Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Diet Extends Life Expectancy

Restriction of calories in the diet can help extend life expectancy and improve the health of the rhesus monkey , according to a recent study .

Average life expectancy in the monkey cage 26 years , but more than half of the monkeys in the study consumed a diet with limited calories can live at least until the age of 30 years .

The study results also showed that animals that do not consume a low calorie diet have the risk of age-related diseases is almost three times larger than the group of animals with a restricted calorie diet .

" This study is important because it shows that a consistent beneficial effect we see in lower organisms also occurs in primates and therefore supports the belief that calorie restriction has beneficial effects for humans , " said Ricki Colman , a senior scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center , the Live  Science .

In the study , the researchers observed 76 rhesus monkeys . Half of the animals were eating foods with lower calories 30 percent when they were aged 7-14 years . Other groups of monkeys received no restriction calorie consumption .

The results indicate that monkey diet with calorie restriction live longer and tend to be more resistant to disease , in contrast to the study in 2012 on 120 monkeys that also with a calorie-restricted diet .

According to a study in 2012 , there was no difference in survival between the monkeys with a calorie-restricted diet with no . Colman said , there are several factors that explain differences in the results of the two studies including diet composition , origin and age of the animal .

Another reason , previous studies found no difference it is because animal control ( which is supposed to eat without calorie restriction ) actually consume slightly restricted calorie diet by weight, said Colman .

In addition , he explains , five monkeys in a study in 2012 that restricted calorie intake over 40 years old , the age of the " previously regarded as the longest lifespan in species of monkeys " . Because the actual results of these two studies are complementary , not contradictory to each other , and show that calorie restriction beneficial , said Coleman .

Results of previous studies show positive effects of calorie restriction on life span of flies and rodents . Do primates , including humans , can have the same advantages as yet unclear , but the results of recent studies suggest humans can benefit from calorie restriction .

" We therefore studied the effect of calorie restriction on aging and the incidence of major age-related diseases , " said Rozalyn Anderson , assistant professor of geriatrics at the University of Wisconsin .

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