Front page feature about CR

[Guest guest]

This past Sunday (October 24th) a feature story about CR appeared on the front page of the Bergen Record. For those who do not live in New Jersey, the text is appended below (sorry, no photos of my skinny body -- you'll have to get the hard copy for that!), or you can find it at http://northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2NjAzNTE4

Have to believe there are jealous candidates out there when the first two words of the feature story on Sunday's front page nine days before the election are my name not Kerry or W. Bush.

It's good publicity for CR and a pretty positive article, too!

Mark

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NEWSNEWS

Ultra-low-calorie diet high on promise

Sunday, October 24, 2004 By MARY JO LAYTONSTAFF WRITER

Mark Schneider believes he's found what countless baby boomers crave: the secret to living past 100.

It's not running marathons or injections of anti-aging hormones. Instead, Schneider says the key to longevity is following a diet that's so low in calories that Super-Size America would consider it starvation.

The 52-year-old South Jersey man is convinced that extreme calorie restriction, or CR as it's known to hard-core followers, will spare him the destiny of millions of his aging brethren: paunch, heart disease or cancer, a predictable demise at 75 or so.

"I'm doing everything possible to prolong life. Baby boomers don't ever want to die,'' the wafer-thin Schneider said as he leaped up from a round of push-ups at a Haddonfield gym.

After two years on the diet, the 5-foot-10 former college administrator weighs 135 pounds - 20 less than he did in high school. He says he feels terrific, but his doctor and his personal trainer say he's too thin. His cheeks are gaunt. When he dipped to 130 pounds, his wife told him he looked like a concentration-camp survivor and made him gain back a few.

The CR lifestyle - reducing normal calorie intake 30 percent below recommended levels - is not about losing the saddlebags or Heineken gut. It's not another Atkins or South Beach. It is not, its followers say, anorexia. It's a quest for uber-health, where every calorie, every nutrient, every pound is methodically tracked in an attempt to gain a few decades. Give up pizza. Live past 100.

Near-starvation diets have radically extended the lives of mice and other lab creatures in research studies. So why not humans? That's the $20 million question, the cost of a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the first randomized controlled trials in humans.

"The general premise of CR studies is that calorie restriction delays biological aging, and that is the underlying reason for why disease incidence goes down,'' said , a researcher at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, one of the three sites in the nation for the study. "This is what happens in animals, at least."

In a nation obsessed with turning back the clock, where billions are spent on Botox, plastic surgery and anti-wrinkle creams, the CR movement isn't exactly a national craze. Draconian diets are a tough sell in a population that struggles to stay on Weight Watchers or to take a brisk walk for 30 minutes a day.

"It's pretty fringe, I gotta tell you,'' said Dr. Lebowitz, a cardiologist and director of complementary medicine at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.

However, the principles of CR are worthy of further scrutiny, especially when two-thirds of Americans are overweight, said Lebowitz, who is also a professor at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons.

"From a genetic standpoint, we've evolved to withstand famine,'' he said. "In times of plenty, we pack it on and pack it on as stored fat so that we would survive times of scarcity. What we have now, though, is a disaster of unparalleled proportions.''

In America, 64 percent of adults are overweight, and the consequences of obesity are quickly catching up to tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death. The percentage of overweight children has doubled to 15 percent in the last 20 years.

First studied in the 1930s, calorie restriction has been proven to double the life of mice, guppies and spiders. It also has extended the lives of test monkeys.

The movement picked up momentum with the publication in 2000 of "The 120-Year Diet,'' a name coined by UCLA researcher and gerontologist Roy Walford, who said people could reach extreme longevity if they followed the extreme diet.

Scientists aren't exactly sure how CR works, but it appears to effect certain biochemical changes. By cutting calorie consumption to 20 or 30 percent below normal USDA recommendations - below the levels of most weight-loss diets - the body may reduce levels of free radicals, those pesky atoms or molecules that cause aging and disease. Some scientists believe that mild starvation toughens the cells, turning them into battle-scarred warriors better trained to deflect illness.

Preliminary research has shown that CR followers are reducing their risk of stroke, heart attack and Type II diabetes, common killers that rob millions of Americans of the golden years.

For the average man, the diet calls for eating 1,500 to 1,700 calories a day. Federal guidelines suggest men get between 2,000 and 2,800 calories a day.

For the typical woman, following the CR diet means slashing of intake to 1,100 or 1,300 from the 1,600 to 2,200 the government recommends.

Some who follow the diet are known to eat 4 to 6 pounds of fruit and vegetables a day. Foods have to offer a big nutritional bang for a low number of calories: sardines, blueberries, protein powders.

The mountains of fiber consumed, the aversion to processed, fat-laden foods, along with a regimen of supplements: It all seems to work miracles, said Luigi Fontana, one of the lead investigators of a study published in April at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

"We have data to show that life expectancy is increased in people who are on the calorie-restricted diets,'' Fontana said.

The study found that those who followed the diet had lower blood pressure, lower levels of cholesterol and higher levels of "good" cholesterol.

"Some of these people have the blood pressure of 15-year-olds,'' Fontana said.

Yogurt and sardines

Mark Schneider sits in his tidy kitchen eating slices of a Gala apple, then a banana and a cup of light yogurt - the lunch he eats most days. For variety, he digs into sardines, loaded with heart-healthy Omega 3's.

He says he eats 1,500 to 1,800 calories daily. He also takes 13 pills each day, including aspirin, calcium supplements, vitamin E and C and zinc. They're all washed down with a glass of OJ that, to save 80 calories, he's diluted with water.

The supplements are why the CR lifestyle is also known as CRON: Calorie Restriction and Optimal Nutrition.

