Long-term caloric restriction ameliorates the decline in diastolic function in humans

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Aging research
• Nutritional science

Background:

• Aging is associated with impaired cardiac diastolic function (DF) in healthy individuals.
• Caloric restriction (CR) is known to slow aging in mammals, but its long-term effects on human cardiac aging are unknown.
• Systolic function (SF) shows minimal changes with aging, unlike DF.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the cardiac-specific effects of long-term caloric restriction (CR) on age-associated impairments in diastolic function (DF).
• To compare cardiac function and related biomarkers between individuals practicing CR and age-matched controls on Western diets.

Main Methods:

• Assessed diastolic function (DF) using transmitral flow, Doppler tissue imaging, and model-based image processing (MBIP) in 25 CR subjects and 25 controls.
• Measured blood pressure, C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1).
• Subjects practiced CR for 6.5 +/- 4.6 years; control group consumed Western diets.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in systolic function (SF) between the CR and control groups.
• CR group exhibited DF indexes similar to younger individuals and significantly lower MBIP-derived indexes reflecting reduced chamber stiffness.
• CR group showed significantly lower blood pressure, CRP, TNF-alpha, and TGF-beta1 levels compared to controls.

Conclusions:

• Caloric restriction (CR) demonstrates cardiac-specific benefits, ameliorating age-associated declines in diastolic function (DF).
• These improvements may be linked to CR's positive impact on blood pressure, systemic inflammation, and myocardial fibrosis.
• CR offers a potential strategy to mitigate cardiac aging.