Abstract
Purpose :
Caloric restriction (CR) has been shown in animal models to increase longevity and delay the effects of aging. This study investigates the effect of CR on ocular tissues in a cohort of human subjects adopting a particular CR lifestyle (CRWay).
Methods :
Age matched healthy controls and CRWay members with no general or ocular co-morbidities underwent a full ophthalmic examination including visual field (VF) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) (Cirrus HD-OCT) testing. Duration of time in the CRWay, body mass index (BMI), axial length, central corneal thickness, VF mean deviation (MD) and OCT measured retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, cup to disc (C/D) ratio, and ganglion cell inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness were analyzed. Multivariate linear regressions were used to estimate RNFL and GCIPL thicknesses using the above variables.
Results :
Nine CRWay subjects (18 eyes) were compared to a population of 23 age-matched controls (46 eyes). The average age of all subjects was 60.8±10.4 years, and the duration of time in the CRWay ranged from 2-36 years. The average BMI was 20.7±1.6 for the CR participants and 28.3±5.2 for the control group. GCIPL thickness was negatively associated with BMI for the CRWay group. Multivariate analyses showed that C/D ratio, BMI, participation in the CR lifestyle, and the interaction terms between these variables were significant in the model for predicting RNFL thickness and GCIPL thickness (all p-values<0.03).
Conclusions :
A chronic CR lifestyle shows a significant effect on ocular structures, deserving further investigation in a larger cohort and investigation into the mechanisms of action.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.