Calorie Restriction Aging

Calorie Restriction Aging Is there Scientific evidence to support CR as a way of life?

There is well known scientific evidence showing that calorie restriction in insects and some laboratory animals increases their lifespan. The question for human longevity is whether such restrictions add is useful for those interested in adding years to the human lifespan.

If you scan the Internet you will find many essays by proponents of Calorie Restriction Aging. And at the same time there are some essays by critics who claim the idea of Calorie Restriction Aging benefits is nonsense or even dangerous.

Scientific studies about CR

What do scientific studies show about Calorie Restriction?

With the advent of the Internet and 'popular publishing" anyone can say almost anything and get their ideas out to the public. But we who are interested in Anti-Aging or Ageless Aging want to be sure that the things we do are based on solid evidence.

In science, the key is finding articles that have undergone 'peer review' - that a scientists peers have read a piece of research and deem that it followed the rules of 'good science'. Whenever we are looking for information - especially information on a controversial topic, we want to be sure that we are consulting articles published in journals that are 'peer reviewed'.

Here is a representative sample of articles published in peer reviewed scientific journals. You can click on the links to read abstracts and full articles.

• 1997 New England Journal of Medicine publised an article by Richard Weindruch, Ph.D. and Rajindar S. Sohal, Ph.D. in thier October 2 issue which summarized what was known about caloric restrictin in animals and in human beings. You can read the article by clicking here: Calorie Restriction Aging: Calorie Intake and Aging
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• 2007 article by Anthony E Civitarese, Stacy Carling, Leonie K Heilbronn, Mathew H Hulver, Barbara Ukropcova, Walter A Deutsch, Steven R Smith, and Eric Ravussin, for the CALERIE Pennington. This page gives the usual abstract but also includes a summary by the editors which may be really helpful for those somewhat new to the research. Go to Calorie Restriction Aging Diet study - 2007
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• 2008 Exp Gerontol published an article , "Caloric Restriction in Humans" by John O. Holloszy1 and Luigi Fontana1. Here is the abstract of that article: "Studies on mice and rats have demonstrated that calorie restriction (CR) slows primary aging, has a protective effect against secondary aging, and markedly decreases the incidence of malignancies. However, the only way to determine whether CR “works” in humans is to conduct studies on people. Such studies are difficult to perform in free-living people. While research on CR in humans is still at an early stage, a modest amount of information has accumulated. Because it is not feasible to conduct studies of the effects of CR on longevity in humans, surrogate measures have to be used. Preliminary information obtained using this approach provides evidence that CR provides a powerful protective effect against secondary aging in humans. This evidence consists of the finding that risk factors for atherosclerosis and diabetes are markedly reduced in humans on CR. Humans on CR also show some of the same adaptations that are thought to be involved in slowing primary aging in rats and mice. These include a very low level of inflammation as evidenced by low circulatory levels of c-reactive protein and TNFa, serum triiodothyronine levels at the low end of the normal range, and a more elastic “younger” left ventricle (LV), as evaluated by echo-doppler measures of LV stiffness."
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• 2009 - Aging Res. Review pubished a study by Bronwen Martin, Mark P. Mattson and Stuart Maudsley "Caloric restriction and intermittent fasting: Two potential diets for successful brain aging" in which they state: "evidence suggesting that two dietary interventions, caloric restriction (CR) and intermittent fasting (IF), can prolong the health-span of the nervous system by impinging upon fundamental metabolic and cellular signaling pathways that regulate life-span.".

Click here to read How CR started as longevity practice

But not all studies of Calorie Restriction are positive. Do read Calorie Restriction - warnings

Click here for more about Longevity and ways to achieve it

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