CHAPTER 14. Eating Habits and Their Impact on Aging and Cancer

Dietary habits, aging and cancer are strictly intertwined. This is good news in that it gives opportunities to modulate the rate of aging and, possibly, age-related morbidities via manipulation of the quality/quantity of food intake. On the other hand, efforts towards defining the best dietary schedule (if any) have been shown to be particularly challenging. Nor is there a clear understanding of biological and biochemical mechanisms underlying the links between aging and cancer or the impact of diet on either process. In this chapter, the evidence linking dietary regimens and aging will be presented, with special reference to the amount of caloric intake. The emerging interest on time-restricted feeding schedules as a means to delay aging will also be addressed. Finally, age-induced alterations in tissue fitness landscape will be discussed for their possible relevance in the pathogenesis of neoplasia.