Posted on 01/20/2006 11:59:58 PM PST by neverdem
People who keep up their low-calorie diets may be able to count on more than their waistline shrinking: A new study suggests that the heart's diastolic blood pressure goes down, too. The results bode well for the theory that such diets can prolong lifespan in humans, as dieters' hearts worked as well as those of individuals on a calorie-packed western diet who were 15 years younger.
Previous research has shown that caloric restriction increases the lifespans of mice, fruit flies, and the tiny worm Caenorhabditis elegans (ScienceNOW, 2 March 2005). Mice on such diets show improved heart function, indicating caloric restriction may improve longevity by keeping the heart in good shape. Whether the same applies to humans, however, remained unclear.
To explore the issue, gerontologist Luigi Fontana of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and his colleagues recruited 25 subjects who had been practicing caloric restriction for an average of 7 years. Compared to 25 additional volunteers on a typical western diet, the caloric restrictors consumed nearly half as much saturated fat, 30% less salt, and an average of about 750 fewer total calories per day.
Heart activity differed almost as drastically. When the researchers compared the current diastolic function (how well the heart relaxed between beats) of the caloric restrictors against both their prediet figures and those of the western dieters, they found that the diastolic blood pressure of the caloric restrictors had dropped an average of 22 points--or about 25%--from their prediet pressure; the same drop was seen between caloric restrictors and western dieters. In addition, compared to western dieters, caloric restrictors had signs of less inflammation and fewer markers of fibrosis--both considered to be mechanisms of aging.
The results indicate that the same mechanisms that slow the aging process in mice may be at work in people, says Fontana, whose team reported its findings 17 January in the Journal of the American College of Cardiologists. Still, he says, because the study was not randomized, the team cannot claim that a calorie restrictive diet directly leads to improved diastolic function.
The study also does not indicate whether people on a caloric restrictive diet have younger looking hearts because the diet keeps their hearts in prediet shape or because caloric restriction alters their physiology to make their hearts work at more youthful levels, says biochemist Stephen Spindler of the University of California in Riverside. "This is an important distinction," he says, "because we would like to know if older people can begin such a diet and reap the benefits."
American Federation for Aging Research's Calorie Restriction Information Center
Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
So can I smoke.
Ohforpetesake!!! I cut back enough as it is to keep at 115 pounds!!! I'm not going to cut back more just to make yahoos like you happy!!!
Go away!!!
Anorexia, anyone?
Lift weights
Thanks....I'll eat more apples!
Thanks for the ping, links...especially the "desire for revenge" studies. Interesting.
115 pounds??? I think my left leg outweighs you. :)
Please, oh, please!!
I wonder if the benefit comes from calorie restriction per se, or from the fact that a calorie restricted diet will probably have more fruits and vegetables and less of the less healthy foods.
Is it true that grape juice helps the heart?
Just enter (grapes or grape juice) and CAD into PubMed.
You'll get 3 free full text articles off the bat, although 2 are animal studies. Click on Related Articles for more citations. CAD = Coronary Artery Disease
Go for it, hon. :)
Now look, if ya want some good fitness tips, remind me and I'll post some really, really good ones. Seriously. Don't have time right this sec, but will gladly put 'em up on here. This list of about ten things to do has helped a LOT of people I know; everyone I've turned onto this has lost weight.....
When you have time it would be appreciated!!!
Thanks for finding the article.
115 lbs?
"Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end..."
That's not anorexic at my height. But I'm somewhat vertically challenged.
OH! OH! Me too, me too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.