Low-Calorie Diet May Lengthen Life

[Guest guest]

Too bad there's no mention of the CR Support Group and the fact that

moderate CR is very doable. I've called the author of the article here in

D.C. and left a message.......

By Rob Stein

A small group of people who are drastically restricting how much they eat

in the hope of slowing the aging process have produced the strongest support

yet for the tantalizing theory that very low-calorie diets can extend the

human lifespan.

The first study of people who voluntarily imposed draconian diets on

themselves found that their cholesterol levels, blood pressure and other

major risk factors for heart disease -- the biggest killer -- plummeted,

along with risk factors for diabetes and possibly other leading causes of

death such as cancer and Alzheimer's.

" These people are definitely protected against the major killers, " said

O. Holloszy of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis,

who led the study, released online yesterday. " It should definitely increase

longevity. "

While it has long been known that eating well and staying trim helps people

live healthier lives and avoid dying prematurely, evidence has been

accumulating that following extremely low-calorie diets for many years may

do something more -- significantly extend longevity beyond current norms.

Lab rats, mice and other creatures live much longer when fed very

low-calorie diets, and some researchers suggest the same Fountain of Youth

effects may hold true for people, perhaps by cutting the body's production

of harmful atoms or molecules known as free radicals. But aside from a few

corroborating clues from historical records of famines, the only evidence

from humans came in 1991, when eight subjects in the sealed Biosphere

laboratory in the Arizona desert unintentionally tested the theory when

their food ran short. Their health appeared to improve markedly, according

to a number of measures.

The new study found " profound and sustained beneficial effects " in 18

people from the United States and Canada who had been eating very low

calorie diets for three to 15 years, the researchers wrote in a paper

being published in the April 27 issue of the Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences. While far from proving the theory, the findings provide

the strongest direct evidence yet in people, several experts said.

" It is a very important paper, " Roy L. Walford, a professor emeritus at the

UCLA School of Medicine and a leading proponent of the theory, said in an

e-mail interview. " You may well be able to choose between [caloric

restriction] and that double-bypass cardiac surgery you are not looking

forward to. "

Several researchers cautioned that it was unclear whether the improvements

were directly the result of caloric restriction, or simply caused by losing

weight, eating more healthful diets or other beneficial behavior. In

addition, the study was not able to assess whether the lower risk factors

translate into longer life. Nevertheless, they said, the findings provided

important encouragement to continue exploring the theory.

Holloszy and his colleagues conducted the study after stumbling across an

online organization of about 1,000 adherents, called the Calorie Restriction

Society.

One of the members, Dean Pomerleau, 39, a computer engineer from Gibsonia,

Pa., cut his daily caloric intake from about 3,000 calories a day to about

1,900 more than four years ago. Pomerleau eats a highly regimented diet that

consists of the same two meals daily of nothing but fruits, vegetables and

nuts, with a couple of cups of non-sweetened herb tea for snacks.

" I'm a very disciplined person, and food has never been a critical, driving

force in my life. So I've never found it as difficult as many may have, "

Pomerleau said. " For many it is difficult, especially in the beginning. But

what you find is that once you get into it it's not a hardship at all. We

actually consider it a preferable way to live. "

On its Web site (www.calorierestriction.org), the Calorie Restriction

Society offers advice for how to maintain equally low-calorie diets but with

considerably more variety, including detailed recipes for fish and chicken

dishes, a " Pastafree Veggie Pastalike Dish " and more appetizing items such

as " Sherm's Bingeing Brownies, " " Dean's Fruit and Veggie Smoothies " and

" Sherm's Megamuffins. "

" Creating highly nutritious low-calorie meals takes some practice, " the

site says. " Fortunately some of our members have been practicing for a long

time and have published their creations to share with you. "

Overall, Pomerleau and the other study subjects had reduced their intake to

between 1,100 and 1,950 calories a day for an average of six years. Holloszy

conducted a battery of tests on them and compared the results with the

participants' earlier medical records, and with results from a similar

group of 18 adults who ate a typical Western diet of between about 1,975 and

3,550 calories a day.

Those on low-calorie diets had much lower levels of " bad " cholesterol, much

higher levels of " good " cholesterol, lower levels of triglycerides and very

low blood pressure. Tests of their arteries showed they looked more like

those of children than middle-age adults.

In addition, their blood sugar levels were very low and their body's

response to insulin was extremely high, indicating they were at very low

risk for diabetes.

At the same time, they had very low blood levels of a substance known as

c-reactive protein (CRP), which is believed to be a marker for inflammation

in the body. Many researchers believe low CRP levels are linked to a lower

risk for a host of ailments, including heart disease, cancer and

Alzheimer's.

" It's very clear from these findings that calorie restriction has a

powerful protective effect against diseases associated with aging, " Holloszy

said. " We don't know how long each individual actually will end up living,

but they certainly have a much longer life expectancy on average because

they're most likely not going to die from a heart attack, stroke or

diabetes. "

But at a time when the number of Americans who are overweight and obese is

soaring despite intensive public health campaigns to get people not to

overeat, the idea that large numbers would be willing or able to go even

further is daunting, many experts said. If scientists prove the theory,

however, they might be able to develop new drugs that harness the biological

mechanisms at work or new, safer appetite suppressants that may help more

people eat less, experts said.

" If the drug companies can come up with a safe way to control appetite,

which is being aggressively investigated, then in that case these kinds of

findings may suddenly have profound public health implications, " said

Weindruch of the University of Wisconsin Medical School at Madison,

who studies caloric restriction.

The National Institutes of Health has launched pilot studies to determine

whether it is practical to get healthy middle-age Americans to eat very

low-calorie diets.

" If in fact it's shown to have beneficial effects, that might give more

incentive to lower caloric intakes, " said Evan Hadley, an associate director

at the National Institute on Aging. " One of the things we're trying to find

out is whether lower caloric intake may do things that exercise doesn't do. "