Disulfiram Treatment Normalizes Body Weight in Obese Mice.

Obesity is a top public health concern, and a molecule that safely treats obesity is urgently needed. Disulfiram (known commercially as Antabuse), an FDA-approved treatment for chronic alcohol addiction, exhibits anti-inflammatory properties and helps protect against certain types of cancer. Here, we show that in mice disulfiram treatment prevented body weight gain and abrogated the adverse impact of an obesogenic diet on insulin responsiveness while mitigating liver steatosis and pancreatic islet hypertrophy.

Daily Fasting Improves Health and Survival in Male Mice Independent of Diet Composition and Calories.

The importance of dietary composition and feeding patterns in aging remains largely unexplored, but was implicated recently in two prominent nonhuman primate studies. Here, we directly compare in mice the two diets used in the primate studies focusing on three paradigms: ad libitum (AL), 30% calorie restriction (CR), and single-meal feeding (MF), which accounts for differences in energy density and caloric intake consumed by the AL mice. MF and CR regimes enhanced longevity regardless of diet composition, which alone had no significant impact within feeding regimens.

Nicotinamide Improves Aspects of Healthspan, but Not Lifespan, in Mice.

The role in longevity and healthspan of nicotinamide (NAM), the physiological precursor of NAD, is elusive. Here, we report that chronic NAM supplementation improves healthspan measures in mice without extending lifespan. Untargeted metabolite profiling of the liver and metabolic flux analysis of liver-derived cells revealed NAM-mediated improvement in glucose homeostasis in mice on a high-fat diet (HFD) that was associated with reduced hepatic steatosis and inflammation concomitant with increased glycogen deposition and flux through the pentose phosphate and glycolytic pathways.

Caloric Restriction Study Design Limitations in Rodent and Nonhuman Primate Studies.

For a century, we have known that caloric restriction influences aging in many species. However, only recently it was firmly established that the effect is not entirely dependent on the calories provided. Instead, rodent and nonhuman primate models have shown that the rate of aging depends on other variables, including the macronutrient composition of the diet, the amount of time spent in the restricted state, age of onset, the gender and genetic background, and the particular feeding protocol for the control group.