Tokyo Japan – The adage “you are what you eat” holds true when it comes to our health and longevity. A recent study conducted by researchers at Waseda University in Japan found that consuming a balanced diet with moderate protein levels can have a positive impact on metabolic health and slow aging. became clear.
In this study, young and middle-aged mice were fed isocaloric diets containing different amounts of protein, resulting in lower blood glucose and lipid levels in mice fed a moderate protein diet. Understanding the relationship between nutrition and metabolic health is critical to maintaining overall health and extending life. Previous studies have shown that various nutritional interventions, including changes in calorie and protein intake, can improve animal health and longevity. However, the ideal amount of protein required to maintain metabolic health remains unknown.
In this study, a team led by Assistant Professor Yoshitaka Kondo investigated the effects of protein intake on the metabolic health of mice approaching old age. Young and middle-aged male mice were fed an isocaloric diet with varying protein content for two months. The researchers evaluated the effects of these diets on skeletal muscle mass, liver and plasma lipid profiles, and plasma amino acid profiles.
They found that a low-protein diet led to the development of mild fatty liver in middle-aged mice, while a moderate-protein diet lowered blood glucose and lipid levels in both young and middle-aged mice. . In addition, plasma amino acid profiles showed correlations between protein intake and hepatic triglyceride and cholesterol levels. The public health implications of this research are significant.
“Protein requirements change throughout life, being high in young, fertile mice, decreasing in middle-aged mice, and increasing again in older mice, where protein becomes less efficient,” Kondo said in the paper. . college release. “The same pattern may be observed in humans. Therefore, it is conceivable that increasing daily protein intake in the diet could promote metabolic health in people. A balanced macronutrient may also extend healthy lifespan.”
Increasing your daily protein intake may help promote metabolic health and extend your lifespan. Achieving the ideal macronutrient balance for each life stage is critical to overall well-being.
The research will be published in a journal Gero Science.
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