The Science of How to Eat to Live

Johnny-Come-Lately gets it right!

More scientific evidence that what Master Fard Muhammad taught the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is 100% correct:

"Fasting with the right food is the cure for all our ills"

Even cancer!

Now all we have to do is practice it and live, and live, and live, and live...

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More Evidence Links Longer Lives to Fewer Calories

Katie Drummond Sphere

(Dec. 21) -- The potential for calorie-restriction diets to lengthen our lifespans has been on the scientific radar for decades, despite predominantly animal-based testing. Now, new research is offering the first substantial evidence that eating less might lead to longer human lifespans. Biologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham grew healthy human lung cells and precancerous lung cells, and then fed them different amounts of glucose -- the simple sugars that fuel cell activity -- for several weeks. Healthy cells on a low-glucose diet lived longer than expected, and precancerous cells died off in mass quantities. The implications of the study -- the first to examine aging and life span using human cells, rather than laboratory animals -- could be profound as a growing body of scientific data suggests that calorie restriction might be a means to longer life and a reduction of aging-related illnesses such as cancer.Until now, the most promising research on calorie restriction has been exclusive to animals. Last year, Dr. Asish Chaudhuri, a biochemist at the University of Texas Health Science Center, concluded that mole rats -- who can live up to 30 years -- have a uniquely efficient means of mitigating oxidative stress, which causes cell degeneration and aging. Oxidative stress is, in part, a byproduct of digestion: the more energy a body requires, the more oxidative stress it incurs. Now, Chaudhuri is working with a grant from the Department of Defense to boost the cellular efficiency of primates by limiting their caloric intake. If all goes according to plan, he anticipates that troops will subsist on a limited diet within a decade. "Troops contend with more environmental and mental stress than most," he says. "Calorie restriction would give their bodies a head start." Of course, the collective research doesn't yet amount to proof that low-calorie diets can defend against cellular stress and extend lifespan in humans. But science has demonstrated that humans do benefit from calorie restriction. Improving aging-related bio-markers, like reduced rates of heart disease and diabetes, and a healthier body weight are all factors that can profoundly affect natural lifespan, estimated to max out at about 120 years. In one of the only ongoing human studies on calorie restriction, 132 participants in a clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health were asked to reduce their calorie intake by 25 percent for two years. Tests will continue, with another 250 people starting in January, but one of the study's lead researchers, Dr. Eric Ravussin, is optimistic before even analyzing the results. "Tests in rodents and other animals have been ongoing since the 1930s, and they've shown that this is effective," he says. "So we already have a good idea of the mechanisms at work, before seeing them in humans." This new research out of Alabama, combined with studies on animal subjects and the short-term impact of calorie restriction on human test groups, offers considerable evidence that calorie restriction communities -- once fringe collectives that now boast a major online presence -- are onto something. But what researchers don't know might be the deciding factor when it comes time to dine: the NIH study has no plans to pursue a lifelong human trial, citing expense, a lack of willing participants and the ethical concerns over toying with children's diets. And it's worth noting that most study participants -- like most Americans -- started the trial with body mass indexes at the higher end of healthy, and then lost weight when eating less. A strict low-calorie regimen would logically improve health for an adult accustomed to over-consumption. Whether the regimen extends the natural limits of our lives is another question.
Filed under: Nation, Health, Top Stories
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