[Anti-aging effects by caloric restriction]

Caloric restriction (CR) in experimental animals shows to extend the lifespan of animals with the decreased frequency of age-related diseases. CR also produces beneficial health effects in monkeys and humans. These benefits include improved insulin sensitivity, enhanced stress resistance, decreased cancer incidence, and increased neuronal function and neurogenesis. Several important signal transduction pathways have been implicated in the regulation of the physiological processes of CR leading to increased lifespan. One of these pathways includes the Sirt1 pathway. Sirt1 deacetylates a large number of transcriptional factors and cofactors involved in cell growth, differentiation, stress resistance, oxidative damage, and metabolism. Recently, several studies report that resveratrol and other compounds exogenously activate Sirt1 protein and improve the obesity-associated pathology in mice. In this text, we introduce the recent topics of CR research and discuss the anti-aging effects by CR.