On Exercise, Anti-oxidants and Longevity

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" Longevity of exercising male rats: effect of an antioxidant

supplemented diet.

Holloszy JO

Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St.

Louis, MO 63110, USA

Experimental studies Mech Ageing Dev 1998 Feb 16;100(3):211-9

Food restriction increases maximal life span in rodents. Male rats

that exercise in voluntary running wheels do not have an increase in

maximal longevity despite a relative caloric deficit. In contrast,

sedentary rats that are food restricted so as to cause the same

caloric deficit have an extension of maximal longevity. It seemed

possible that exercise-induced oxidative stress might prevent a

maximum life span-extending effect of a caloric deficit to manifest

itself. This study was done to determine if antioxidants would allow

a maximal longevity-extending effect of exercise to manifest itself

in male rats. The antioxidant diet had no effect on longevity of the

runners (Antiox., 951 +/- 158 days versus control 937 + 171 days), or

of the sedentary controls (875 +/- 127 versus 858 +/- 152 days). As

in previous studies, wheel running modestly increased average

longevity (approximately 9%), but had no effect on maximal life span.

The finding that antioxidants had no effect on longevity of the wheel

runners supports the interpretation that the caloric deficit induced

by exercise in male rats does not have a life-extending effect that

is countered by oxidative tissue damage. "