Cutting calories by a fifth could delay ageing process

CUTTING your daily calories by a fifth could ward off cancer and diabetes and even delay the ageing process, according to a study.

Scientists found it is possible to turn back the clock and live longer using extreme dieting in middle age.

Restricting the food we put into our bodies appears to make them more able to fight off the illnesses which affect us as we get older.

Researchers found that monkeys who had their calorie intake cut by around 20% extended their lives by nine years, compared with eating normally.

They say the findings will also apply to humans – who share 93% of the same genes. And they suggest that older men could benefit the most from cutting down on what they eat, as males are more vulnerable to putting on weight from an unrestricted diet and developing diabetes.

The study follows research showing that fasting in middle age, or just going without food after dark, can help people to live longer, healthier lives.

Lead author Professor Rozalyn Anderson, of the University of Wisconsin, said: “Cutting your calories delays ageing, probably because the body uses energy from food differently to become more resilient. By targeting ageing itself we could, instead of fighting cancer or cardiovascular disease individually, target the full spectrum of disease simultaneously.”

It is hoped the study will settle a long running debate on the effects of cutting calories.

In 2009, the Wisconsin researchers found that rhesus monkeys given 20% less food lived far longer than those who ate at will – lasting nine years beyond the average lifespan of 26 years.

These monkeys were also less likely to get cancer and cardiovascular disease, and to develop the insulin resistance which causes diabetes. This led scientists to believe calorie cutting could reverse the ageing process.

A subsequent experiment by the National Institute on Ageing, however, went on to find that cutting down on calories had no impact on survival rates and only very negligible health benefits. But now scientists from both teams have reviewed their work, leading to the latest study, published in the journal Nature Communications, in which the monkeys only ate between 8am and 5pm.

It concluded that eating less in later life does increase survival by preventing the killer diseases which strike as we get older, such as cancer and dementia.

One theory for this is that eating less may send the body into survival mode.

Professor Anderson said: “The low-calorie intake diet worked in the rhesus monkeys in their teens and twenties, but not in monkeys started on the diet early in the pre-teen years. This shows it may be better for people too, if started in later life.” A CANCER drug could help people stay slim by boosting the levels of calorie-burning “good” fat in the body, according to a study.

Brown fat – which is lost in the ageing process – can burn up to 300 calories a day to generate heat. “Bad” white fat provides insulation but stores calories.

A study on mice by Gladstone Institutes in the US found that skin cancer drug bexarotene can turn white fat into brown by turning on the genes which produce brown fat and turning off those responsible for white fat, said the journal Cell Reports. – Daily Mail

Eating less in later life does increase survival by preventing the killer diseases