Intermittent calorie restriction largely counteracts the adverse health effects of a moderate‐fat diet in aging C57BL/6J mice

SCOPE: Calorie restriction (CR) has been shown to extend life‐ and health‐span in model species. For most humans, a life‐long CR diet is too arduous to adhere to. The aim of this study was to explore whether weekly intermittent CR can (1) provide long‐term beneficial effects and (2) counteract diet‐induced obesity in male aging mice. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, we have exposed C57Bl/6J mice for 24 months to an intermittent (INT) diet, alternating weekly between CR of a control diet and ad libitum moderate‐fat (MF) feeding. This weekly intermittent CR significantly counteracted the adverse effects of the MF diet on mortality, body weight, and liver health markers in 24‐month‐old male mice. Hepatic gene expression profiles of INT‐exposed animals appeared much more comparable to CR‐ than to MF‐exposed mice. At 12 months of age, a subgroup of MF‐exposed mice was transferred to the INT diet. Gene expression profiles in the liver of the 24‐month‐old diet switch mice were highly similar to the INT‐exposed mice. However, a small subset of genes was consistently changed by the MF diet during the first phase of life. CONCLUSION: Weekly intermittent CR largely, but not completely, reversed adverse effects caused by a MF diet.