| | The best thing that's been discovered so far is what the late Gerontologist, Roy Walford, called "undernutrition without malnutrition": eating a nutritionally sound diet that is about a third lower in calories than what you would normally eat if you could eat all you wanted. So if your normal caloric intake were 2700 calories, you would reduce it to 1800.
Studies done with humans and with animals indicate that for optimal results, you should reduce your calories gradually over a period of a several years. So you definitely wouldn't jump from consuming 2700 calories to consuming 1800. You would need a period of adaptation, otherwise you'd find yourself energy deprived. You would, of course, lose weight, but if the weight loss were gradual, you could handle it while maintaining your energy and normal activities.
Also, the quality of food you consume must be very high. No junk food, lots of low-fat, nutrient dense fruits and vegetables, low-glycemic cereals and legumes and a little meat and fish. This program requires considerable dedication, but it also pays dividends in the long run, not only from the standpoint of life extension, but also in reducing one's risk of cancer, heart disease and other age-related diseases.
There are some new supplements on the market that are also worth considering. Bruce Ames, a professor of Biochemistry, has discovered two which, in combination, have been shown to improve metabolic function while decreasing oxidative stress: acetyl-l-carnitine and alpha-lipoic acid.
In three articles in the February 19, 2002 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ames and his colleagues reported that when the supplements were given to older rats, they did better on memory tests, had more pep, and the energy-producing organelles in their cells worked better.
Said Ames, "The brain looks better, they are full of energy - everything we looked at looks more like a young animal."
"The animals seem to have much more vigor and are much more active than animals not on this diet, signaling massive improvement to these animals' health and well-being," said former UC Berkeley post-doctoral fellow Tory M. Hagen, now an assistant professor at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, Corvallis. "And we also see a reversal in loss of memory.
Dr. Ames has also published a paper stating that a deficiency of folic acid, vitamins C, E, B6 , B12, niacin or zinc causes DNA strand breaks, oxidative lesions and increased susceptibility to cancer. Dr. Ames compared a deficiency of any one of these micro-nutrients to the DNA damaging effects of radiation. When DNA strands are damaged, the body becomes more vulnerable to cancer.
Ames stated that a micro-nutrient deficiency may explain why people who eat the fewest fruits and vegetables have about double the rate for most types of cancer when compared to those with the highest intake. Fruits and vegetables are a rich source of the micro-nutrients that protect DNA against changes that can lead to cancer. Dr. Ames’ conclusion was:
“Common micro-nutrient deficiencies are likely to damage DNA by the same mechanism as radiation and many chemicals… Remedying micro-nutrient deficiencies should lead to a major improvement in health and an increase in longevity at low cost.”
Ames is a well respected expert on cancer. He is a Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the University of California-Berkeley and developed the internationally recognized “Ames Test” that is used for determining if a chemical damages cellular DNA.
- Bill
(Edited by William Dwyer
on 10/30, 10:01am)
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My sister, a cousin, and two aunts dropped dead of un-diagnosed heart conditions in their twenties. While she was in France on a vacation, my father's girlfriend was crushed to death by someone commiting suicide. This month a pitcher for the Yankees flew into an apartment building less than a block from where I live. And that leaves out rogue meteors.
