The Fountain of Youth Available Now – Side Benefits Included

It is no big surprise to see the results of a recent study of a long running study of primates that shows significant value in a low calorie diet. This article reported on MedPage here in July 2009. The headline here:

researchers have shown that restricting calories in primates maintains their youth and prevents age-related disease

Let me state that again:

researchers have shown that restricting calories in primates maintains their youth and prevents age-related disease

The research is exciting since this represents a real way to reduce disease and extend high quality life. Unfortunately the nature of society today makes for an interesting slant on this information and so the the researchers are interested in the possible short cut that this research might help develop:

open the door to drugs that would mimic so-called caloric restriction

Sigh……..so much better to actually use the information to drive healthy behavior.

The effect has been know for many years in other animal models and a peak into other research papers reveals similar findings. The Annals of New York Academy of Sciences 25 Jan 2006: Caloric Restrictions in Primates demonstrated caloric restriction (CR – the fancy term for low calorie dieting) has significant benefits:

that reproducibly extends mean and maximal life span in short-lived mammalian species. This nutritional intervention also delays the onset, or slows the progression, of many age-related disease processes. The diverse effects of CR have been demonstrated many hundreds of times in laboratory rodents and other short-lived species, such as rotifers, water fleas, fish, spiders, and hamsters. Until recently, the effects of CR in longer-lived species, more closely related to humans, remained unknown. Long-term studies of aging in nonhuman primates undergoing CR have been underway at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) for over a decade. A number of reports from the NIA and UW colonies have shown that monkeys on CR exhibit nearly identical physiological responses as reported in laboratory rodents. Studies of various markers related to age-related diseases suggest that CR will prevent or delay the onset of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and perhaps cancer, and preliminary data indicate that mortality due to these and other age-associated diseases may also be reduced in monkeys on CR, compared to controls

But the latest research linking this finding to human’s is more recent (though in all honesty is this surprising to anyone!). But the news is even more exciting. The low calorie group had some additional side effects:

• Zero incidence of Diabetes in the CR group (compared to 30% in the other group)
• A reduction in incidence of Cancer of 50% in the CR group
• 50% reduction in Cardiovascular Disease in the CR Group

Do you need anymore incentive on healthy living? I know I don’t! Reduce your calories now – your body needs you to!
Technorati Tags: Calorie Restriction, Low Calorie Diet, Fountain of Youth