Keeping to a strict regime of lower calorie food intake over a period of decades may lead to a better quality of life in old age and to a longer lifespan.
Researchers published (July 10, 2009) the results of a 20-year study on the effects of a nutritious but calorie-reduced diet on rhesus macaque monkeys in the journal Science.
Aging Research on Monkeys
The research team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison worked in cooperation with the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center and the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital.
The program began in 1989 with 30 moneys and was expanded in 1994 with the addition of 46 more animals. Reporting on the study at University of Wisconsin-Madison News (July 9, 2009), Terry Devitt wrote: “All of the animals in the study were enrolled as adults at ages ranging from seven to 14 years. Today, 33 animals remain in the study. Of those, 13 are given free rein at the dinner table, and 20 are on a calorie-restricted diet. Rhesus macaques have an average life span of about 27 years in captivity. The oldest animal currently in the study is 29 years.”
Monkeys Live Longer on Calorie-lowered Diet
After 20 years, half the animals on the all-you-can-eat diet are still alive. However, among those on the lower-calorie food intake 80 percent are living and healthy.
Richard Weindruch is a professor of medicine at UW-Madison and the university news outlet quotes him as saying: “We observed that caloric restriction reduced the risk of developing an age-related disease by a factor of three and increased survival.”
Age-related Disease Reduced
The monkeys on the lower-calorie regimen had fewer age-related diseases than those allowed an unrestricted diet. “…Cancerous tumours and cardiovascular disease in animals on a restricted diet was less than half that seen in animals permitted to eat freely” reported UW-Madison News.
Dr. Weindruch commented, “So far, we’ve seen the complete prevention of diabetes.”
John Sterling a neuroscientist in the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health found additional benefits: “It seems to preserve the volume of the brain in some regions. It’s not a global effect, but the findings are helping us understand if this dietary treatment is having any effect on the loss of neurons” in aging.
In The Globe and Mail (July 9, 2009) Maria Jimenez wrote that the lower-calorie monkeys in the study showed that “their brain health is markedly better, displaying greater working memories and problem-solving skills than the non-dieters.”
Jimenez commented: “A photo of the oldest dieting monkey shows a robust animal with sleek fur and sharp eyes, compared with his more frail non-dieting counterpart, who appears portly with a matted coat.”
Human Body’s Defence against Famine
The relationship between dietary restriction and aging has been known for some time.
New York Times writer Nicholas Wade pointed out that it’s been handed down from the ancient ancestors of humans. In his article “Dieting Monkeys Offer Hope for Living Longer,” published on July 9, 2009, Wade wrote that “Dietary restriction seems to set off an ancient strategy written into all animal genomes, that when food is scarce resources should be switched to tissue maintenance from breeding. In recent years biologists have had considerable success in identifying the mechanisms by which cells detect the level of nutrients available to the body.”
Several research teams are looking for a pharmaceutical way of tricking the body into behaving this way. If successful, Wade predicted that “People could then literally have their cake and eat it, too, enjoying the health benefits of caloric restriction without the pain of forgoing rich foods.”
 |
