Eat less, live longer? New insights into the role of caloric restriction in the brain.

Caloric restriction has wide-ranging health benefits and may offer protection against age-related neuronal loss and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, possibly via enhanced adult neurogenesis. While a variety of interventions such as exercise increase neurogenesis, recent work suggests that exercise and caloric restriction may work to enhance neurogenesis by different neurobiological mechanisms, suggesting a role for both diet and exercise in disease prevention.