The Study
Studies of aging in ames dwarf mice: Effects of caloric restriction
This study watched mice eat different amounts of food and saw which ones lived longer. It found that mice who ate less and mice with a special gene tended to live longer, but it didn't prove that eating less made them live longer — maybe the gene or something else was the real reason.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
Scientists studied tiny mice with a special gene that makes them live longer. They gave some of them less food to see if that made them live even longer.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 513 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1This suggests that eating less might help any mouse live longer, but the dwarf mice’s genes are already giving them a big head start — even without eating less.
- 2Normal mice lived 27% longer with less food.
- 3Dwarf mice lived 74% longer on normal food, and 87% longer with less food.
- 4Dwarf mice ate more food per pound than normal mice.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of the American Aging Association
Year
2000
Authors
J. Mattison, C. Wright, Roderick T. Bronson, G. S. Roth, Donald K. Ingram, A. Bartke
Related Content
Claims (6)
Reducing calorie intake in laboratory animals results in a longer lifespan.
Older Ames dwarf mice perform better than normal mice of the same age on memory tests that measure retention of learned avoidance behavior, regardless of what they eat.
Aging mice that eat fewer calories move more than aging mice that eat without restriction, no matter their genetic makeup.
Ames dwarf mice eat more food relative to their body weight than normal mice, even when food is freely available, and their longer lifespan is not caused by eating less but may result from differences in how their bodies use energy.
Ames dwarf mice live longer than normal mice when both are fed freely, with 74% of dwarf mice surviving to 2.25 years compared to 27% of normal mice.
Ames dwarf mice that eat 30% less food than normal have an 87% survival rate at 2.25 years, while those that eat without restriction have a 54% survival rate at the same age.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.