Methionine restriction
DEMethioninrestriktion
Methionine restriction (MR) means cutting the sulphur amino acid methionine in your diet, without an overall cut in calories. Orentreich and colleagues first reported, in 1993, that a methionine-deficient diet extends maximal lifespan in rats. Miller et al. extended this to mice in 2005, showing a longer lifespan and slowed aging of the immune system and the eye lens, on a low-methionine diet. The proposed mechanisms include reduced one-carbon flux, lower liver IGF-1, and altered hydrogen-sulphide signaling. Plant protein sources (legumes, cereals) tend to be relatively low in methionine, compared with animal protein (eggs, meat, dairy). So leaning your diet toward plants shifts your intake down. But human data are limited to short-term metabolic studies. MR is a mechanistic concept, not yet a validated clinical intervention.
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Sources
- Miller RA, Buehner G, Chang Y, Harper JM, Sigler R, Smith-Wheelock M. (2005). Methionine-deficient diet extends mouse lifespan, slows immune and lens aging, alters glucose, T4, IGF-I and insulin levels, and increases hepatocyte MIF levels and stress resistance. *Aging Cell*doi:10.1111/j.1474-9726.2005.00152.x
- Parkhitko AA, Jouandin P, Mohr SE, Perrimon N. (2019). Methionine metabolism and methyltransferases in the regulation of aging and lifespan extension across species. *Aging Cell*doi:10.1111/acel.13034