Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure
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Here's a recent human trial that put obese people on a 8 week low methionine, low cysteine diet. The results are relatively unimpressive. Not sure why . Maybe the amount of M+C was too high (2g/day)?
"Both groups lost weight during the intervention. On average, the SAAR group lost 1.14 kg more body weight compared to controls after 8 weeks (β 95% CI − 1.14 (− 2.04, − 0.25) kg, p = 0.013). No conclusive differences between groups were observed for body fat %."
https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12967-023-04833-wOn the other hand here is a human study where a similar amount of M+C was shown to be beneficial. The lowest amount came down to 1500-2000mg of cysteine+methionine per day.
Major takeaway for me is: cysteine does matter.
The weight loss in the group lowest in cysteine was 3 times as much as in the group lowest in methionine.Overall a good study design, which kind of corroborates the animal studies, showing that weight loss seems to be dependent on low cysteine, but only low methionine has some benefits as well.
Also the only diet that increased body temp significantly was the diet lowest in cysteine. The low methionine diets were ineffective or even slightly reduced body temp.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1279770723003184#fig1
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@Mauritio said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
BUT: all of that is with 0% Cysteine and that's the issue. As outlined in the posts above if we want to replicate these studies using 0 percent Cysteine, the best we can do is to lower methionine even further, so to mimic a 0.12% methionine + 0% Cysteine diet we have to consume less than 0.12% methionine ,because we do not consume 0% Cysteine and methionine can be converted to Cysteine. I'm not sure how much less we would have to consume, but it might be quite a bit.
You mentioned that 0.02% cysteine would already abolish these effects of MR, I think I missed it, I couldn't find the info. I found 0.5% and the minimum I found similar to what you said was 0.2%.
The intermittent restriction I mentioned I did a long time ago, I think my calculations at the time didn't even reach 0.1% cysteine (I think it was close to 0.07%? I don't remember).
That's an interesting study. 28% increase in life span is pretty good! And that's without restricting methionine. Although 8/12% glycine in the diet is a huge amount that's like 50g of glycine or 150g of gelatin. Not sure how the lower amounts of glycine did.
The aim is not to ingest the same amount, but to potentiate MR with a higher dose of glycine since it is impossible to simulate without a diet similar to the one in the laboratory.
There seem to be some studies on BCAA restriction having similar effects in relation to FGF21, there's even a study mentioning the relationship between BCAA and methionine
I didn't know about taurine, some people say that aspirin also blocks some of the absorption of methionine but I've never seen anything about it.
M and CysR+glycine+selenomethionine+taurine still seems to be the closest way to simulate these studies.
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@TexugoDoMel said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
You mentioned that 0.02% cysteine would already abolish these effects of MR, I think I missed it, I couldn't find the info. I found 0.5% and the minimum I found similar to what you said was 0.2%.
Sorry , I meant 0.2% ! Thanks for the correction .
@TexugoDoMel said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
The intermittent restriction I mentioned I did a long time ago, I think my calculations at the time didn't even reach 0.1% cysteine (I think it was close to 0.07%? I don't remember).
Interesting , I'll do the calculation on that soon, too.
@TexugoDoMel said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
There seem to be some studies on BCAA restriction having similar effects in relation to FGF21, there's even a study mentioning the relationship between BCAA and methionine
I didn't know about taurine, some people say that aspirin also blocks some of the absorption of methionine but I've never seen anything about it.
M and CysR+glycine+selenomethionine+taurine still seems to be the closest way to simulate these studies.
Interesting so even more amino acids to avoid. Tryptophan, Cysteine, Methionine, BCAAs.
Glutamine and aspartic acid are other candidates,too.Peat was wondering about histidine as well.
"Histidine is another amino acid precursor to a mediator of inflammation, histamine; would the restriction of histidine in the diet have a longevity promoting effect, too?"
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"The few studies that have been done indicate that the requirements for tryptophan and cysteine become very low in adulthood."
'Histidine is another amino acid precursor to a mediator of inflammation, histamine; would the restriction of histidine in the diet have a longevity promoting effect, too?"
