Calorie Restriction Diet in Aging, 20/20 with Lynn Sherr

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The Calorie Restriction Diet in Aging, 20/20 with Lynn Sherr

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Eat Less, Live Longer?

By Lynn Sherr ABC News

Watch Lynn Sherr's full report on 20/20.

News: Calorie Restriction Diet in Aging, 20/20 with Lynn Sherr

Article features people we know... Read about them!

Some Hope Cutting Calories Will Add Years to Their Lives

Dec. 5 — For Darren and Vyff, dinner is family time. But

's is a very different meal. In fact, it's her breakfast

and lunch too — it's the only food she eats all day.

Vyff consumes 1,600 calories a day, about one-third less than most

American women consume. This has helped her lose 85 pounds after

the birth of her third child.

Yes, it's a diet. But the 28-year-old Oregonian isn't severely

cutting calories to get a movie-star body. She doing it in the

hope that she'll add years to her life.

" I'm hoping this will extend my life to a time where science has

eradicated the greatest killer, which is aging, " she said.

Can your diet slow the aging process and help you stay young

forever? That's the theory behind Calorie Restriction, or CR, a

phenomenon practiced by an estimated 1,000 individuals around the

world 3 cut food drastically, keep the nutrients in your diet, and

live longer.

Going Easy on Your 'Engine'

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Dr. Katz of Yale University, an expert in chronic disease

prevention through nutrition, compares the CR regime to not

pushing your car too hard.

" If you think of putting lots and lots of fuel into a car because

you're driving it fast and hard, you're going to wear out the

parts, " Katz said, " Well, there really is a wear and tear price to

pay for burning fuel in the human body as well. "

Katz says if we get by on less fuel, or food, we'll be less apt to

wear out our bodies and, he says, " potentially add decades at the

far end of the life span. "

Back in 1988, when ABCNEWS first reported on CR, we met with Dr.

Roy Walford of the University of California, Los Angeles. He was

working with lab mice, which he had placed on a special

low-calorie, high-nutrient diet. The mice lost weight and outlived

their companions by more than 50 percent.

" If the translation is direct, " Walford told ABCNEWS, " as from

mouse to man, then we could live to be 175. "

McGlothin, who's been practicing CR for about 10 years, hopes

Walford is right. " I'd love it if I could be over 100 and jumping

around and playing basketball, " he said.

McGlothin convinced his wife, Averill, to join him in giving up

calories to live longer. They eagerly recite their daily diet:

1,400 calories for her, 1,800 for him; their dietary delicacies

include lemon juice and water to sweet potatoes and fruit; and

Averill's favorite, " rice protein " breakfast.

McGlothin, who's 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs in at 131 pounds.

He lost 29 pounds on CR. His cholesterol, blood pressure and body

temperature have all dropped to lizard-like levels. And yes,

McGlothin says he gets hungry. The odd thing is, he's happy to be

hungry.

" To me, it is not a fearsome thing, " he said. " It's a feeling of

joy knowing I've accomplished my goal for that day. "

and Averill, like many CR devotees, exercise regularly. It's

all part of the routine to reach that elusive goal — staving off

old age.

" I love my life. I love my work. If I could continue doing this

for the unforeseeable future, it would be wonderful, "

McGlothin said.

He acknowledges that may not be a realistic goal. It's just

something he says he's hoping for.

But it may take another century to find out if CR really will

create a bunch of centenarians.

Dr. Greenberg, who teaches nutrition and health at Brooklyn

College in New York, says that since good scientific studies would

have to follow subjects for their entire lives, we might not know

until 2013 if the diet works. He is practicing what he preaches,

and has been on CR himself for 11 years. But his wife wasn't too

thrilled about it when he began the strict regime.

" She was very unhappy in the beginning, " he said, " Because I got

very thin and she looked at me and said, 'You look like a

concentration camp survivor. It's either me, or your diet.' I

chose her.

I increased the number of calories I was eating, put on a little

bit of weight. We're still together. "

So is it fair to say this diet is a little weird? Greenberg says

yes.

That is also the judgment of physicians like Katz, who is not on

the diet and does not recommend it.

" I truly believe that most people trying to do this — even if they

do live a long time — would regret an awful lot of it. It's

unpleasant. Food is fun. Food tastes good, " he said.

" They're at the fringe of ... of dietary behavior, " Katz said.

" So, even if it works, yeah, it's a little wacko. For most of us,

it's a little wacko. "

Katz also says the quest for eternal youth can be fraught with

dangers if a CR diet is not properly balanced. Likely

consequences include osteoporosis, anemia, and damage to blood

cells and the skin.

If a young woman came into his office and said she was going on

CR, Katz says, he'd try to talk her out of it. " It's an extreme

approach and if she's really concerned about weight control,

that's not what CR is about. "

It's also not about dieting your way into a 25-year-old body.

Vyff knows she can't turn back the clock, but she can plan

for a better future.

" You want to be healthier in your 40s and 50s. You don't want the

knee problems or as much sagging, " she said. " I mean, you just,

want to stay and extend your middle age for a long time before you

start actually aging more severely. "

Even if it means giving up tastes the rest of us live for right

now.