Better Than Exercise

Fight Aging!

Do you want to live a longer life in good health? Simple practices can make some difference, such as exercise or calorie restriction. But over the long haul all that really matters is progress in medicine: building new classes of therapy to repair and reverse the known root causes of aging. The sooner these treatments arrive, the more lives will be saved. Find out how to help »

Another take on recent human calorie restriction (CR) research arrives via EurekAlert: "both calorie restriction and endurance exercise protect [mice and rats] against many chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer. However, the research has shown that only CR increases the animals' maximum lifespan by up to 50 percent. These animal studies suggest that leanness is a key factor in the prevention of age-associated disease, but reducing caloric intake is needed to slow down aging. ... [this human study] suggests that CR has some specific anti-aging effects that are due to lower energy intake, rather than to leanness ... Primary aging determines maximal length of life. Secondary aging, on the other hand, refers to diseases that can keep a person or an animal from reaching that expected lifespan. ... By slowing primary aging, CR may increase maximal lifespan." But don't skip the exercise - add both exercise and CR to your lifestyle and reap the benefits.

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-05/wuso-cra053106.php