Authors
  Dehmelt H.
Title
  Re-adaptation hypothesis: explaining health benefits of caloric
restriction
Source
  Medical Hypotheses. 62(4):620-624, 2004.
Abstract
  For the effectiveness of under-eating or caloric restriction a simple
evolution-based re-adaptation hypothesis is offered. Our ancient ancestors,
whose bodies we inherited, ate and weighed a good deal less in relation to
their size than we do. Over hundred thousands of years their desire for food
was checked by its scarcity and the effort it took to collect it daily from
all over the countryside. Thereby they set the reference standard for living
and eating normally and healthily, not we. We eat as much as we like. No
creature has ever been adapted to that. By practicing caloric restriction
and daily exercise, we simulate to some degree the essentials of the way of
life of our well adapted forbears. By such re-adaptation to our generic
heritage, we re-gain their health at least approximately.  [References: 13]
Institution
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