Cutting down glucose extends healthy cells’ lifespan

Restricting consumption of glucose, the most common dietary sugar, can extend the life of healthy human lung cells and speed the death of pre-cancerous cells in the vital organ.

The research potentially opens the way to prevent diseases like cancer that have been linked to aging, said principal study investigator Trygve Tollefsbol, professor of biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

”These results further verify the potential health benefits of controlling calorie intake,” Tollefsbol said. “Our research indicates that calorie reduction extends the lifespan of healthy human cells and aids the body’s natural ability to kill off cancer-forming cells.”

The UAB team conducted its tests by growing both healthy human lung cells and pre-cancerous lung cells in laboratory flasks.

The flasks were provided either normal levels of glucose or significantly reduced amounts of the sugar compound, and the cells then were allowed to grow for a period of weeks.

”The pattern that was revealed to us showed that restricted glucose levels led the healthy cells to grow longer than is typical and caused the precancerous cells to die off in large numbers,” Tollefsbol said, according to an UAB release.