Life Extension

It is widely understood that what we eat and how much we eat play major roles in our health and ultimately in our life span. Diets high in sodium, fat, sugar and starch are all destructive to the human body. We all admit that we should do more to take care of our bodies, but few of us seriously follow through with a strict diet.

In the realm of life extension, the calorie restriction diet is widely believed to have a positive impact on extending life span. Calorie restriction means limiting the amount of energy (or calories) that a person consumes with the hope of improving health and delaying the aging process.

Calorie restriction has been shown to have a positive impact on some of the major aging components like cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels. By keeping these factors at a healthy level the person is less likely to develop the diseases associated with high levels. Tests that have been conducted on rats and mice have shown that calorie restriction does produce life span extension. Not only did their life span increase but they maintained physical activity for a longer period, had longer reproductive spans and maintained a youthful appearance longer. This is when compared to animals that had access to all the calories they wanted to consume.

While calorie restriction is not starvation, it is not an easy routine to follow. The calorie intake is reduced by about 30%. The diet is heavily supplemented with vitamins, minerals, proteins and other nutrients. Some point to the success of some cultures which have been practicing calorie restriction as a way of life for many years. In Okinawa residents traditionally consume a low calorie diet and that population as a high percentage of people over the age of 100.

The diet can also have side effects. In animals, those with calorie restriction are more subject to getting chilled and are much more susceptible to infections. Calorie restriction diets lead to a loss of muscles and reduce the body's ability to heal. For these reasons it would be too dangerous for people who work in physical jobs to follow this diet.

What scientists are hoping to gain from the study of calorie restrictive diets is an understanding of how the diet works in the body. Perhaps scientists can develop a drug that creates the positive benefits of the diet without the negative side effects.

Life extensionists were among those disappointed by the 2005 changes to the USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans. While the guide is certainly more personalized to an individual's age, gender and physical activity, there is no message to reduce the calorie level. This is largely due to the fact that calorie restriction is not widely embraced by mainstream agencies like the USDA.