Re: Calorie Restriction (Thank you CR Society)

Brian Manning Delaney (b-delaney@uchicago.edu)
Fri, 06 Nov 1998 00:47:20 -0800

man immortal wrote:
> Patrick Wilken wrote:

>> Doing a quick search on Medline brings up lots
>> of studys on calorie restriction. Are any
>> extropians practising it?

I'm not sure I'm an Extropian, but I just joined this list. I've been on CR for about 6 years (I'll be in a 48 Hours piece next week, but I doubt there'll be much useful info in it.) I went from severe to moderate CR a couple of years ago, partly for scientific reasons. Noted that my fasting glucose was going up (evil, evil), so now I'm going back down to severe CR again (was planning to do anyway, but the biostat changes help keep me motivated). 

>> Is there a threshold that needs to be reached
>> for it to work effectively or is any CR good (so
>> long as you aren't missing out on adequate
>> nutrients)?

> i wont know for about 60 years, patrick. {8^D
> these kinds of studies are inherently difficult
> with humans. we live so long, the researchers
> who set up the studies tend to die before the
> results come in.

Yes. We need a time machine! (Of course, then we wouldn't need CR....)

And why is Walford the only CR researcher who actually follows the diet? Strange. Optimism Dept: Because the rest think a pill version is just around the corner.

There doesn't seem to be a threshold in rodents. And I doubt there's one in any species. It seems to be: the more you "R" the "C", the better the effect, all the way to a point VERY near starvation. (I wouldn't push it, personally.)

There are a few primate CR studies underway, and some "accidental" and epidemiological studies in humans (very few though). I have links to them on my CR page (messy and in need of updating....):

http://www.infinitefaculty.org/sci/cr.htm

Until we have validated biomarkers of aging, we will need the 120-year (or 150-year!) study to know with absolute certainty whether CR works in humans, and to what degree. Myself, I think based on what we know that there's very little chance that it won't work for us.

> After being on CR with inadequate nutrition for
> about 6 years during high-school,

AKA "anorexia" :) People on CR would call that FR (food restriction) or DR (dietary) (though a few people have been making up their own names, CRAN, CRON, CROL (...Oriented towards Longevity)).

> I am on cyclical calorie-restriction with DARN
> NEAR OPTIMAL nutrition and I feel ABSOLUTELY
> FREAKING FANTASTIC!

Right on! CR definitely makes me feel great too. The scrawniness is a bummer, though. Much harder than the hunger, after an adjustment period. You feel so much better than you look (if you start out non-obese).

Best, and pardon typos,
Brian. 

--
Brian Manning Delaney
<b-delaney@uchicago.edu>
(No need to CC articles to me.)