Calorie Restriction in Nonhuman Primates: Implications for Age-Related Disease Risk

Calorie restriction (CR)—undernutrition without malnutrition—ranks among the most reproducible and widely used research paradigms in gerontologic research. This intervention is the only manipulation that has been shown consistently to extend the life span, delay onset and slow tumor progression, and retard physiologic aging in many systems. A large body of literature exists documenting these remarkable effects in such diverse short-lived species as rotifers, water fleas, fish, spiders, hamsters, and laboratory mice and rats. However, it is not known if CR has similar effects in longer-lived species more closely related to humans. Two major studies in rhesus monkeys, one at the National Institute on Aging and the other at the University of Wisconsin, were begun several years ago to address this question. Two similar studies focusing mostly on disease end points such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease are also underway at the University of Maryland and Bowman-Gray School of Medicine. These studies have clearly shown that most physiologic responses assessed in monkeys on CR parallel the extensive literature on rodents. This article focuses on data related to various risk factors for age-associated diseases, in particular diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Although it will be several more years before definitive results regarding life span are available, emerging data from the monkey studies strongly suggest that CR alters several disease risk factors and may affect postmaturational aging in some systems. Therefore, it is likely that this nutritional intervention will result in at least moderate increases in the primate life span related to amelioration of certain age-related diseases and their complications.