Figure 1.

Dietary restriction by bacterial food deprivation (BD) extends life span independent of age or duration. (A) BD increases survival when initiated at 4 (red line, square symbols), 8 (blue line, circles), 14 (green line, triangles), 20 (gray line, plus symbols), or 24 (purple line, astericks) days of adulthood, relative to control fed (CF) animals. Mean life spans ± standard error, statistical significance, and number of animals examined provided in Table 1. (B) Animals subjected to transient BD, from the day 2 of adulthood to day 8 (blue line, square symbols), 14 (purple line, triangles), or 28 (green line, circles) have increased survival relative to animals maintained on CF until death (black line, diamonds). Mean life spans ± standard error, statistical significance, and number of animals examined provided in Table 2. (C) Mean survival of animals in (B) alive when BD-treated animals were transferred back to control fed conditions shows a significant increase in survival of animals exposed to transient BD relative to animals maintained on a control fed diet for life.