. This Research Topis will gather articles on the molecular and physiological effects of CR and CR-alternatives/mimetics in pre-clinical and clinical application and their feasibility in practical use in medicine. Where do we stand, what comes next? Which nutritional intervention is close to being applied in health care and for which specific purpose? Can we personalize nutritional interventions?
We encourage authors to submit articles addressing the aforementioned topics and related relevant fields that aim at a better understanding of CR, CR-alternatives, and -mimetics on the molecular level and in the clinical application. All article types are welcome, including Original Research, Methods, (Mini) Reviews, Perspectives, and Opinion articles.
