Yet Another Article Shows That Calorie-Restricted Diets Increase Life Span. Too Bad Nobody Ever Will Follow the Program!
When I was reviewing the Health and Science section of the July 31, 2009 issue of The Week for Monday’s article about cats purring, another blurb caught my eye. It’s totally off topic, but I can’t resist commenting. I’ll return to juicy veterinary topics tomorrow.
The content in the short article has been published thousands (or perhaps hundreds of thousands) of times over the last ten years. It keeps being repackaged as a new story and sold to the public as a revolutionary discovery–even though it is old, old news. I guess the editors believe that the human quest to live forever will make us forget that this story was published in one form or another last year, and the year before, and the year before, and . . .
Living longer by going hungry
If we eat a lot less, will we live longer? It works for monkeys, says The New York Times. After studying a group of rhesus monkeys for 20 years, scientists found that those that were fed one-third less food aged much more slowly than their peers, which were allowed to eat as much as they wanted. The calorie-restricted monkeys also showed less deterioration of muscle and brain matter, conditions that typically come with aging, and appeared to be on course to live up to 20 percent longer than the norm. For humans, that might mean extending life spans by seven to 15 years. “We were frankly blown away by these findings,” says lead research Richard Weindruch, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Dr. Weindruch, were you set up to look silly in that quote? Surely a researcher in your field is aware of the dozens of studies and countless (dare I say mercilessly incessant stream of) news articles documenting this completely unsurprising fact in basically every species imaginable–except humans (more on that soon). You could not plausibly have been “blown away” by this new set of results.
The article continues . . .
The results dovetail with other research indicating that caloric restriction can extend the lives of mice, dogs, yeast, fruit flies, and worms.
You don’t say?
I remember a decade or so ago when the first study showed that calorie restriction increased life span in rodents. I realized that I might be able extend my life span significantly, if only someone would lock me in a cage and starve me.
No study of this matter has been performed in humans, because almost nobody willingly starves him- or herself. In fact, people who voluntarily refuse to eat are considered to suffer from pathology: anorexia nervosa.
The hope of these types of studies is that chronic starvation activates genes that extend life span. Ideally, some day we will be able to activate these genes without having to go hungry. Then we can all live to be 130, and collect Social Security for half of our lives. (My apologies to the youthful Americans who will be stuck paying for this. One day you also will have the opportunity to stick it to a younger generation.)
Meanwhile, I’m going to start my day with an omelette.
Photo: say goodbye to longevity! By Mattia Luigi Nappi.
You have questions. 
Thank you! I thought I must be CRAZY that every time I’d see this “breaking news” I’d think I remembered that we’ve already seen this “amazing discovery” over and over and over. And yet we’re still strangely proud that our cat is the fattest tabby on the block. I’m going to redouble my efforts to reduce my two spayed female cats’ weight – I’ll just have to put up with a lot of meow-purring!
My question about this research is always: 1/3 less than what? If we are to apply this to ourselves or pets, how do we decide what amount to consume? Should people look like the current line of supermodels? Or is that still too fat? What about the contrasting data that I have seen that, at least in youth, calorie restriction can lead to issues like osteoporosis later in life (IE you did not build up your muscles and bone when you could have, so you suffer for it later). Would this then just apply to folks over 30? I think a better variable to study would be body fat percentage – something that could easily be measured in the real world. And, as for looking for willing research participants, I don’t think you would be too hard pressed to get a subject pool. I know a lot of women at least who would volunteer. You wouldn’t get a representative subject pool mind you – but let’s face it, that very rarely happens in research anyways :)
I am following a restricted calorie diet. This website helps you to find out how many calories to consume in a day, it gives you an idea how long it will take to reach your goal, has recipes and can even analyze your own recipes for caloric content.
It must be working because I am STARVING all the time! But my clothes are getting looser!
Calorie Count