Medications are worse than food supplements

Recently, a research report published in the international journal "Cell Metabolism", scientists from the University of Sydney and other institutions compared the effects and differences of diet and drugs on the internal working mechanism of cells, and found that nutrition may produce greater impact

Working in mice, the researchers found that nutrition, including total calorie and macronutrient balance, has a greater impact on aging and metabolic health than three drugs commonly used to treat diabetes and slow aging

The study builds on pioneering work by researchers in mice and humans, who have demonstrated that diet and specific protein, fat and carbohydrate composition play a role in protecting against aging, obesity, heart disease, immune dysfunction and diseases such as type 2 Protective effect on the risk of metabolic diseases such as diabetes

Researcher Professor Stephen Simpson said that drugs may also target the same biochemical pathways as nutrients, and a large number of studies have now found that some drugs may improve the body's metabolic health and aging, and do not require diet.

Diet is actually a powerful "drug," however, the drugs currently in use do not take into account whether and how they interact with the body's diet

Considering that humans and mice share essentially the same nutritional signaling pathways, the researchers showed that people may benefit from changing their diets to improve their metabolic health, rather than taking the food provided in the study.

The researchers then conducted a complex mouse study in which they administered 40 different treatments, each with a different protein, fat and carbohydrate balance, calories, and composition of the drug

A key strength of the study is that the researchers used a previously developed nutritional geometry framework that may help researchers analyze how the mixture and interaction of different nutrients affects the body's health and disease development, rather than focusing on Focusing on one nutrient in isolation is a major limitation of other nutrition research

Not only do protein and total caloric intake have a powerful effect on metabolic pathways, but they also have a corresponding effect on the way cells function

An anti-aging drug may have a greater effect on cellular changes caused by dietary fats and carbohydrates, while cancer and other diabetes drugs may block the effects of dietary protein on energy-producing mitochondria

Researcher Professor David Lecourt said: "Despite the complexity of this study, it reveals the importance of studying different diets at the same time, rather than comparing the differences between several different diets

What you eat can affect your health, but the study revealed how these foods significantly affect the processes running in the body's cells, which may help explain the molecular mechanisms by which diet affects health and aging