Want to live longer? Eat less. Sorry. Don’t kill the messenger.
Calorie restriction is the only strategy that has been
consistently shown to extend life in every species studied so
far. Feed rats about one-third less than they normally eat, and
faster than you can say “Methuselah,” they live approximately 50
percent longer than their normal lifespan. It’s worked in yeast,
fruit flies, mice, the aforementioned rats, and—most recently—in
rhesus monkeys. And though the likelihood of a long-term human
trial comparing “free-eating” and “calorie-restricted” subjects
over a couple of decades is pretty remote, all indications are
that reducing calories would extend life in our own species just
as it does in every other one that’s been studied. So that’s
simple enough, right? Just reduce your calories by about 33
percent, and you’ll have a nice, long, healthy life. OK, class
dismissed, lesson learned. Yeah, right. As you can imagine, that
particular strategy is not winning the popularity sweepstakes.
Which is why ther