Molecular Basis of Nutrition and Aging: A Volume in the Molecular Nutrition Series focuses on the nutritional issues associated with aging and the important metabolic consequences of diet, nutrition, and health. The book is subdivided into four parts that reflect the impact of nutrition from a biomolecular level to individual health.
In Part One, chapters explore the general aspects of aging, aging phenotypes, and relevant aspects of nutrition related to the elderly and healthy aging. Part Two includes molecular and cellular targets of nutrition in aging, with chapters exploring lipid peroxidation, inflammaging, anabolic and catabolic signaling, epigenetics, DNA damage and repair, redox homeostasis, and insulin sensitivity, among others.
Part Three looks at system-level and organ targets of nutrition in aging, including a variety of tissues, systems, and diseases, such as immune function, the cardiovascular system, the brain and dementia, muscle, bone, lung, and many others. Finally, Part Four focuses on the health effects of specific dietary compounds and dietary interventions in aging, including vitamin D, retinol, curcumin, folate, iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, selenium, iodine, vitamin B, fish oil, vitamin E, resveratrol, polyphenols, vegetables, and fruit, as well as the current nutritional recommendations.
Dr. Marco Malavolta started his career as a chemist with a PhD in Nutrition and Health at the University of Ancona, but then focused his research activity specifically in biogerontology research. He has been working in this field for the last 10 years with a particular focus on the role of trace elements and other micronutrients in aging. Currently, Dr. Malavolta is involved in the identification of nutritional factors that are able to modulate cellular senescence or that can be used to selectively remove accumulating senescent cells in aged organisms. He is convinced of the existence of a causal relationship between aging and age-related diseases, and that the key to develop effective interventions for these diseases lies in the deep understanding of the biological aging process. Dr. Malavolta is author or co-author of more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in the field of nutrition and biogerontology. Additionally, he is also a member of the editorial boards of several journals dedicated to these thematic areas. Most of his research activity has been carried out and is currently conducted in the Centre of Nutrition and Ageing at INRCA, The Italian National Institute of Health and Science on Aging.
Dr. Eugenio Mocchegiani has 40 years expertise as researcher at INRCA, The Italian National Institute of Health and Science on Aging. For the past 10 years, he has been the Head of the Centre of Nutrition and Aging at INRCA. His field of research concerns the role of endocrine and nutritional factors in immunosenescence, tumurs, infectious diseases, metabolic diseases and dementia. More specifically, he has contributed to advance knowledge on zinc binding proteins as genetic and biological markers of aging. Dr. Mocchegiani has received several grants from the Italian Ministry of Health for studies around micronutrients and aging. Additionally, he was coordinator of the EU Project ZINCAGE in the FP6 program, and as Operative Unit in the EU project MARK-AGE in the FP7 program. Dr. Mocchegiani has authored or co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles in the field of nutrition and gerontology and is a member of the editorial board of several journals dedicated to these thematic areas.
