Life extension: the isoleucine paradox by SIGNYM

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Life extension: the isoleucine paradox

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Saturday, April 20, 2024 15:58
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Saturday, April 20, 2024 2:21 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Everything that isn't a mineral in our bodies is made of protein.

Skin, hair, heart, brain, lungs, muscles, intestines, fingernails, tendons and ligaments, enzymes, blood plasma, blood cells ... all proteins of various sorts.

Human protein is made of 20 different building blocks called amino acids, and they are linked together in various functional combinations like different shaped beads on a string.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22243-amino-acids

Isoleucine is one of those amino acids.

A couple of recent studies

https://neurosciencenews.com/longevity-isoleucine-reduction-25245/

indicate that restricting isoleucine can extend lifespan in male mice by 30%, and in female mice by 7%, and improve health, reduce cancers, and increase lean fitness overall. (BTW there are conflicting studies that say the opposite.)

I looked into the concept of a low isoleucine diet. First of all, isoleucine occurs in conjunction with a related amino acid, leucine. I haven't found many foods high in leucine and low in isoleucine. And reducing leucine has, according to this study, NEGATIVE health consequences.

Second, isoleucine is EVERYWHERE where there is protein: Meats, fish, dairy. Beans, peas, grains, cereals, nuts, and seeds. You would need a lab- compounded chow to achieve the balance they say is required.

Hubby said something insightful: If it's that ubiquitous, it's essential.

*****

Which brings me to the Okinawans, who live on Japan's southernmost island..

Until a few decades ago, Okinawans enjoyed one of the longest lifespans in the world. "They" (at least some of "them") think it's diet related.

Okinawans used to eat a low protein, calorie restricted diet. Mostly vegetables, not much rice or regular potato, not much oil, and literally a few bites of fish or occasional pork per meal. But their mainstay was the sweet potato, both the tuber znd the leaves. That made up, by weight, something like 1/3 - 1/2 of what they ate every day.

Of all the foods that I looked at, mollusk and sweet potato were the only food higher in overall protein but lower in iosleucine. Could it be that Okinawans lucked onto a life extension diet?
There are health related problem associated with their diet, tho, and that has to donwith low fertility and inadequate lactation.

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Saturday, April 20, 2024 2:39 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Which brings me to possums.

I recall being told than on a barrier island off the coast of the Carolinas lived a strange subsepcies of possum. It was larger, slower growing, and much MUCH longer -lived than regular possums. Perhaps as much as 2-3 longer lived than other possums, even possums in captivity who lived luxurious lifestyles.

As luck woukd have it, this particular island had no natural possum predators. So they weren't under constant pressure to reproduce. They could take their time maturing, and crank out an adequate number of offspring during their extended lifespans before dying at a ripe old age.

It was hypothesized to me, at the time, that there is an inverse relationship between lifespan and metabolism/ reproduction. Animals that grow quickly and mature quickly, die younger. That btw includes male mammals, who grow taller, faster, and more muscular than females, and is particularly true is species where the male is SIGNIFICANTLY larger than females (red deer, sea lions etc).

This probably explains the more pronounced effect of limited isoleucine on male rats.

When you throttle back metabolism ... say, by limiting a specific ingredient (isoleucine) ... or a general one (protein, fats/ oils, iron) you can probably extend lifespan.

So part of the condundrum is how we define "good health". Is it robust growth? Tall stature? Muscle mass? Strength, speed, and vitality? Fertility? Robust reproduction?

Or do we "bank the fire" and go for longevity?

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Saturday, April 20, 2024 3:58 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Ah... one more point

The isoleucine restriction worked even for middle aged mice.

Perhaps the answer for human vigor but health in old age is nutrition for growth in youth, but throttling back in middle age (instead of flogging the whole "build muscle mass in old people" paradigm).

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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