- Researchers are reporting that an environment with lower oxygen levels helped mice in a laboratory live longer.
- Experts say there’s evidence that lower oxygenated environments may also boost longevity in humans.
- They say low oxygen locales provide health benefits in much the same way as lower calorie diets.
A new study reports that laboratory mice living in a less oxygenated environment live longer than those that don’t.
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Harvard University said in a statement that, for the first time, scientists have shown “oxygen restriction” is associated with longer lifespan in mammals, highlighting its anti-aging potential.
The study was published today in open-access journal PLOS Biology.
The research team, led by Dr. Robert Rogers of Massachusetts General Hospital, used mice bred to age more quickly than other mice while still showing classic signs of mammalian aging throughout their bodies.
Researchers compared the lifespans of mice living at normal atmospheric oxygen levels (about 21%) to the lifespans of mice that at 4 weeks of age were moved to a living environment with an 11% proportion of oxygen – similar to that at an altitude of 5,000 meters, the equivalent of what would be experienced at a Mount Everest base camp.
The team reported the mice in the oxygen-restricted environment lived about 50% longer than the mice in normal oxygen levels, with a median lifespan of 23 weeks compared to 15 weeks.
The oxygen-restricted mice also had delayed onset of aging-associated neurological deficits.
Rogers told Medical News Today that previous studies on the effects of hypoxia (below normal oxygen levels) in other organisms such as fibroblasts and yeast motivated researchers to look at its effects on mammals.
There were also examples of mammals thriving in low-oxygen environments.
“It’s also known that the naked mole rat, a mammal whose long lifespan is an outlier given its size and phylogeny, spends the…
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