Chapter 5 - Age-associated diseases

Abstract

This chapter focuses on age-associated diseases. Since the late 1930s, many studies on a variety of mouse and rat strains have shown that Caloric restriction (CR) delays the onset and/or slows the progression of many different age-associated diseases, such as neoplastic diseases, degenerative diseases, and autoimmune diseases. Although cancer can occur at all ages, the incidence of most cancers increases with increasing age in humans and animals. Rats and mice on a long-term CR regimen show a markedly lower lifetime incidence of most types of tumors and/or a delay in the age of occurrence. CR decreases the occurrence of tumors in rats exposed to ionizing radiation. It also inhibits the development of leukemia in mice, following exposure to ionizing radiation. In male F344 rats, CR decreases both the incidence and age-associated increase in severity of this cardiac pathology. Coronary heart disease and stroke are common age-associated cardiovascular diseases in humans, and atherosclerosis is a major pathological lesion underlying these diseases. Type II diabetes is a major age-associated disease in humans. The chapter also explores diseases such as cataract, glaucoma, and osteoarthritis.