Dietary restriction increases lifespan in a broad variety of organisms and improves health in humans. However, long-term transgenerational consequences of dietary interventions are poorly understood. Here we investigated the effect of dietary restriction by temporary fasting (TF) on mortality risk, age-specific reproduction and fitness across three generations of descendants in C. elegans. We show that while TF robustly reduces mortality risk and improves late-life reproduction of the individuals subject to TF (P₀), it has a wide range of both positive and negative effects on their descendants (F₁-F₃). Remarkably, great-grandparental exposure to TF in early-life reduces fitness and increases mortality risk of F₃ descendants to such an extent that TF no longer promotes a lifespan extension. These findings reveal that transgenerational trade-offs accompany the instant benefits of dietary restriction underscoring the need to consider fitness of future generations in pursuit of healthy ageing. 

Data from lifespan, fertility and length assays

Missing values are either denoted with NAs or left blank