Consider calorie restriction, or CR, if you'd like to join the longevity movement, says Longevity Meme, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people about lifestyle changes that can help you live longer. The organization claims that CR has shown significant increases in healthy life spans for laboratory animals, primates and rodents and suggests CR can prolong healthy human life, too. CR programs which lower daily calorie consumption by 30 to 40 percent promise relief from age-related degenerative conditions and improved general health. However, consult your physician before adopting such a diet.
Weight Loss
Limited-calorie diets alter a biochemical balance that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls your Caloric Balance Equation. When you eat too many calories to burn off with daily activity, you will gain weight. CR simply reverses that balance until a low body weight matches your energy expenditure. MayoClinic.com reports that excess body fat may increase your danger of diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and other disorders. If you are overweight, even a little, you risk a shorter, less healthy lifespan. CR enables you to reduce your weight and body fat.
Renewal
MayoClinic.com notes that there are fewer age-associated degenerative disorders with a CR diet. Longevity Meme researchers suggest this is due to improved autophagy, your body's method of scavenging, eliminating, recycling and renewing damaged cellular components. According to the organization's website, cellular damage products accumulate over time and obstruct normal bodily functions as you age. The increased autophagy seen in limited-calorie diets may enhance renewal of body functions and slow the aging process.
Longevity
MayoClinic.com cites research in which immature rodents fed a 30 to 60 percent CR diet before the age of six months increased their life spans between 30 and 60 percent. Adult rodents on a 44 percent CR diet increased their life spans between 10 and 20 percent. Given such results, MayoClinic.com reports that the estimate of the benefit of long-term CR diets in humans is limited to a life expectancy increase of 4 to 17 percent.
Side Effects
There can be some negative effects from a low-calorie diet, as well. MayoClinic.com advises that CR can contribute to reduced bone density, loss of muscle mass, anemia, irritability and dizziness. Consult with your doctor before you start a new diet with the aim of improving your health or achieving longevity, especially if you expect a diet to improve a medical condition. Extreme calorie restriction is appropriate in certain conditions, but only under medical supervision, suggests the Cleveland Clinic
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