"Nature Communications" advises middle-aged people to eat less protein

A single hormone directs the body's response to a low-protein di.

When the hormone FGF21 was present, the mice lived longer, lost weight, but ate mo.

The reason why a low-protein diet extends life seems to be related to this hormone alo.

A new study from the Pennington Center for Biomedical Research, recently published in the journal Nature Communications, found that reducing the amount of protein in the diet produces a range of beneficial health outcomes, including increased longevity, that depend on a source of protein from the liv.

It has long been recognized that diet reduction can improve health and lifespan, and there is growing interest that reducing protein or amino acid intake may contribute to this beneficial effe.

A few years ago, the Pennington Biomedical Neurosignaling Laboratory discovered that the metabolic hormone FGF21 is a key signal that connects the body and brain during protein restricti.

"Our data suggest that FGF21 talks to the brain, and without this signal, the mice would not 'know' they were eating a low-protein di.

The team's latest work, led by postdoctoral researcher Cristal.

"We previously showed that FGF21 functions in the brain to improve metabolic health in young mice fed a low-protein di.

However, Dr Hill said several issues remained to be resolv.

"This groundbreaking research has important implications for extending people's health and longevi.

“FGF21 is required for protein restriction to extend lifespan and improve metabolic health in male mice” by Cristal.