Those who eat less are likely to live a long and healthy life
Caloric restriction has serious effects on the body, which researchers hope to be able to induce also through drugs
Since eating 25% less, the study volunteers CALERIE weakened about 10 kilograms, they feel healthier, lighter and more energetic. Scientists suspect that they will have a longer life than other people.
CALERIE study (Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy), which takes place at a university in Boston, started from the idea that people who consume fewer calories enjoy a better health, what would ensure a longer life.
This view appears a paradox. If you eat to live, how is it that less food means longer life? No scientists have a precise explanation. The fact is that this conclusion was drawn after some years of studies on various organisms, from fungi to mice. People who eat less live longer by 50%. Soon we will find out what effect has this semi-starvation on humans. Till now we know that even monkeys have a longer life if they eat less. Primates who were famished they didn’t make diabetes, heart disease and cancer as much as those who ate one’s fill.
Every time you keep a diet low in calories (but which contains, however, essential nutrients) you reduce cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar, and that means extra years to your life. However, caloric restriction seems to trigger other mechanisms that prolong our life. It is not just the fact that they keep away the diseases. It is exactly what the Calerie study pursues : to discover what are these mechanisms.
Volunteers will eat 25-30% less than normal for two years, after which they will do thorough analysis to see what has changed in their body. The researchers have to determine if all people will benefit from caloric restriction. Since 1935, scientists noticed that people who eat less live longer. Subjects were mice. It was also noted then that it is not the less weigh that prolong mice’s life. Those who ate more but who maintained additional exercises had not a longer life. Since then the researchers try to explain how caloric restriction works. So far there are only theories still unconfirmed. Mild hunger is likely to act as a stress factor, slowly but steadily, which strengthens the body and makes it more resistant to age issues. Also, caloric restriction slows metabolism and people with a slow metabolism live longer.
Once they find the exact link between hunger and longevity, researchers need to identify the molecular mechanisms that made this connection. They hope that in the near future, these mechanisms can promote drugs, so we can live longer without going hungry.
Tags: calerie, calerie article, calerie study, eat less, long life