Connection between diet, eye health, and lifespan

[corybroo]

Researchers uncover intriguing connection between diet, eye health and lifespan

Our study argues that it is more than correlation: dysfunction of the eye can actually drive problems in other tissues

We are now showing that not only does fasting improve eyesight, but the eye actually plays a role in influencing lifespan.

The finding that the eye itself, at least in the fruit fly, can directly regulate lifespan was a surprise to us

In 2016 Kapahi's lab published a study in Cell Metabolism showing that fruit flies on a restricted diet had significant changes in their circadian rhythms in addition to extending lifespan. 

The study began with a broad survey to see what genes oscillate in a circadian fashion when flies on an unrestricted diet were compared with those fed just 10 percent of the protein of the unrestricted diet.

He then discovered that the rhythmic genes that were activated the most with dietary restriction all seemed to be coming from the eye, specifically from photoreceptors, the specialized neurons in the retina of the eye that respond to light.

they set up experiments showing that keeping flies in constant darkness extended their lifespan. 

light in itself can cause photoreceptor degeneration which can cause inflammation.

The biggest question raised by this work as it might apply to humans is, simply, do photoreceptors in mammals affect longevity? Probably not as much as in fruit flies, said Hodge, noting that the majority of energy in a fruit fly is devoted to the eye.