SynthesisBiology letters2016
Does early-life diet affect longevity? A meta-analysis across experimental studies.
Synthesis in Biology letters, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Dietary restriction increases variability in longevity.Biology letters · 2017Pooled it
- Does early-life diet affect longevity? A meta-analysis across experimental studies.Biology letters · 2016Pooled it
- Personality development in non-domesticated house mice: evidence for a nutrition-dependent sensitive period early in life.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Early-life stress triggers long-lasting organismal resilience and longevity via tetraspanin.Science advances · 2024Article
- Predation stress experienced as immature mites extends their lifespan.Biogerontology · 2023Article
- Transient rapamycin treatment during developmental stage extends lifespan in Mus musculus and Drosophila melanogaster.EMBO reports · 2022Article
- Early Life Interventions Can Shape Aging.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Review
- Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses in ecology and evolutionary biology: a PRISMA extension.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2021Article
- Possible Biochemical Processes Underlying the Positive Health Effects of Plant-Based Diets-A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2021Review
- Evolution of epigenetic transmission when selection acts on fecundity versus viability.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Development time mediates the effect of larval diet on ageing and mating success of male antler flies in the wild.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Factors associated with the availability of iodized salt at household level: a case study in Bangladesh.Public health nutrition · 2019Article
- Inducible pesticide tolerance inEcology and evolution · 2019Article
- Reconciling nutritional geometry with classical dietary restriction: Effects of nutrient intake, not calories, on survival and reproduction.Aging cell · 2019Article
- Article
- Ageing with a silver-spoon: A meta-analysis of the effect of developmental environment on senescence.Evolution letters · 2018Article
- Sex differences in life history, behavior, and physiology along a slow-fast continuum: a meta-analysis.Behavioral ecology and sociobiology · 2018Review
- Article
- Are sexually selected traits affected by a poor environment early in life?BMC evolutionary biology · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Life-history theory predicts that nutrition influences lifespan owing to trade-offs between allocating resources to reproduction, growth and repair. Despite occasional reports that early diet has strong effects on lifespan, it is unclear whether this prediction is generally supported by empirical studies. We conducted a meta-analysis across experimental studies manipulating pre- or post-natal diet and measuring longevity. We found no overall effect of early diet on lifespan. We used meta-regression, considering moderator variables based on experimental and life-history traits, to test predictions regarding the strength and direction of effects that could lead to positive or negative effects. Pre-natal diet manipulations reduced lifespan, but there were no effects of later diet, manipulation type, development mode, or sex. The results are consistent with the prediction that early diet restriction disrupts growth and results in increased somatic damage, which incurs lifespan costs. Our findings raise a cautionary note, however, for placing too strong an emphasis on early diet effects on lifespan and highlight limitations of measuring these effects under laboratory conditions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.