"It's not just about cutting calories by eating half a hamburger or half an order of fries,'' Fontana said. All of the CR followers he studied had met 100 percent of the required daily allowances of various vitamins and minerals - a claim few Americans can make.

The Calorie Restriction Society, a California-based group that supports CR research, has about 2,000 members looking for a shot to live as long as Methuselah. Its Web site, www.calorierestriction.org, is filled with recipes such as "Pastafree Veggie Pastalike Dish," or Super Anti-Ox Juice, a blend of blueberries and pomegranate juice. Sweet tooth calling? How about "Death by Banana,'' a low-fat imitation of the sinful chocolate concoction.

Warren , the society's spokesman, said he embraced the CR lifestyle in the hope of gaining another 20 or 30 years. At 5-foot-6 and 115 pounds, he believes his thinness doesn't make him weak. Rather, it is his armor to ward off aging and the cancers that killed his parents in their 50s.

"I could easily lose another 10 or 15 pounds,'' he said. "I look like skin and bones, which is exactly how I want to look.''

Unlike regular weight-loss diets, where calorie consumption should rise after a goal is reached, CR dieters do not stop following their plan. They say there is a point where, even on a severe diet, a person will no longer lose weight. The body adapts, becoming very energy-efficient and requiring far fewer calories.

"The more I read about CR, the more it made sense to me,'' said Schneider, who has dropped from 157 to 135 in the past two years. "You're putting less strain on your bones, your organs, your entire body if you weigh less."

As he closes in on his mid-50s, though, his pursuit of longevity is clearly in overdrive as he grimaces when lifting weights or turns down two slices of pizza - a lunch he used to love - for sardines. Schneider offers an automobile analogy to explain his decision to stick to the diet: "If you were told you were only going to have one car your entire life, you'd take great care of it, right? You'd be damned sure you changed the oil.''

He can't remember his last cold. In his pre-CR days, he could count on one major bout a year.

Most dinners are fish or chicken and veggies. He will have a steak when he's in the mood, he said. He enjoys a glass of wine a night with dinner, usually red because it contains high amounts of Resveratrol, which may have anti-aging properties.

Decadence is measured and meager; a teaspoon of peanut butter is a splurge. There are no regrettable encounters with Ben and Jerry's. When Schneider eats pistachios, he counts out 35 and stops.

"I'm not an extremist,'' he insisted.

In the cold calculations of science, Schneider is indeed much healthier than most Americans.

His body-mass index (BMI), a measurement to determine if a person is at a healthy weight, indicates that Schneider's score is 19.4, within the normal range. A score of 25 to under 30 is considered overweight; 30 and above spells obesity. Overweight people are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, and the obese are five times as likely to die of heart disease.

In fact, Schneider's BMI makes him "one of the healthiest in terms of longevity,'' said Lebowitz.

Stalling the clock

When she lost nearly 30 pounds following the diet, April got glares from friends who worried that her 108-pound, 5-foot-2 body was too thin. The guy at the wine store near her South Jersey apartment told her not to lose another pound.

The egg-white omelets for breakfast, the occasional 800-calorie days, the end of pasta dinners are helping her meet the rigors of a lifestyle she believes will stall the clock.

Pure vanity made convert to CR.

"I was starting to see tiny little lines around my eyes,'' she said. "I wasn't able to party all night and look dewy and fabulous the next day. I didn't want to be one of these women who has to wear makeup.''

, 30, a union organizer who helped nurses at Bayonne Hospital form their first bargaining unit, says she has more energy now. She awakens before dawn and logs countless hours on the New Jersey Turnpike, driving to various hospitals. She works many nights until 9 p.m., then meets friends in Philadelphia.

Still, she has heard countless criticisms of the diet. enjoys a variety of low-calorie meals, but some in the world of CR eat the same meal every day, or insist only on organics such as kale salad. Some won't ever dine out. A few have lost their libido.

"I do hear from people, 'Don't get anorexic on us,'Ÿ" said.

Her rebuttal is well rehearsed. "What we're doing actually works,'' she tells them. "It's common sense. It's healthy and it's time-tested.''

In some cases, though, extreme dieting can lead to eating disorders such as anorexia. It can cause mood changes, loss of energy, binge eating or ritualistic behavior - counting bites or hoarding non-food items, said Kraus, a clinical dietitian at Hackensack University Medical Center.

However, Kraus makes a distinction between most of the folks on CR and anorexics. The CR dieters are trying to optimize their health, she said, while anorexics stop eating as a form of self-punishment.

But investigators at the American Federation for Aging Research questioned the diet.

"A calorie-restricted diet will produce weight loss, to the point that most adherents appear ill,'' they said. Federation researchers say CR followers are generally cold and always hungry. Because they lose so much body fat, they lose cushions that protect their bones, so that sitting or walking can become painful. And it's simply not sustainable for most people.

"Very few people can lose 30 percent of their body weight and keep it off for any duration,'' said , a member of the foundation and a gerontologist at the University of Michigan.

Fontana, the St. Louis researcher, found none of the followers seemed to be suffering from eating disorders. However, it's not a lifestyle he would advocate for most. "People have to eat less and better to avoid these diseases that make them die prematurely. But I don't suggest that people do severe calorie restriction unless supervised by an expert,'' Fontana said.

, meanwhile, is preparing for a conference of the Calorie Restriction Society next month in South Carolina. She also has persuaded her mother to try the diet.

"She sees the energy level I have, how healthy I look,'' she said.

envisions midlife and old age as she lives today: a road warrior, fighting for the rights of workers - the hip, wise chick in perfect health.

"It will take more than 70 years to make the world a better place,'' she said. "I need more time.''

E-mail: layton@...6603518

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