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16 January 2006
Stay Young With Less Calories 
The hearts of women who followed a low-calorie, nutritionally balanced diet resembled those of younger people, according to the results of ultrasound function tests. Additionally, they appear to have less inflammation and fibrosis, say researchers in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. "Eating less, if it is a high-quality diet, will improve your health, delay aging, and increase your chance of living a long, healthy and happy life," said Luigi Fontana, from the Washington University School of Medicine. "This is the first paper to show that long-term calorie restriction with optimal nutrition has cardiac-specific effects that ameliorate the age-associated decline. This is the first report ever to show that calorie restriction with optimal nutrition may delay primary aging in human beings." Hearts tend to stiffen and pump less effectively as people get older, but ultrasound examinations showed that the hearts of the people on caloric restriction appeared more elastic than those of the other study subjects. Also, several heart disease risk factors and inflammatory markers - blood pressure, C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and transforming growth factor-beta1 - were lower in the caloric restriction group than in the unmodified diet group. But the researchers sounded a note of caution, emphasizing that caloric restriction does not mean simply eating less. "Calorie restriction is associated with longevity only when is coupled with optimal nutrition. On the other hand, calorie restriction coupled with malnutrition accelerates aging and causes severe diseases. Therefore, eating half a hamburger, half a bag of French fries and half a can of soft drink is not healthy caloric restriction and is harmful," said Fontana. "It is important to note that the caloric-restriction subjects ate a healthful balanced diet with at least 100 percent of the recommended daily intake of each nutrient, providing approximately 1,671 plus or minus 294 kilocalories per day. The average diet was 23 percent protein, 49 percent complex carbohydrates, and 28 percent fat, including 6 percent saturated fat." According to Fontana, the diets of people on caloric restriction resemble the traditional Mediterranean diet, which is based on a wide variety of vegetables, olive oil, beans, whole grains, fish and fruit. The diet avoids refined and processed foods, soft drinks, desserts, free sugars, white bread and white pasta. Commenting on the study, Daniel E. Forman, from the Boston Medical Center, said that the researchers have presented exciting data showing benefits of caloric restriction. "These data provide insight into the impact of diet on intrinsic myocardial function. Our normal Western diet likely induces inflammatory peptides that bring about changes in ventricular histology and function, including higher collagen content and associated tissue stiffening. Nutritionally balanced caloric restriction may constitute a key means to modify these detrimental patterns and mitigate age-related morbidity and mortality," said Forman. Source: American College of Cardiology
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