Eat Less, Die Less

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Weird Side Effect When Calories Are Cut

 

When we eat fewer calories, of course we lose weight. But something else

happens that you might not expect: Fewer calories could protect your brain

from the ravages of aging by slowing the normal process of cell death that

comes as we grow older, reports WebMD.

 

Eat less to prevent Alzheimer's?

 

Noting that previous research has shown that calorie restriction could

boost longevity and mental capacity, researchers at the University of

Florida wondered if fewer calories might also help protect aging brain

cells.

 

As we age, our bodies change. (Don't we know THAT!) Old cells die. New

ones are made. That's normal. However, age-related diseases, such as

Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, cause a greater number of cells to die in the

brain, and that's not normal. This abnormal cell death can also lead to a

loss of brain function.

 

To test their theories, the Florida researchers gave one group of rats

unlimited access to food and water throughout their lives. Another group

of rats was adequately nourished but was given 40 percent fewer calories.

The results: The levels of proteins that indicate cell death increased as

part of the normal aging process in the rats that ate as much as they

wanted. But the rats that had a restricted diet did not have an increase

in these proteins, reports WebMD. In addition, a protein that is thought

to protect the brain from cell death dropped by 60 percent in the well-fed

rats, but increased in the rats with calorie-restricted diets. DNA

fragmentation, which is also an indicator of cell death, more than doubled

in the high-calorie rats, but the increase was 36 percent less in the

other group of rats.

 

" We're not going to [eat less] right away to improve our memories; we're

going to do it probably in general for the first reasons, which would be

to prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer, " study author Christiaan

Leeuwenburgh said in a news release announcing the findings that were

published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for

Experimental Biology. " And maybe it also has a protective effect--and it's

very suggestive in this study that it does--on brain function. "

 

This is just another reason to pay attention to what--and how much--you

eat.

 

--Cathryn Conroy

 

 

 

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The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reach us. So it

is

with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the

radiation of their personalities.

-Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist (1883-1931)