Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we didn’t hear in the news

Re:Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we ... by JulianMorrison on Monday July 13, 2009 @08:54AM (#701583)

I've heard a talk recently by a guy who works with scientists who do calorie restriction experiments.

What he said is an eye-opener. The animals look healthier but they don't live longer. They don't seem to die of age, but they do just drop dead one day, not always from any obvious cause at all - although they seem particularly susceptible to infections.

His hypothesis was that calorie restriction works by forcing the body on such low resources it has to cannibalize itself, which has the advantage it cleans up age-related crud much more effectively - and the disadvantage that there is absolutely no slack in the system. Every problem is a crisis.

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Re:Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we ... by raleec on Monday July 13, 2009 @09:37AM (#701647)

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. --Redd Foxx

Being one of those Health Nuts, I practice CR during the weekdays, and let my self go (relatively) on the weekends, I'd recommend that anyone try it for a month. The first week is the hardest, but you will feel a lot more in tune w/ your body.

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Re:Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we ... by eru on Monday July 13, 2009 @09:30AM (#701639)

Slack and crud?

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Re:Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we ... by JulianMorrison on Monday July 13, 2009 @09:40AM (#701654)

I'm paraphrasing because I'm not a scientist.

Slack = various sorts of resources, including immune resources.

Crud = inter- and intra-cellular unwanted buildup of proteins, failing cells, non-reversible damage, yadda yadda. It all gets torn up and coincidentally cleaned up by the body's panic for materiel.

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Re:Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we ... by randallsquared on Monday July 13, 2009 @01:18PM (#702083)

If that's the case, intermittent fasting seems like it should produce similar effects to CR. I wait with bated breath for the experiment that does intermittent CR on mice. :)

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Re:Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we ... by eru on Monday July 13, 2009 @01:32PM (#702114)

Last time I check slack and crud ("Schlacken" in German) were very popular with quacks and diet fads, but had no science behind them.

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Re:Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we ... by Sikander on Monday July 13, 2009 @04:48PM (#702449)

He meant Slax and Crux! These two linux distros will kill us ALL! :)

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Re:Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we ... by cdr on Monday July 13, 2009 @10:22AM (#701724)

What a wonderful... anecdote.

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Re:Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we ... by sailormoon on Monday July 13, 2009 @03:31PM (#702322)

Why the downvotes? It's absolutely true. "I heard something" is not a proper argument, and the claim that CR has no effect on lifetime is at odds with everything I've heard on the matter. One of my friends (Chemistry PhD) is crazy about the subject, has read all the studies and he's very excited about the insight CR discoveries may bring.

So .. harsh but fair. Anecdotes are worthless. Source please. And cdr should be rewarded, not punished, for calling it out.

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Re:Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we ... by JulianMorrison on Monday July 13, 2009 @06:23PM (#702628)

It would be a terrible way to write an academic paper - which I'm not doing, I'm just mentioning the content of a related talk I'd heard. Please avail yourself of the primary sources.

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