Florida State University, Program in Neuroscience, Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences, 237 Biomedical Research Facility, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4340, USA. levenson@neuro.fsu.edu
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.