As the longevity of human life continually improves it’s not surprising to see research into the causation for such a welcome trend being ramped up.
The latest study at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine examined the impact of a high-fat, ketogenic Diet and it’s effects on mice. The paper – published in ‘cell metabolism’ – eluded to the benefits of a ketogenic type for health longevity into old age, with a high-fat diet adding a significant 13% increase to the median of the lifespan of mice, when compared to those subject to a high-carbohydrate diet. The result was so significant it even exceeded senior author Jon Ramsey’s expectations.
Ramsey has himself spent 20 years researching the matter of aging and contributing factors that lead to this inevitable fate. Whilst calorie restricted diets have been proven to slow down the aging process, little research has ever focused on the ratios of macronutrients within the diet, such as a high-fat diet.
High-fat, ketogenic type diets have risen steeply in popularity over the previous decade. This is a credit to the diets ability in yielding significant weight loss results, as well as bringing about other key health benefits, outlined within this previous post examining the ketogenic diet.
Within this particular study, the mice were split into three groups: a high carbohydrate diet; a low carbohydrate, high-fat diet and a ketogenic diet (90% total calorie intake from fats). Total calorie intake for each group remained the same. This protocol took the emphasis off weight loss allowing the researchers to solely focus on metabolic factors associated with the various diets.
Asides from considerably improving mean life span, the ketogenic also led to improved memory and strength, whilst also preventing an increase inflammation: a biomarker closely linked with aging.
A similar study conducted Buck institute for research also found ketogenic diets lead to increase lifespan and enhances cognitive state.
The post High Fat Diets Linked longer lifespan appeared first on Ste Watson Fitness.