"When only the muscle meats are eaten, the amino acid balance entering our blood stream is the same as that produced by extreme stress, when cortisol excess causes our muscles to be broken down to provide energy and material for repair."
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Both methionine and cysteine are used by the body to grow hair. I wonder if going very low would result in hair loss. How are the met/cys-restricted rodents looking in terms of fur?
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@TexugoDoMel said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
The intermittent restriction I mentioned I did a long time ago, I think my calculations at the time didn't even reach 0.1% cysteine (I think it was close to 0.07%? I don't remember).
I calculated the amounts I eat at the moment and it comes down to both aorund 600mg of methionine and cysteine, which is exactly 0.12% of a 2000kcal diet, so Im spot on.
You could also use the 10.4mg/kg/d of the above mentioned human study, which was the most effective dose, which would give most people around 600-1000mg of cysteine and methionine per day each.
I have no idea how you would get to 0.07% , because this is definitely me trying. Like I only eat around 15g of cheese per day as a treat lol.
What saves me diet wise is ice cream. I found some flavors with less than 2g of protein per 100g and one even 0.8g/100g. Meat cravings are going down, but it does get tiresome to almost only eat sweet stuff.
Dare to think.
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@revenant
I found this study showing that a methionine-choline deficient diet led to hair loss in mice and methionine was able to restore it.However i coud not find a mention in any of the other studies the mice/rats experiencing hair loss.
I think in the douzens of studies that have been done on MR over the years, they would have noticed and mentioned hair loss as a side effect.
In longevity studies they often include pictures, so it should be easy to verify this ...
unfortunately I couldn't find the concentration of methionine in the study below.Personally I can say that at the beginning I experienced a lot less hair loss, then I did one high protein day and ever since that hair loss is back to normal / not better. Not sure why...
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@Mauritio said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
@TexugoDoMel said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
The intermittent restriction I mentioned I did a long time ago, I think my calculations at the time didn't even reach 0.1% cysteine (I think it was close to 0.07%? I don't remember).
I calculated the amounts I eat at the moment and it comes down to both aorund 600mg of methionine and cysteine, which is exactly 0.12% of a 2000kcal diet, so Im spot on.
You could also use the 10.4mg/kg/d of the above mentioned human study, which was the most effective dose, which would give most people around 600-1000mg of cysteine and methionine per day each.
I have no idea how you would get to 0.07% , because this is definitely me trying. Like I only eat around 15g of cheese per day as a treat lol.
What saves me diet wise is ice cream. I found some flavors with less than 2g of protein per 100g and one even 0.8g/100g. Meat cravings are going down, but it does get tiresome to almost only eat sweet stuff.
Fruit, lots of potatoes, coconut, butter, rice, a bit of sugar... I don't have many cravings and I like potatoes a lot, so it's easy for me to stick to them, even on workout days.
But I haven't done continuous MR for a long time, I prefer intermittent MR, even if it's not as efficient, because I don't need to lose weight.
The only difference is that my calories are almost twice as much as yours hence the impact on the percentage
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@TexugoDoMel cool, potatoes really are a great food. Surprisingly low in C+M .
Do you notice a shift when you are doing C+M restriction? For me there's a noticable difference it's just hard to put the finger on what it is.
What cycle are you doing ATM? -
Here is another very interesting mouse study on MR/CR.
Mice on MR were resistant to weight gain, hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance on a high fat diet, despite the mouse strain being especially susceptible to obesity. And despite the fact that the mice were eating more and had better absorption of food.
Their hormone levels were altered. FGF21 was increased 16 fold. And leptin was decreased by 95%, so the mice were really leptin and thus insulin sensitive.
As can be seen in the image below, SCD1 decreased a lot. SCD1 converts saturated fatt acids into unsaturated fatty acids. So through restricting methionine you indirectly lower PUFA in your body. High SCD1 is also implicated in all kinds of diseases, so lowering it will be healthy overall.
As usually mice on MR show lower bone density . And
"...levels of the collagen degradation marker, CTX-1, were significantly higher in the MR animals on HFD by 83%..." . So it seems like their body was trying to get more collagen from their bones , possibly as a reaction to the low protein consumption overall. Which leads me to speculate that you could prevent the bone loss through a generous dietary supply of collagen/ gelatin . -
@Mauritio FWIW I notice that the methionine content of the cheeses correlates pretty well with the protein content.
https://fitaudit.com/categories/mlk/protein -
@annis good point. That makes sense and is more practical.
