May 7, 2004
NUTRITION NEWS FOCUS
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Today's Topic: Eat Less- Live Longer

This headline was in many media reports following publication of a
study that people eating low-calorie diets reduced their risk for
heart disease.  The senior author was quoted as saying these people
are definitely protected against the major killers.

The study looked at 18 middle-aged adults who have followed calorie
restriction (CR) for an average of 6 years and compared them with
18 normal weight controls.  The CR subjects dropped their BMI from
24.5--at the upper end of the normal range--to a below-normal 19.5.
At the same time, their serum cholesterol and triglycerides dropped,
HDL went up, blood pressure decreased, and most other risk factors for
heart disease improved.  The study appeared in the April 27, 2004
Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.
< http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/101/17/6659 >

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The people following the
CR diet are members of the Calorie Restriction Society
(www.calorierestriction.org) who believe eating this way will help
them live to 120 years.  But these are all risk factors, indirect
indicators for heart disease, not a guarantee that they won't die from
a variety of causes.  Fascinating science, but not a basis for dietary
guidelines.