While restricting calories will certainly help you lose weight, research already suggests that it also may slow aging, prolong life, and even cut the effects of certain diseases. But a new study takes it further by probing into whether or not it can delay nerve cell loss in the brain. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), lead by Johannes Gräff, tested their theory on lab mice engineered to experience rapid neurodegeneration. Researchers cut the mice’s calorie intake by 30 percent, while another group remained on a normal diet.

The world's oldest person turned 116 on Friday as local health chiefs in Japan launch a study to find out why he and many of those around him have lived so long. Jiroemon Kimura, who was born in 1897, was expected to celebrate his astonishing milestone with friends and family, and receive a visit from the mayor of his home city of Kyotango in the west of the country. Kimura is one of 95 people who will be 100 years old or more in the city's 60,000-strong population.

TOKYO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A 114-year-old Japanese woman born the same year that radium was discovered was recognised as the world's oldest woman by Guinness World Records on Wednesday. Misao Ookawa, who was born to a clothing merchant in 1898 and now lives in the western city of Osaka, received a certificate acknowledging her status and said she was pleased. "Given everything, it's pretty good," she told a gathering at the nursing home where she resides.