Calorie Restriction: Life Extension or Self-Starvation?

I just came across this interesting article thought I would share and see what others think. I feel that if living longer is important to you, you should try it. Would be cool to find out for sure. This is the original article which I pasted below. http://blog.nutritiondata.com/ndblog/2007/10/ calorie-restric.html 

Calorie Restriction: Life Extension or Self-Starvation?

Cutting calories isn't just for dieters anymore.  A growing number of people are embracing extreme, calorie-restricted diets in the hopes that it will drastically extend their lifespan...to 120 or beyond. (See also "Extreme Calorie Restriction for Long Life"  on MSNBC.com).

Proponents of Calorie Restriction (or CR) typically eat 30-40% fewer calories than it would take to maintain what is generally considered to be a "healthy" weight.  They generally lose quite a bit of weight before stabilizing at a much lower body weight.  The motivation for such extreme deprivation? Animal studies in everything from fruit flies to primates indicate that CR can extend the maximum lifespan of the animal in question as much as 20 or 25%.  There are no human studies verifying that CR will have the same effect on humans, but short-term studies show that CR does reduce biomarkers for aging along with lowering the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes.  For many, that's evidence enough.

CR is a difficult lifestyle.  Many who practice it admit to dealing with constant hunger and obsession with food. In a society where every social situation and celebration seems to focus on food, the CR lifestyle can be isolating.  It's also time-consuming.  When you are eating very few calories, it becomes difficult to ensure adequate intake of protein, essential fatty acids, and vitamins and minerals.  There is literally no room for empty calories and meticulous meal planning and tracking becomes a necessity. (Nutrition Data has a big following in the CR community because our dietary analysis tools make it easier to practice Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition, or CRON.)

Whatever its potential benefits, CR is obviously too austere for the vast majority of the (mostly overweight) population. And, predictably, the biotech companies are racing to develop drugs that will mimic the beneficial effects of CR without the deprivation. But in the meantime, CR is attracting more and more baby-boomers determined to forestall the march of time.

What's your personal view on calorie restriction? Would you be willing to put up with daily hunger in exchange for 10, 20, or even 30 extra healthy years?

by Monica Reinagel L.D.N/C.N.S

Original Post by carmen_waz:

Would you be willing to put up with daily hunger in exchange for 10, 20, or even 30 extra healthy years?

 

 you dont get hungry eating low calories after a short time (and you get full on a lot less food). You feel about the same (in terms of full / hunger) as you do on any other caloric amount.

But as for living longer... yup, i read those studies a while ago and it seems like there is nothng that contradicts it (and looking at humans...maybe that explains the japanese long lifespan?). It seems to be just a fact about living things... you eat less and your metabolism will slow down... your metablism slows down and you age slower than normal...sounds good to me :D ((if i can resist the icecream ...oh no! pumpkin icecream season is here!!))

Not sure if I understood the article correctly... but you have to be underweight or just low end of healthy BMI? I don't like the idea of starving my organs. T_T Or the idea of my ribs showing (that's just so ick). Maybe low end of healthy BMI I'd think about it... :P

I mean... being 120 years old is like... being a zombie per say. You can barely function.

Wait what? Did I just read correctly?  Calorie restrition to extremes a GOOD thing? sounds to me like a gate way to eating disorders world wide, masked by "longevity".

"Serious risks
But the calorie-cutting quest for the fountain of youth can also lead to some real health problems. Some people admit to feeling constantly hungry and become obsessed with food. Some doctors believe that calorie restriction can attract people who are susceptible to eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa.

People who try restricting calories can experience rapid weight loss, although it seems to plateau after six months as their bodies adjust, according to studies. For people who have little body fat even modest calorie restriction can be harmful, the researchers argue.

Dieters who restricted calories for 12 months had lower muscle mass and a reduced capacity to perform exercise compared with those who lost similar amounts of weight from exercise alone, according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in February 2007. CR-induced weight loss (but not exercise-induced weight loss) was associated with reduced bone mineral density at the hip and spine (high risk areas for fracture), another study published in Archives of Internal Medicine in March 2007 found."

uh, no thanks. I just hope that no anorexics find this article or they'll just keep recruiting more and more girls everyday.

This article is all wrong. If so, why are so many children around the world dying of starvation each day more and more?

Calorie restriction leads to muscle mass, which leads to your body eating up your organs.  Heart rate also goes down,  which puts you at a higher risk of having a heart attack. Girls lose their periods, which means they're infertile. If this was healthy in any REAL possible way (which is a definite no) how come 20% of anorexics die?

Also my hub's grandma is 90 years old, and she's as hard as a rock. She looks like she's 70 and she eats A LOT.

A long life = eating a well balanced diet, and exercise, not starving yourself...if not everyone would be a walking skeleton with disordered eating. nasty!

This sounds to me like a plan to destroy human kind or something :S

I was anorexic, so I should know....this article is a bunch of BS

It's a bad idea for those whose bodies are still maturing (not recommended by the CR Society for those under 21), for those who have eating disorders, for those who are ill or who are susceptible to illness.  Read the rest of the article which mentions some of the risks instead of extolling the potential virtues.

Additionally those who have made this their lifestyle may spend a lot more time and energy focusing on food and nutritional requirements than most people feel is worthwhile.

btw I hope you are not planning on restricting your calories, or anyone that reads this article....trust me, you'll seriously wish you never did...it will destroy your life.

Well 20% (which is what it says on the msnbc article) less of my daily cal intake for maintenance is 1200. A normal dieting amount of calories to eat so...   I don't think 20% less is what starving people eat try 50% or less then what they need. I didn't say anything about doing it but thanks for your concern.

