Boston: It has been recognized that reducing calorie consumption can be helpful and increases life span, but it was not clear why, until now.

According to U.S. scientists, the calorie reduction benefits can be seen at a molecular level.

In a study revealed on Thursday, scientists suggested that the relation between calorie control and prolonged existence may be a molecular response to stresses from abbreviating calorie ingestion.

Scoientists thought that the response carries on critical cellular functions between enzymes created by two genes known as SIRT3 and SIRT4. The response step-ups the bodies capacity to battle age related sickness.

David Sinclair, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School who worked on the study, said, “We’re not sure yet what particular mechanism is activated by these increased levels of NAD, and as a result SIRT3 and SIRT4.”

“These two genes, SIRT3 and SIRT4, they make proteins that go into mitochondria. … These are little energy packs inside our cells that are very important for staying healthy and youthful and, as we age, we lose them and they get less efficient,” Sinclair said.

“They are also very important for keeping the cells healthy and alive when they undergo stress and DNA damage, as we undergo every day during the aging.
process. But we do see that normal cell-suicide programs are noticeably attenuated,” he added.

The study, which is published in the journal ‘Cell’, helps explicating why animals fed very light foods live a longer life, but it also provides new ways to aspire to reproduce the outcomes of these diets using a pill in place of hunger.

David Sinclair, a pathologist at Harvard Medical School who helped lead the research, said, “What we are talking about is potentially having one pill that prevents and even cures many diseases at once.”