X-Message-Number: 27914
Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 09:53:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: CR and brain aging

[Tim, when it comes to preservation of cognitive skills, CR could
politely be described as not being on the short list of consistently
effective interventions. However there are a number of people on this list
who practive CR, often at great personal effort, whom I do not wish to
antagonize. Below is one more CR related abstract on brain aging. I would
prefer to end this discussion on CR and brain aging with that. For the
record I doubt that mild CR in humans would reduce brain function at all,
but severe CR might be another matter.
  I have my own personal medical library, which I have been building for
about 20 years, with particular emphasis on gerontology. I recognize that
there is no one web site on the net where the facts behind the science of
gerontology can be accessed at one go. I am considering bringing part of
this library online at some point, in the form of database reports
recounting all anti-aging interventions on all animal species, including
humans. However this would be a very large and time consuming project, and
it may be some time before it will see the light of day.
  In the mean time, I would like to end on a positive note. Effective
interventions against brain aging are currently available, and I will
upload some information regarding one of them to this forum in the near
future.]

Neurobiol Aging. 2004 Mar;25(3):325-32.
Long-term dietary restriction causes negative effects on cognitive
functions in rats.
  Long-term dietary restriction is reported to increase life span and
improve age-related cognitive deficits. The present study shows that the
restriction increases the life span of rats but decreases their cognitive
ability. Thirty-two rats were divided into restricted and ad lib feeding
groups at 2.5 months of age. The restricted rats were kept at a weight of
280g. The restricted rats were poor in performing the Morris water maze
task at 7-12 months. At 17-18 months, they were poor in performing the
delayed matching-to-place task. At 24-27 months, the surviving 13
restricted and 5 ad lib rats performed the spatial discrimination
task. The restricted rats were also poor in performing this
task. Injection of glucose prior to the discrimination task improved
their performance to the level of the ad lib rats. These results suggest
that dietary restriction is beneficial for longevity but has negative
effects on the performance of cognitive tasks, and that the cause of the
negative effects may be a reduced availability of glucose in the
food-restricted aged rats.

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