FW: WSJ article

[Guest guest]

Reprinted with permission from Dean this is an excellent summary of the

article:

I dropped by the newsstand on my way to work and picked up a copy of the

Wall Street Journal article. Overall I think it is an EXTREMELY good

article, perhaps the best I've seen dealing with both the science and human

aspects of CR.

For those of you who won't haven't seen it, I'm sent email to the reporter

to see if I can get permission to add the full article to our web site. For

now I'll summarize the article below, with selective quotes.

First off, the story occupies the entire left-hand column of the front

page - an extremely desirable position - one of the first places the casual

reader looks. The remainder of the story occupies almost a full half page

on page A10.

The various titles and lead-in tags for the story include:

" Lean Times

The Surprising Rise of A Radical Diet: 'Calorie Restriction'

Most Would See It as Close to Starvation, but Is Longer Life a Result?

A Muffin Tips the Scales "

The opening paragraph says:

" If there were a magic elixir that extended life to 150 years, most people

would drink it gladly.

But as scientists begin to answer the secrets of longevity, they are finding

a prescription for long life that few will want to take: a diet so low in

calories that to most Americans, it would feel close to starvation " .

The article goes on to describe in some detail (for a popular press

publication anyway) the scientific evidence in favor of CR, including

rodents, the recent dog study, the ongoing primate studies, Biosphere II and

the Okinawans. It talks about how CR may work - the " hibernation " theory

and the free radical theory.

It talks about the ongoing gene chip research to find out how CR impacts

gene expression, in hopes of better understanding, and eventually

duplicating the mechanisms of CR without the need for calorie restriction.

Here was in interesting quote on that subject:

" If scientists could figure out what the changes are and bottle them as a

drug, we'd have it made, " Says Mc, a scientist at the University

of Texas Health Science Center in San .

It makes the point that it appears to be the calories, not the weight that

matters - " well-fed rats kept lean by regular exercise are less likely to

die prematurely of disease than well-fed sedentary rats - but their maximum

lifespan remains the same. "

It also talks about a new NIH plan " to spend $20M to test the effects of

calorie restriction on hundreds of Americans. " In talks some about this

proposed study (subject recruitment, dietary compliance, etc.).

Then it goes on to talk about us CRONies, with the lead in " Some people have

seen enough evidence already and have started self-depriving. "

It then profiles Bob Cavanaugh's 1500kcal/day diet:

" Bob Cavanaugh, a 54-year-old landscaper from Morehead, N.C., has trimmed

his intake to two meals a day, totally 1,500 calories. Breakfast consists

of one cup of quick oats, two tablespoons of toasted wheat germ, one cup of

skim milk and blueberries. For dinner, he eats vegetables, fruit and a

small portion of fish. " I'm hoping to see my great, great grandchildren, "

he says.

Mr. Cavanaugh's diet may sound extreme, particularly since at 5-feet-9

inches tall and 158 pounds, he isn't overweight. But over the next several

years, if the monkey results hold up, they could represent a major shift in

how we view food and nutrition. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the

average sedentary woman should eat 1,600 calories a day and the average man,

2,200, benchmarks already significantly overshot by most Americans. "

It then goes on to talk more about the science and evidence for CR including

a profile of C58 - a " thin but not gaunt " CR Rhesus monkeys in the U. of

Wisconsin primate study who is one of the oldest documented rhesus ever, at

38 years old (114 year human equivalent).

It then goes on to talk about us and the CR Society with the following lead

in:

" A small group of humans are practicing C58-style calorie restriction in the

hopes that it will provide a fountain of youth. These people, who

communicate through an online chat group with 800 participants, call their

philosophy " Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition. " Its practitioners,

who dub themselves " Cronies " , follow their own personalized diets, with

share the common goal of minimal calories. "

It then has a paragraph on Walford and Biosphere II.

It then interviews Rae:

" Rae, a six-foot-tall 31-year-old from Calgary, Canada, weight a

gaunt 115 pounds after three years on a strict calorie-restricted diet. " I'd

much rather weigh 50 more pounds, but I want to live longer and this the

only proven way to do it, " says Mr. Rae. " Every calorie you eat is a second

off your life. "

It then talks about the careful health monitoring we CRONies do:

" Cronies monitor their vital signs carefully. Like the Biospherians, their

blood sugar, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels have dropped.

They draw hope from the fact that they have few colds and flues, and that

their bodies seem to be changing in ways similar to animal models. " It then

talks about how Rae's body temp has dropped, just like in CR'ed rats

and monkeys.

It then talks about some of the downsides of CR:

" But many Cronies become irritable and snappish. Testosterone drops,

causing some of the men to lose interest in sex. Several men have developed

early signs of osteoporosis - a disease of brittle bones commonly found in

elderly women. One Cronie suddenly found himself severely anemic. He had

to start taking iron supplements and eating more red meat.

Families sometimes resent the enormous amount of time it takes to maintain

the Cronie lifestyle. For the most part, prepackaged food is out - because

it would shoot the daily limit quickly, while providing inadequate

nutrition.

Dean Pomerleau, a 37-year-old technology entrepreneur from Wexford, Pa.,

grows sprouts - bean, alfalfa, broccoli, arugula and a dozen other kinds -

in this basement. " If you like arugula, you'd love arugula sprouts, " says

Mr. Pomerleau, who is 5-foot-8 and weights 127 pounds [it includes the

following picture of me:

www.assistware.com/deanp/CR/pictures/4-29-02/img1.jpg]

Terry, his wife, isn't enthusiastic. She told her husband the

time-consuming preparation of his giant salads was dirtying the kitchen, he

says. The solution - he spent $1,000 to build a mini-kitchen for himself in

the basement, adjacent to the sprout farm. "

It then goes on to talk further about efforts in the scientific community to

discover how CR works.

One other very positive quote to share from the article:

" Calorie Restriction has worked in every species in which it has ever been

tested, " says Massachusetts Institute of Technology biologist Leonard

Guarente. " I'd be shocked if it doesn't work in humans. "

So overall, the Wall Street Journal article was, by my interpretation, an

overwhelmingly positive treatment of CR. Check out the full article if you

get a chance. Meanwhile, I'll see what I can do to get permission to

reproduce the article.

--Dean