Calorie Restriction & the Okinawans. The Most Potent Intervention Known to Increase Longevity Revealed. (NaturalNews) Recent research is showing that Mother Nature does not look favorably on people who eat more than their fair share. People who overeat restrict their longevity and subject themselves to chronic and debilitating diseases. In fact, as unpleasant as this may sound, the most potent intervention known to protect against cancer and extend lifespan is calorie restriction. What is calorie restriction? Calorie restriction (maybe it won't sound as bad if we call it CR) is a lifestyle and a strategy to preserve health and maximize the life span. In studies using rodents and primates, CR has been shown to increase life span by up to 40%. CR provides numerous health benefits such as a greatly lowered risk for most of the degenerative conditions of aging.
Recent studies have demonstrated these same health benefits in humans. CR calls for a diet reduced in intake of calories to a level 20 to 40% lower than is typical, while still obtaining all the necessary nutrients and vitamins. Fewer Calories Improves the Brain. Hara hatchi bu, the Okinawan people’s habit of eating only till they are 80 percent full, is thought to be one of the secrets of their extraordinary health and longevity. In addition to one of the highest percentages of people in the world who live past 100, Okinawans appear to be less prone to heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Indeed, ever since it was discovered in the 1930s that laboratory rats fed a caloric-restricted (CR) diet lived almost twice as long as their well fed counterparts, scientists have pursued caloric restriction research in the hopes of finding novel strategies for extending human life and preventing disease.
Given the growing older population at risk for memory problems and the rising rates of obesity, the role of diet in maintaining peak brain performance has taken on added importance. Diet and Memory This study is commendable because it is the first prospectively planned trial in older adults to demonstrate memory benefits of a low-calorie diet. What next? Calorie Restriction Extends life span. Advances in aging research: why methionine restriction is an attractive life-extension strategy - Pittsburgh Medical Technology. Thus far, caloric restriction may be the most robust and convincing anti-aging intervention known so far, at least as observed in multiple animal models. Over the past fifty years, the effects of caloric restriction on extending lifespan, delaying aging and the onset of age-related diseases has been very well documented.
In agreement with this concept, there is a plethora of scientific evidence showing that caloric restriction increases both the mean and maximal lifespan (20-40% lifespan extension depending on the animal species studied) in many animal models including worms, flies, primates and rodents (Mattson et al., 2005; Anderson et al., 2009). The data supporting the anti-aging benefits of caloric restriction in humans is scarce and somewhat cumbersome at this point. 2004). The signaling pathway(s) that participate in the beneficial effects of caloric restriction is a hot topic in aging research.
More importantly, vegan diets are relatively poor sources of methionine. 1. 3. 4.