Hmm... interesting. Sounds a like a good idea. That is, until you stop getting your period, and you don't get enough nutrients, and your bones get weaker, making it harder to be on the Field Hockey, indoor track, AND outdoor track teams without getting easily injured and taking a much longer time to heal, and your hair breaks off, and your tired all the time. Then your doctor tells you you're underweight and if you don't eat more you won't get your period and eventually you won't be able to have children. So then you end up having to eat about 30-50% MORE calories than 'what it would take to maintain a healthy weight' just so I can live healthfully past 30.

Been that route.. found it kind of counterproductive.

It's a crock o'"#"#¤, is what it is, it's based on some lame speculation around some vague preliminary data from some animal studies and turning it into an excuse for disordered eating.

 What the proponents of calorie restriction are very conveniently glossing over is that in those animal studies they're basing their insane notions on, the lifespan extensions happens because puberty gets drastically postponed. The animals took up to 3 times normal to reach puberty on a life-ling CR diet - but post-puberty lifespan was drastically reduced - roughly halved, actually -  and quality of life as measured by levels of stress hormones, fur health, activity level and every marker we have was also drastically reduced.

 Dunno about you, but I'm long past puberty.

 You know, back in the old days of the 19th century (1801-1900), average lifespan was something like half of what it is now, and the average diet was something like - oh, about the same level of calorie intake as a CR diet would imply.

 Based on actual historical data on real humans as opposed to half-assed speculation around the author's personal misunderstanding of some animal studies, CR is more likely to halve your probable remaining lifespan than to extend it, and to make that shortened lifespan into absolute misery while you're sufferring through it.

 No thanks.

I think this thread was a bad idea to post. :P And most people who live that long, didn't they eat healthily (whole grains and veggies etc)?

Let's see... live to 70~ and look healthy or live till 120 and look like an undead weak skeleton...hmmmmmm! What a tough decision! :P

Original Post by melkor:" You know, back in the old days of the 19th century (1801-1900), average lifespan was something like half of what it is now, and the average diet was something like - oh, about the same level of calorie intake as a CR diet would imply."

 

Umm they also didn't have health care like it is now or running water and toilets, vaccines all the  things we have these days.

Personally I wouldn't choose to do it.  I like having muscles and energy to do things plus enjoy food far too much to go down that road.

There is no guarantee, and I would bet that like fad diets if you die at an early age or get ill that they'll tell you  your family that you must have done it wrong or had poor genetics...except, unlike fad diets you don't get the results until you're significantly older and by then you might already be dead.

**I would nag anyone I know doing it half to death anyway so they'd die around 60.**

I don't mean to be rude but....I think it was just an article that's asks you to decide what you think. It does not say "hey starve yourself" it tells both side to the story and anyone who finds that they like to do that sort of thing maybe needs to get help.Sorry you feel like I shouldn't have posted it but I found it interesting if you don't, leave the thread. 

Original Post by carmen_waz:

Original Post by melkor:" You know, back in the old days of the 19th century (1801-1900), average lifespan was something like half of what it is now, and the average diet was something like - oh, about the same level of calorie intake as a CR diet would imply."

 

Umm they also didn't have health care like it is now or running water and toilets, vaccines all the  things we have these days.

Even adjusted for those factors the difference in lifespan between socioeconomic classes was staggering - if you were upper class in New York your life expectancy was on average twice that of your lower-class counterpart, even when you filter the statistics for infant mortality and infectious diseases. The edge-of-starvation diet forced on the poor - roughly equal to the CR diet - halved their probable lifespan.

Hmm I see where your coming from but all those things work together to lower the life span, and if you read the article there is something about getting the optimal nutrition for what you are eating which is not what the poor people in 1800's NY did. I would love to see actual numbers for what you are saying. Very interesting.

Might I also add again that 1200 cal which is 20% (which it states 20-30% in the msn article) less of my maintenance for me is not starvation nor is it going to kill me. It is a normal diet plan. Now the people who do 30-40% are actually eating way less then they are supposed to but that's an extreme and I wish you guys didn't automatically think "anorexic" that's not really what it was about. Just the fact that there might be a way that people could live for that long is really cool. Even if you don't want to do it, appreciate the studies on it. One day your grandchildren might live to be 130 and it would be normal because of the drugs they are developing to act like an restrictive cal diet. 

Start here: http://www.census.gov

And here: http://www.nih.gov/

And here, for a study on the negative effects of calorie restrictions.

Original Post by carmen_waz:

CR is a difficult lifestyle.  Many who practice it admit to dealing with constant hunger and obsession with food.

A life of "dealing with constant hunger" - nuff said.

Original Post by melkor:

Start here: http://www.census.gov

And here: http://www.nih.gov/

And here, for a study on the negative effects of calorie restrictions.

  So do you not know the actual numbers? Because it would be nice to see the actual information from the links. I'm not going to look for it. Anyways It's been fun but I have to go eat now all this talk of not eating is making me hungry.

I do know the actual numbers, but I'm not going to do your homework for you - you'll remain unconvinced until you look it up for yourself.

 But you might want to start with the "Determinants of Mortality" for an overview of the field.

They also discovered that the longer you hold off having sex the longer you'll live.

...to be honest, if it means I have to live a loonng life of starvation and celibacy, I think I'd chose to die young and have fun, thank you, haha.

Calorie restriction in an attempt to live an extra 20 years... eternal youth....  is the folly of sad old men that can't face their own mortality.  It's the same mentality that has them signing up to be cryogenically frozen in the hope of cures being found in the future.   To spend 120 or 130 years 'existing' in a miserable semi-starved condition seems to miss the whole point of being alive at all.  

To paraphrase the old joke... if you give up smoking, drinking, rich foods and having sex you won't live longer, it'll just feel longer....