Effect of dietary restriction on serum antioxidant capacity in rats
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Published on: December 5, 2017
1US Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service, Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
Abstract:
The effects of dietary restriction on serum antioxidant capacities were studied in male Fischer 344 rats. Dietary restriction was started at the age of 6 weeks and consisted of 60% of the mean daily food intake of the ad libitum fed controls. They were killed at 7 and 18 months of age. The antioxidant capacities of whole serum and the non-protein fraction of serum were assessed using the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay with a peroxyl radical generator. Rats that consumed a diet restricted by 40% in calories had significantly lower ORAC activities in whole serum and the non-protein fraction of serum. The decreased serum ORAC activity is seemingly an organism's physiologically appropriate response to reduced oxidative stress through a down-regulation mechanism.
