Effect of sulfur-containing compounds on the life span of Drosophila

Dietary supplements of glutathione, glutathione precursors and other sulfur-containing molecules were fed to Drosophila. Marginal increases in life span were found for 0.078M pyroglutamic acid (+ 9.1%), 0.01M L-methionine (+ 4.9%), and 0.01M methionine + 1 mg/ml vitamin E (+ 7.3%). 0.05M L-methionine plus 10% casein increased life span by 14.8%. For all other concentrations of the following compounds life span was either unchanged or decreased: N-acetyl-L-cysteine, casein, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutathione, glycine, L-methionine, DL-methionine, DL-methionine sulfone, DL-methionine-DL-sulfoxide, L-pyroglutamic acid (5-oxoproline), sodium bisulfite, thiazolidine, 3,3′-thiodipropionic acid and thioproline (thiazolidine carboxylic acid).