Eat Less, Live Longer

When Ponce de Leon scoured Florida for the fountain of youth he was just a few hundred miles and a couple centuries off the mark. He never made it to Wisconsin.

Researchers at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center in Madison believe that eternal youth, or at least the closest thing we can get to it, might be found in eating less. In a test on monkeys that has lasted over 25 years, the scientists have discovered that by reducing the daily calorie intake by 30 percent means a healthier and more vibrant old age.

The monkeys described below: Rudy has been on the calorie reduction diet, while Matthias has been allowed to eat normally.

An excerpt from the New York Times:

At 28, getting on for a rhesus monkey, Matthias is losing his hair, lugging a paunch and getting a face full of wrinkles.

Yet in the cage next to his, gleefully hooting at strangers, one of Matthias’s lab mates, Rudy, is the picture of monkey vitality, although he is slightly older. Thin and feisty, Rudy stops grooming his smooth coat just long enough to pirouette toward a proffered piece of fruit. . .

Aside from direct genetic manipulation, calorie restriction is the only strategy known to extend life consistently in a variety of animal species.

So is calorie reduction going to be the next big health kick? Will Nicole Richie out last all of us? So far it hasn't been proven to be effective in humans, but only time will tell.