When calories are restricted without malnutrition, scientists have observed both the median and maximum life span increases in a variety of animals. Currently, calorie restriction without malnutrition is the only scientifically proven way to extend life. While not conclusively proven in humans, many people are now practicing the CRON diet (calorie restriction with optimum nutrition) to improve health and hopefully extend their life. Numerous human benefits of following a CRON diet are already known; such benefits include reducing the risk of age-related neurological disease, reducing one’s cancer risk, diabetes, and heart disease just to name a few. The health benefits of Calorie Restriction without malnutrition are far more than just probably life extension.
In numerous mouse studies, mice on a calorie restricted diet repeatedly outlived their non-calorie restricted counter parts. A graph from the study “The retardation of aging in mice by dietary restriction: longevity, cancer, immunity and lifetime energy intake.” clearly shows the difference in lifespans.
A paper published May 2010 entitled “Calorie restriction: what recent results suggest for the future of aging research.” reported that “regardless of longevity gains, the promotion of healthy aging and disease prevention maybe attainable.” Calorie restriction does have a place in human health, even if the longevity gains are not currently known.
Ongoing studies on non-human primates are reporting very favorable results. A study on rhesus monkeys published in July 2009 entitled “Caloric Restriction Delays Disease Onset and Mortality in Rhesus Monkeys.” shows stark contrasts between the Calorie Restricted monkeys and the ad lib monkeys. At the time of publication, the study had been going for 20 years. Below is an image of a typical control monkey (left) compared with a typical calorie restricted monkey. This image alone is impressive, but health stats back up the healthy appearance of the calorie restricted monkey. Amazing. Given the similarities between humans and primates, results from this study cannot be ignored.
Practice calorie restriction for health and the possible life extending benefits. Remember, the plan isn’t to just gain an extra 10 or even 30 years, the plan is to be healthy enough and to live long enough to take advantage of more advance anti-aging, life extending technologies.
Here is a brief guide to the steps I took that helped me on my CR journey.
