"Previous research has found that the only factor that could produce substantial increases in life span in animals is a significant reduction in caloric intake. But the chromium supplements can produce an equally large increase without any such restrictions, Evans said." "Physiologist Edward Masoro of the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio has argued that restricted calorie intake works because it reduces the amount of the sugar glucose circulating in the animals’ bloodstreams--a theory that is becoming widely accepted. High levels of glucose damage proteins, a process called glycation, and are responsible for many of the ill effects associated with diabetes. Masoro and others believe that this accumulation of damaged proteins is one of the major factors that accelerate aging and lead to death. Evans started his longevity study because he and other researchers have observed in humans that chromium picolinate supplements reduce blood glucose levels and inhibit glycation, apparently by enhancing the activity of the hormone insulin"