Research Links Low-Calorie Diet with Youth, Longevity

[Yollam]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/briefs/heart/hb060117a.htm

Low-calorie diet keeps the heart looking young
By Associated Press
A very low calorie diet can help the heart age more slowly, according to researchers who released what they call the first-ever human study on the subject. The findings confirmed earlier studies on mice and rats that demonstrate the cardiac benefits of a restricted calorie diet.

The study looked at the heart function of 25 members of the Caloric Restriction Society, ages 41 to 64, who consumed 1,400 to 2,000 nutritionally balanced calories per day. They were compared with 25 people who ate a typical western diet, consuming 2,000 to 3,000 daily calories on average. The result: Those limiting caloric intake had the heart functions of much younger people — typically about 15 years younger than their age. Ultrasound exams showed group members had hearts that appeared more elastic than most people their age; their hearts were also able to relax between beats in a way similar to hearts in younger people.

"This is the first study to demonstrate that long-term calorie restriction with optimal nutrition has cardiac-specific effects that age-associated declines in heart function," said Luigi Fontana, lead author and assistant professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. The study was published this week in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Fontana said simply consuming less food is not the answer. Members of the study group ate food resembling a traditional Mediterranean diet, focusing on vegetables, olive oil, beans, whole grains, fish, and fruit. They avoided refined and processed foods, soft drinks, desserts, white bread, and other sources of "empty" calories....


This runs counter to the claims of some who claim that "diets don't work, or that diets even make people sick. The fact is, nutritional, low-calorie diets, followed as a lifestyle change, not a temporary crash diet, will not only lead to weight loss, but better overall health.

I also really liked one quote in here:

http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=87108

"Calorie restriction is associated with longevity only when it is coupled with optimal nutrition. On the other hand, calorie restriction coupled with malnutrition accelerates aging and causes severe diseases.

"Therefore, eating half a hamburger, half a bag of French fries and half a can of soft drink is not healthy caloric restriction and is harmful," he said.

[GrumpyGreg]

1. I'll take my chances eating some of what I like----I would starve

on that diet and life may not only be longer,but it certainly would seem a lot longer.

[Yollam]

3. That's certainly your prerogative.

If you can keep fit and trim on a typical American diet - lucky you. I found myself gaining 10 lbs. a year that way, until I was 100 lbs. overweight, with high cholesterol and starting to get GERD, flatulence, foot pain (all symptoms are now GONE). I've lost 30 lbs now on a low calorie diet as they describe, and I intend to make it more or less permanent.

My point in posting it was as a counter to the claims by some "fat acceptance" folks that diets are bad and unhealthful. While I'm all for accepting one's body regardless of being fat or not, I disagree strongly on that point.

I fell energetic and happy on the diet, and I basically eat what I like, but in small servings, and skip on the really junky stuff.

But I do envy people who can eat whatever they like and not blimp out.

[mom cat]

2. Finally scientists are learning what many traditional cultures have

known all along.