Will a calorie restricted diet make you live longer? Or is this just marketing?

Basically, it's marketing, not science, by the looks of it.   And another example of lifestyle "science" driven by press releases that do not accurately reflect the actual findings of a study. July 12, 2009 Calorie restrictive eating for longer life? The story we didn’t hear in the news This should have been the lead:   The long-awaited research on the effects of calorie restriction on aging in rhesus monkeys from the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin National Primate Research Center have just been released. It found no statistically significant difference in the number of deaths among the monkeys who’ve been eating a calorie-restrictive diet for more than 20 years compared to the monkeys who’ve been allowed to eat ad lib all day as much as 20% over their normal calories.     But that more honest summary of the study's findings is not what appeared in the statements released to the media.   The control group of monkeys wasn't eating a "normal" diet and the test group 30% less of that. Rather, the control group was eating some 20% more than a "normal" diet and the test group eating around 30% less than that.   "If anything, this study could be used to lessen fears that “overeating” is deadly. But, of course, that wouldn’t support today’s marketing of anti-obesity and politically correct lifestyles of pristine, low-calorie eating."   In studies of mice, it depends on the strain of mouse used whether or not there is any extension of lifespan. But those studies using mice that live longer on fewer calories, and not negative ones where the mice live shorter lives, tend to capture the headlines.   But there is a lot of money to be made in marketing drugs and regimes that promise to make us live longer, patents are being taken out and the market place is being prepared.   Follow the link above to read the full post from Junkfood Science.

Posted via email from Garth's posterous