I found this while rummaging around too, & it addresses a little of
the protein question:

>Date:	4 Oct 1996 23:28:30 GMT
>From:	"Rodney Reid" <[log in to unmask]>
>Newsgroups:	sci.life-extension
>Subject:	Re: Carbohydrate restriction and aging

>the tree by the river <[log in to unmask]> wrote in article
><[log in to unmask]>...

> In any case, anyone out there have any thoughts on the
> matter?  Have any relevant animal studies been performed?
> Any other research that  might shed some light on the matter?

>>   Trygve Lode | 6529 Lakeside Circle, Littleton CO 80125 |
> (303) 470-1011

>Hey Trygve,

>well, no real new thoughts on the matter (yet), but I did
> the following tidbit a whileback doing medline searches that
>seems to deal in the same vein:

>Title: Low methionine ingestion by rats extends life span.
>Author:; Orentreich N; Matias JR; DeFelice A; Zimmerman JA;
>MESH Headings:; Animal; Caloric Intake; Diet; Eating;
> Longevity (*); Male; Methionine (*AD); Rats; Rats, Inbred F344;
>Weight Gain; Title Abreviation: J Nutr Date of Pub: 1993 Feb
>Issue/Part/Supplement: 2 Volume Issue: 123 Pagination: 269-74
>Abstract: Dietary energy restriction has been a widely used
> means of experimentally extending mammalian life span. We
>report here that lifelong reduction in the concentration of a single
> dietary component, the essential amino acid L-methionine,
>from 0.86 to 0.17% of the diet results in a 30%
>longer life span of male Fischer 344 rats. Methionine
> restriction completely abolished growth, although food intake was
> actually greater on a body weight basis. Studies of energy
>consumption in early life indicated that the energy intake of
>0.17% methionine-fed animals was near normal for
>animals of their size, although consumption per animal was
> below that of the much larger 0.86% methionine-fed rats.
> Increasing the energy intake of rats fed 0.17% methionine
>failed to increase their rate of  growth, whereas
>restricting 0.85% methionine-fed rats to the food intake of
> 0.17% methionine-fed animals did not materially reduce growth,
> indicating that food restriction was not a factor in life span extension in
> these experiments. The biochemically well-defined pathways of
> methionine metabolism and utilization offer the potential for uncovering
> the precise mechanism(s) underlying this specific dietary
> restriction-related extension of life span.

>Journal Title Code: JEV Publication
>Type: JOURNAL ARTICLE Date of Entry: 930305 Entry Month: 9305
> IndexPriority: 1
>Abstract By: Author Country: UNITED STATES Language: Eng
>Unique Identifier: 93155740 ISSN: 0022-3166

>Address Orentreich Foundation for the Advancement of Science,
>Inc., Biomedical Research Station, Cold Spring-on-Hudson, NY 10516.
>Document Found at the Round Lake Library
>Baxter Has: 1928 - Permission to copy: yes, Also available on
> CD-ROM Format:

>(that came from www.medscape.com btw...hope I'm not in
> trouble now)
>
>	...Rodney

--Doug Schwartz
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