Does a healthy lifestyle promote cognitive performance in old age? What new therapeutic approaches can be used to extend the health span in old age? What must the environment look like so that people can age healthy and satisfied? These are just a few examples of the pressing questions that society and politics are currently posing to science. The Leibniz Research Alliance Healthy Ageing wants to provide answers.

  1. Pizza, burgers and the like: A single high-fat meal can damage the metabolism and prepare the path to fatty liver disease and diabetes
    03/03/2017 · DDZ Deutsches Diabetes-Zentrum

    In the current issue of the “Journal of Clinical Investigation”, DZD researchers working at the German Diabetes Center, in conjunction with the Helmholtz Center in Munich and colleagues from Portugal, published a scientific investigation conducted on healthy, slim men, who were given at random a flavored palm oil drink or a glass of clear water in a control experiment. The palm oil drink contained a similar amount of saturated fat as two cheeseburgers with bacon and a large portion of French fries or two salami pizzas. The scientists showed that this single high-fat meal sufficed to reduce the insulin action, e.g. cause insulin resistance and increase the fat content of the liver. In addition, changes in the energy balance of the liver were proven. The observed metabolic changes were similar to changes observed in persons with type 2 diabetes or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is the most common liver disease in the industrial nations and associated with obesity, the so-called “metabolic syndrome,” and is associated with an increased risk in developing type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, NAFLD in advanced stages can result in severe liver damage.

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  2. New Mechanisms of Gene Inactivation may prevent Aging and Cancer
    03/03/2017 · FLI Leibniz Institute on Aging

    Every cell in our body contains the complete DNA library. So-called methyl groups regulate that in body tissues only the genetic information is expressed that is indeed needed in this tissue. Now, for the first time, researchers from the Leibniz Institute on Aging in Jena, Germany, verified that a lack of methyl groups in the gene body leads to an incorrect gene activation and, as a consequence, may lead to the emergence of cancer. The stunning results were published in the renowned Journal Nature on February 22, 2017.

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  3. Combating Iron in the Brain: Researchers Find Anti-Aging Micromolecule
    02/14/2017 · FLI Leibniz Institute on Aging

    During aging as well as during Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, iron accumulates in the human brain. Now, researchers from German Leibniz Institute on Aging (FLI) in Jena and Italian Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) in Pisa found that in vertebrates, a microRNA called miR-29 inhibits these deposits – possibly offering new ways to treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease as well as strokes. Results were published in the Journal BMC Biology on February 13, 2017.

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