Noted physician Kutikuppala Surya Rao says lifespan will go up with reduction in diet without malnutrition.
He was giving a lecture at a meeting conducted by Sneha Sandhya, a forum for elderly people, at Public Library on Tuesday evening.
Mr. Rao, a Padma award winner, said aging was a complex process with multiple manifestations at the molecular, cellular, organ, and whole organism level. The nature of aging process was still not fully understood by scientists, but aging and its effects might be modulated by appropriate interventions. Dietary and genetic alterations could increase healthy lifespan and prevent degeneration. In his presentation, he explained that the mechanisms responsible for lifespan expansion were food sensors typically activated in situations of food shortage, such as IGF (insulin-like growth factor)/insulin and the TOR (target of rapamycin) pathways.
Accordingly, a reduction in food intake without malnutrition extends the lifespan 10 to 50 per cent in diverse organisms, from yeast to rhesus monkeys. Mechanisms that mediate the effects of caloric restriction are under intensive study because they are potential targets for interventions aimed at counteracting the emergence of the aging phenotype and its deleterious effects in humans.
Stay active
One must make it a point to go for a brisk walk or some exercise suitable to them, at least three hours in a week. “It's so important to be vibrant and active no matter what your age is. I've met people in their 80s recently during a conference in Beijing, who are more physically fit than people in their 40s,” he stated. He advised the aged to eat food that is high in antioxidants. “So you want a varied diet which is filled with lots of fresh fruit and vegetable and food that is natural and not been chemically processed,” he said.
The nature of aging process is still not fully understood by scientists The meeting was conducted by Sneha Sandhya, a forum for elderly people
