Eat little slows aging, a rule which, it turned out, also it applies to us, not only for laboratory species such as worms and the Moscherini fruit. This is the novelty of one of the latest and most relevant studies to understand whether and how diet less rich can serve to have an old age healthier and perhaps even prolong life.

We have long known that caloric restriction, which consists of a diet with a significant cut in calories compared to the needs (15-20% less), extends the life of many organisms and animal species, from yeast to fruit flies, worms mice and dogs and even monkeys. The question was whether the same thing could also be applied to humans.

Two years on a diet. To clarify the issue of the National Institutes of Health have set up some years ago a multicenter study, called CALERIE, to investigate the long-term effects of calorie restriction: 200 people, healthy adults, divided into two groups, followed for two years a fairly strict diet or ate as usual. At the end of the period various biological parameters of people were assessed and compared in both groups.

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In the sealed chamber. One effect evaluated was the metabolic rate, measured with great precision thanks to an innovative technology on a fifty participants. These people, in addition to the usual tests and analysis of the energy consumption, they are subjected to analysis in a metabolic chamber. For 24 hours, they remained in this sort of sealed room in which, minute by minute, was measured the oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide exhaled.

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This data, combined with the nitrogen present in the urine, which provide an accurate measure of how much fat, protein or carbohydrates a person is consuming is that an accurate assessment of how the metabolism.

More efficient. Researchers have found that people have been on a diet for two years of the study were using energy much more efficiently than others, especially during sleep. And also the other measurements have indicated a reduction of metabolism and, consequently, a decrease in damage to tissues and organs due to oxidative stress, which in practice determines the aging.

So it seems that what has already proven successful for the animals may also apply to humans. It remains to be seen whether the aging reduction may, as a practical consequence, also lead to a longer life, which should be observed in longer studies, in the order of tens of years.

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Long life without sacrifices? The interest of researchers, however, is another. Once you understand by what biological mechanisms triggered by calorie restriction slows aging, you might try to reproduce them artificially, even with drugs or other means, to remedy any psychological difficulties of a strict diet.

Other studies, such as Valter Longo, a researcher IFOM of Milan and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, have already shown that even a few days of fasting alternating with periods of normal power can achieve similar effects "anti aging" limiting the risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

From Focus