- Eating less food has been shown to lead to a longer and healthier life in many organisms.
- When there is less energy our cells release proteins that enhance mitochondrial energy, improve protein functions and regulate and repair DNA and RNA.
- Intermittent fasting (not eating for at least 16 hours daily) – can show health benefits as well as caloric restriction.
Research studies from the 1930’s in the area of longevity found that animals could live longer and healthier if they ate less food. This finding is in fact not limited to animals but has been found in yeast, fruit flies and worms as well (1). Across many organisms there is a process of cellular rejuvenation that occurs just by restricting caloric intake. When food is scarce your body knows it and so do you.
The concept of deregulated nutrient signaling basically means that as one ages you don’t process energy sources well. Less energy, however, leads to turning on factors that actually help your DNA. Eating less and having that help you, therefore, presents a paradox in medicine. Things are rarely straightforward in science.
Eating less makes you live longer!
In the article, “Does eating less make you live longer and better? An update on calorie restriction” the authors review several studies that answer this question (2). They find a positive impact on health and that it is not only based on calories but what kind of calories are consumed. Diets with less protein and higher amounts of carbohydrates which we would call a vegetarian type diet are better.
Vegetarian diets are great for young and middle age adults, however, the elderly may benefit with a higher protein intake to ward off muscle wasting.
The definitive answer as to whether long-term caloric restriction extends lifespan is still out (6). There have been several primate studies that showed very clearly that caloric restriction leads to less disease and increased longevity (4). So far some of the best evidence regarding whether caloric restriction works comes from studying members of the, “Calorie Restriction Society” (3).
This is a group of individuals committed to consuming 30% less food while maintaining a heathy diet which is rich in vegetables and low glycemic foods. In an examination of 15 years of caloric restriction practices they showed remarkable results. They had better blood pressure, cholesterol, lower fasting glucose levels and improved insulin sensitivity.
Caloric restriction, as far as a method to improve your health, has perhaps the best data to support its use. The next question is then why does this work and do I want to do this? Who wants to starve themselves? Are there alternative strategies that can achieve the same result?
The answer is yes! Before we get into that area, let’s turn back to why calorie restriction works.
“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.”
Mark Twain
As we have previously stated, the answer to healthy aging is in our DNA. That 3 billion base pair code that is the genetic blueprint of life. The below diagram summarizes the mechanisms that we know so far. This is from a brilliant paper that recently came out in January 2022 entitled, “Genes and Longevity of Lifespan”.
In this paper they have illustrated a proposed mechanisms that leads to a longer life from caloric restriction. When adding methyl groups to DNA proteins called histones this can lead to changes in DNA expression which lead to creating other proteins that delay aging resulting in a longer lifespan.
Making your DNA healthier through a natural physiological process is ideal. The only issue becomes compliance. How many of us want to restrict our calorie intake for the rest of our lives?
Unfortunately, a proper diet and watching your calorie intake, is essential to good health and at present there is no pill that can get around that. Intermittent fasting for at least 16 hours daily shows great promise in keeping you healthy.
On the horizon there is an emerging drug called rapamycin. This drug inhibits a similar pathway that caloric restriction inhibits thus allowing a cell to conserve its energy when food is scarce (9) It will take several more years before we get a good solid answer from those studies so in the meantime, intermittent fasting or caloric restriction is the way to go.