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Nature 418, 287-288 (18 July 2002) | doi:10.1038/418287a

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Longevity: Don't hold your breath

Siu Sylvia Lee & Gary Ruvkun

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In some organisms a reduced-calorie diet increases lifespan. Conventional thinking about the mechanism involved now comes under question from the results of experiments with yeast.

More than sixty years ago a report appeared demonstrating that rats fed a diet containing 30–50% fewer calories live for four years instead of the normal three1. 'Calorie restriction' (CR) has since been shown to extend the lifespan of species ranging from unicellular yeast, to worms and flies, and certain mammals2.

  1. Siu Sylvia Lee and Gary Ruvkun are in the Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, and the Department of Molecular Biology, Massaschusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.

Correspondence to: e-mail: Email: ruvkun@molbio.mgh.harvard.edu