Mitochondria behind life span extension

The life-extending power of a low-protein diet may come from mitochondria, at least in fruit flies, researchers report in the Oct. 2 Cell. The finding may help researchers explain how dietary restriction lengthens the lives of organisms including yeast, worms, mice and monkeys.

The new work “is really exciting, especially because it starts to get to the mechanisms,” says molecular biologist John Tower of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.