Believe it or not, eating just enough to survive could actually hold the key to living longer – at least in animals, a new study has found.

British scientists have shown how an extreme diet can protect against the ageing process. They believe that cells do not move through their cycle of life as quickly if they are starved of energy.

In their study, animals which were fed an extremely low-calorie diet were found to have greater number of healthy dividing cells. The scientists found that a protective sheath covering the end of important genetic information in cells was intact, a newspaper reported.

Damage to this sheath, along with a rise in the number of non-dividing cells, are both key signs of ageing. Even older animals which adopted the diets late in their lives experienced the same benefits, the findings suggested.

It is hoped the work could help experts understand more about human ageing and possibly how to prevent disease.