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@revenant said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
Both methionine and cysteine are used by the body to grow hair. I wonder if going very low would result in hair loss. How are the met/cys-restricted rodents looking in terms of fur?
These last days since your message I have noticed a lot more hairs in my sink and I couldn't attribute it to anything else than my diet change.
So today i had the first normal protein day for the first time in like 10 days. And I already notice less hair loss, so there seems to to be a connection.
I did not eat a lot more protein, so maybe there is a dose resembling a compromise between minimal hair loss and maximal metabolic benefits.
The intermittent approach might help out here as well.I also seem to be have lost my desire for meat or at least it decreased. In the last 10 years there wasn't a week where I didn't eat meat, probably not even 3 days in a row. But now I don't crave it much anymore, even a good boar bratwurst didn't seem so appealing to me anymore. I still crave milk protein though .
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Another reason to supplement taurine on MR.
Not only does it lower methionine absorption, but it is drastically reduced in livers on MR."Thus, MR caused a 20-fold downregulation of taurine in WT and an 11-fold downregulation in LmnaG609G/G609G livers..."
Another thing that i personally noticed is that MR seems to have an effect on bile. This study shows that bile acids are changed, for example cholic acid is drastically increased.
The enzyme Cyp39a1 was increased on MR, which is an alternative pathway for bile acid synthesis, suggesting that the primary pathways are downregulated somehow .
Another interesting observation was that MR decreased hair loss in a model of accelerated aging mice.
"Despite their reduced size (Figure 6A), Zmpste24−/− MR mice had a 21% increase in median survival and an almost 28% increase in maximal survival (Figures 6B and S6A) and showed a healthier aspect, mostly apparent by a reduced loss of hair and improved atrophy of hindlimbs (Figures 6C and S6B)."
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Dropping in to say this is my favorite thread on the forum right now. Keep up the good work, I check in here frequently.
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I think there is merit in methionine and cysteine restriction but I love food and don’t want to live on for instance sweet potatoes, lentils and rice.
I start the day with a few glasses of milk, which is my breakfast. I am thriving on this diet. I am thinking about making a change as a temporary measure to see how it would be to restrict protein for 2 days a week or so.
I am not really into lentils or any legumes as I didn’t tolerate them well in the past.
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@Ecstatic_Hamster
You could eat ice cream. For most people it's even tastier than milk and some ice creams have less than 1g of protein per 100g.
I actually eat a lot of milk products on MR like cream, ricotta cheese, ice cream,... No lentils or legumes.
Lots of juices and fruits. -
@forty thanks
It's my favorite subject ATM, too. I haven't been that interested in a topic in quite a while.
BTW protein restriction is also the last big change that peat talked about before he died. So we could see it as a last pointer in which way to go. -
@Mauritio said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
@Ecstatic_Hamster
You could eat ice cream. For most people it's even tastier than milk and some ice creams have less than 1g of protein per 100g.
I actually eat a lot of milk products on MR like cream, ricotta cheese, ice cream,... No lentils or legumes.
Lots of juices and fruits.That’s a good point. Interesting…
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@Mauritio said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
@revenant said in Methionine/Cysteine restriction increases longetivity AND energy expenditure:
Both methionine and cysteine are used by the body to grow hair. I wonder if going very low would result in hair loss. How are the met/cys-restricted rodents looking in terms of fur?
These last days since your message I have noticed a lot more hairs in my sink and I couldn't attribute it to anything else than my diet change.
So today i had the first normal protein day for the first time in like 10 days. And I already notice less hair loss, so there seems to to be a connection.
That is a bit worrying, although I would think lack of those amino acids would not necessarily result in increased shedding but thinner/slower hair growth.
FWIW, I did a high-protein diet for 3 months and then low-protein for 3 months and my hair seemed to grow longer than normal on the high-protein diet and slowed down on the low-protein diet. But the high-protein diet caused weight gain also.
