Cut consumption of calories by a fifth and live for longer

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 food consumption appears to make the body 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 per cent extended their lives by nine years, compared to eating normally.

They say the findings will also apply to humans – who share 93 per cent of the same genes. And they suggest 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.’

It is hoped the study could settle a longrunning debate. In 2009, the Wisconsin researchers found that rhesus monkeys given 20 per cent 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, or to develop the insulin resistance that causes diabetes.

This led scientists to believe calorie reduction 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.

Skin cancer drug bexarotene could help people stay slim by boosting the levels of calorie-burning brown fat in the body, according to a US study.

Research on mice found the drug can turn on the genes which produce brown fat and turn off those responsible for white fat, said the journal Cell Reports.