Caloric restriction reduces age-related and all-cause mortality in rhesus monkeys

TLDR

Caloric restriction without malnutrition extends longevity and delays age‑associated disorders across species, but its effectiveness in primates remains controversial, making its translatability to human ageing uncertain. The study aims to show that caloric restriction lowers all‑cause mortality in rhesus macaques and to reconcile these findings with contradictory results from a similar study through a weight comparison. The authors compared body weights of control monkeys across studies and against a multi‑centred primate ageing database, revealing that the NIA control group was effectively calorically restricted. CR significantly improves age‑related and all‑cause survival in rhesus macaques on a long‑term ~30% restricted diet, contrasting with the 2012 NIA study that found no survival difference, thereby indicating that CR benefits on ageing are conserved in primates.

Abstract

Caloric restriction (CR) without malnutrition increases longevity and delays the onset of age-associated disorders in short-lived species, from unicellular organisms to laboratory mice and rats. The value of CR as a tool to understand human ageing relies on translatability of CR’s effects in primates. Here we show that CR significantly improves age-related and all-cause survival in monkeys on a long-term ~30% restricted diet since young adulthood. These data contrast with observations in the 2012 NIA intramural study report, where a difference in survival was not detected between control-fed and CR monkeys. A comparison of body weight of control animals from both studies with each other, and against data collected in a multi-centred relational database of primate ageing, suggests that the NIA control monkeys were effectively undergoing CR. Our data indicate that the benefits of CR on ageing are conserved in primates. Caloric restriction extends the lifespan of various organisms but whether it works in monkeys is controversial. Here, Colman et al.report that caloric restriction reduces all-cause mortality of rhesus macaques, and perform a weight comparison that aims to reconcile their findings with contradictory results from a similar study.