The typical western diet is high in sugar. There seems to be sugar (along with salt) to nearly all prepared foods. We all consume much more sugar than we are aware of.

Studies in a type of worm called Caenorhabditis elegans, which is usually shortened to C. elegans, suggest that eating high amounts of sugar may shorten life.

C. elegans is a tiny worm that lives in soil. It is easy to keep and a lot is known about its genetics and how its body systems work. It is easy to manipulate so it is used as a “model organism”. One area of research that has been extensively studies in C. elegans is lifespan. Quite a bit of information about genes that are involved in living longer was first discovered in these worms.

In the study, the food that some of the worms ate contained 2% glucose. This is not a lot of sugar.

Those worms that were fed the glucose had a shorter lifespan than those that were not fed glucose. In the glucose-fed worms some of transcription factors (proteins that regulate gene expression) involved in control of life expectancy were found to be inhibited.

These transcription factors are involved in an insulin signaling pathway that is very similar in worms and higher organisms, including humans.

This finding raises the possibility that eating high levels of sugar may shorten our lifespan too. Another reason to eat a low carb diet?

photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography