Clive Maine McCay (21 March 1898 – 8 June 1967) was an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

, nutritionist and

gerontologist Gerontology ( ) is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive, and biological aspects of aging. The word was coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903, from the Greek , ''geron'', "old man" and , ''-logia'', "study of". The fiel ...

Biography

McCay was professor of

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

at Cornell University from 1927 to 1963. His main interest was the influence of nutrition on aging. He is best known for his work in proving that caloric restriction increases the life span of rats, which is seen as seminal in triggering further research and experiments in the field of nutrition and longevity. Scientists are still trying to understand the connection between caloric restriction and longevity. Following his discovery between a low calorie diet and longevity, McCay played a prominent role in the development of nutritionally-sound rations during World War II, and the creation of

Cornell Bread Cornell bread was invented in the United States during World War II by Clive McCay, a professor at Cornell University, as an inexpensive alternative to strictly rationed foods. Adding powdered milk and soy flour to bread increases its protein c ...

, a type of high protein, high vitamin

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

meant to echo the same high protein vitamin meal he fed to his mice in longevity experiments. Another of McCay's important contributions was the first work in heterochronic parabiosis: the joining of the circulatory systems of a young and an old animal, which leads to rejuvenating effects on the tissues of the old animal and degenerative changes in the young's, thus demonstrating the role of systemic factors in aging. Limited work with this paradigm by others continued into the early 1970s before languishing, until it was finally taken up again by researchers at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and the University of California at Berkeley in the mid-2000s. His further research centered on canine nutrition, and

fluoride Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an inorganic, monatomic anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose salts are typically white or colorless. Fluoride salts typ ...

and its use in water treatment. A 1957 study on fluoridation showed that low levels (1-10 ppm) of sodium fluoride added to the drinking water of rats did not have carie-protective effects.

Selected publications

*''The Nutritional Requirements of Dogs'' (1940) *''Nutrition, Ageing and Longevity'' (1942) *''Nutrition of the Dog'' (1946) *''The Cornell Bread Book'' (with Jeanette B. McCay, 1955)

References

External links

* * 1898 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American biochemists American nutritionists Cornell University alumni Cornell University faculty {{US-scientist-stub