Evolutionary Biology of Diet, Aging, and Mismatch

Diet and Botanical Supplementation: Combination Therapy for Healthspan Improvement?

“…In this study, we were able to reproduce the results of Rutledge 12 with flies on the apple diet having significantly higher p x m x at later ages compared with flies on the banana diet. Interestingly, flies treated with the apple diet also had significantly lower p x m x at early ages compared with flies on the banana diet, an effect that was not clear from our previous study.…”

“…Interestingly, flies treated with the apple diet also had significantly lower p x m x at early ages compared with flies on the banana diet, an effect that was not clear from our previous study. 12 This apparent trade-off could have evolved through antagonistic pleiotropy with genes promoting health and function on the banana diet at early ages selected for despite their negative effects later in life. 30 The apple-fed female flies lived 14% longer on average than the bananafed females without a significant decrease in average fecundity, demonstrating that the longevity-enhancing effects are not simply artifacts of functional impairment of reproductive characters or dietary restriction (DR).…”

“…[9][10][11] Recently, a study using Drosophila melanogaster populations has revealed that a reversal to an ancestral diet results in healthspan improvement, but in an age-specific manner. 12 In this study, laboratory fly populations were fed two different diets: banana food and apple food. These laboratory flies had lived on banana-molasses food for over 30 years since they were collected from the wild (*1000 generations).…”

“…The studies performed in both the Rose laboratory and the Jafari laboratory yielded complementary results; healthspan was improved through increased later-age fecundity with an ancestral diet, and healthspan was also improved through increased lifespan with botanicals. 12,17,18 This study will evaluate the effects of combining both these antiaging techniques. In addition, we will study the effects of combining multiple botanicals on healthspan.…”

“…In this study, we will investigate in D. melanogaster the effectiveness of R. damascena in two diet backgrounds researched extensively by Rutledge 12 in a large-scale, wellreplicated, full-lifespan study. If a long-abandoned diet improves later-age fecundity, and if the botanical R. damascena increases lifespan without negatively impacting healthspan, then a combination of these two treatments might result in improved healthspan more than is observed from either treatment individually.…”