High-glucose diets have sex-specific effects on aging in C. elegans: toxic to hermaphrodites but beneficial to males.

ABSTRACT: Diet and sex are important determinants of lifespan. In humans, high sugar diets, obesity, and type 2 diabetes correlate with decreased lifespan, and females generally live longer than males. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a classical model for aging studies, and has also proven useful for characterizing the response to high-glucose diets. However, studies on male animals are lacking. We found a surprising dichotomy: glucose regulates lifespan and aging in a sex-specific manner, with beneficial effects on males compared to toxic effects on hermaphrodites. High-glucose diet resulted in greater mobility with age for males, along with a modest increase in median lifespan. In contrast, high-glucose diets decrease both lifespan and mobility for hermaphrodites. Understanding sex-specific

SUBMITTER: Liggett MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4505165 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature