Diet & Health News

Calorie Restriction Diet Leads To Longer Healthier Life

July 11, 2009
By J White

Do you need more reasons to cut back on your calories and lose weight? Well here’s a big one. A 20 year study found that consuming fewer calories leads to a longer and a healthier life. In fact, because of the great details in this study, it is likely to provide the most detail insight into the link between calorie restriction and extended life.

In this study, carried out by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center and the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, researchers found that a nutritious, but reduced-calorie diet helps to slow aging and significantly delay the onset of age-related illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and declining brain function.

In the study, monkeys were used as the test subjects, in which one group was permitted to eat freely, while another group was given the same diet with 30 percent fewer calories. Over the 20 year course of the study, only half of the animals allowed to eat as they liked survived, while 80 percent of those on the restricted diet were still alive.

According to Richard Weindruch and lead study author Ricki Colman, the report, which details the relationship between diet and aging, shows that a restricted diet leads to a longer lifespan and to an improved quality of life in old age.

Moreover, when calorie restriction is looked at in terms of deaths due to diseases of aging, there is a major effect in increasing survival due to the effects of a diet with calorie restrictions.

For instance, the study showed that cancerous tumors and heart disease in animals on a restricted diet was less than half than those seen in animals allowed to eat freely.

Even more remarkable was the fact that it was common to see diabetes or problems with glucose regulation in the monkeys that could eat freely, while the monkeys on the restricted diet showed no signs of these problems. That is, the diet with the restricted calories allowed for the prevention of diabetes.

The monkeys on the restricted diet also showed better brain function. In particular, functions such as working memory and problem solving seem to be better preserved in the monkeys on the restricted diet.

In short, the bottom line message to take from this study is that if you want to increase your chances of living a longer, disease free and healthier life, while retaining more mental sharpness, you need to make a calorie restriction diet part of your lifestyle.

Source:
University of Wisconsin-Madison (2009, July 10). Reduced Diet Thwarts Aging, Disease In Monkeys. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 11, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/07/090709110836.htm

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