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Reducing One Amino Acid Could Increase Lifespan

Posted by timothy on from the for-compulsive-food-sorters dept.

John Bryson writes "Eating less of one amino acid might lengthen your life. There have been lots of previous studies showing that many species live long on highly restricted calories, but a lot of this benefit may be possible by only restricting one amino acid. Amino acids that have shown this have been tryptophan and methionine. A recent study, published online December 2 in Nature, a highly respected journal, may help explain some of the health benefits of restricted-calorie diets."

13 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. No Turkey for you... by icebike · · Score: 3, Funny

    Tryptophan, isn't that the sleep inducing post Thanksgiving Feast drug of the ritual Turkey meal?

    What's methionine found in? Don't tell me, pumpkin Pie...

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    1. Re:No Turkey for you... by palegray.net · · Score: 1, Funny

      What's methionine found in?

      In recent news, the United States government has outlawed the sale of items containing "methionine" on grounds that the first four letters are identical to those found in "methamphetamine." Carol McIdiot, a noted FDA scientist, was quoted as saying "for God's sake, we must stop this contamination at once. Won't someone think of the children? Have you no soul!?!?"

      Film at 11.

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    2. Re:No Turkey for you... by B3ryllium · · Score: 5, Funny

      Eat four pounds of chicken and gravy, and then we'll see if you stay awake. :)

      I accept the terms of your challenge.

    3. Re:No Turkey for you... by obarthelemy · · Score: 3, Funny

      the conversation ?

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    4. Re:No Turkey for you... by biryokumaru · · Score: 3, Funny

      All I saw was "blah blah blah, we eat roadkill."

      This is probably unfair, but I feel that that aspect of your story diminishes your credibility.

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    5. Re:No Turkey for you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Poultry farmers routinely load up Thanksgiving-time turkeys with barbiturates, because turkeys can read and understand calendars and get "fretty" (as the farmer's jargon puts it) around mid November. In Often, the bigger males will attempt to beak-lacerate humans' Achilles tendon and escape. So farmers dose them with pentobarbital--and sometimes sour mash whiskey--to keep them sedated and under control. Of course, this means that some of that gets into their meat, and results in the now-famous post meal crash.

      Ducks and chickens can also read and understand calendars, but since there is no duck or chicken requisite American holiday, they never know quite when they'll be harvested. This results in what is known as "learned helplessness", and they make no efforts to escape, so farmers don't bother keeping them on the silly pills.

  2. One simple rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I can live longer and get a flat stomach by following ONE simple rule.

    1. Re:One simple rule by palegray.net · · Score: 2, Funny

      You, sir, are an asshole. I can't even read /. without being exposed to these ads in comments. Well played, though.

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  3. Re:"A highly respected journal" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nature journal /is/ "the nexus of an evil, duplicitous, Socialist, Marxist, environmentalist cabal bent on destroying the fabric of American society", regardless of scientific disciplines.

  4. Re:Yes, but... by Ragzouken · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ooooh, so profound.

  5. Re:Yes, but... by jcr · · Score: 2, Funny

    Kind of depends what you do with it.

    -jcr

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  6. Re:Yes, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, it's almost mandatory if you're doing any sort of iPhone development.

    Living 150 years or more is needed to endure the process of creating an iPhone app, and then going through all of Apple's artificial hurdles just to get it released to the public.

  7. Oh effing great by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

    So what this essentially means is that we can choose between shorter lives and not wanting longer ones.

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