Saturday, July 11, 2009

Permanent diet may equal longer life

For a country in which roughly 200 million people are overweight or obese, scientists today have discouraging news: Even those who maintain a healthy weight probably should be eating less.

Evidence has been mounting for years that the practice of caloric restriction -- essentially, going on a permanent diet -- greatly reduces the risk of age-related diseases and even postpones death. It has been shown to significantly extend the lives of yeast, worms, flies, spiders, fish, mice and rats.

Now, in a much-anticipated study funded by the National Institutes of Health, many of the same benefits have been demonstrated in primates, the best evidence yet that caloric restriction would help people.

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