ARE YOU WILLING to starve
Research in animals suggests that calorie restriction--a lifelong diet resulting in low weight--makes animals live longer.
There is very little research in humans, but recent news headlines like "Live and let diet" and "Eat less, live more" proclaim that eating less is the new fountain of youth.
Studies in mice, fruit flies and other species suggest that eating about 40 percent less can extend the life of some bugs and animals, including dogs, by 40 percent. Eating 40 percent less also can decrease risks of cancer and heart disease, the studies suggest.
It's not clear whether these results would apply to people. The diet may have stronger effects in smaller creatures like insects than in larger mammals.
Last month, the respected Journal of the American Medical Association published a study of about 50 overweight people showing that six months of intensive dieting improved two markers of long life: The strict diet reduced insulin and body temperature.
This was touted as the first major research in human beings showing that calorie restriction theoretically might add years to our lives.
The human study doesn't prove a darn thing, in my opinion.
The study examined overweight people--not normal-weight or underweight people, which is what those who restrict calories for years become. The study lasted only six months, not years, so it couldn't show if people actually lived longer or instead would ultimately succumb to dangerous effects from semi-starvation and underweight.
I have seen the effects of starvation up close. As a registered dietitian, I have worked with many people with eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, and the fans of calorie restriction sound familiar to me.
Sure, starving oneself for the sake of living longer is slightly different than starving oneself
But starving oneself, no matter what the reason, requires obsessive behavior and can have the same dangerous physical effects.
Starvation can lead to reduced bone density, causing severe osteoporosis and crippling even young people with broken hips and backs.
Starvation decreases sex drive and leads to hormonal imbalances, infertility and sterility. It leads to thinning hair on the head, abnormal growth of downy hair all over the body, feelings of coldness and extreme mood swings. It even can lead to depression and other mental
When people starve themselves, they lose muscle as well as fat. And they lose mass not just in their arms and legs, but also in the heart and lungs. This is why some people with anorexia develop lung disease and breathing problems. Also, a lack of minerals like potassium can slow or even stop the heart, causing brain damage and death.
In elderly people, being underweight raises the risk of death by 25 percent more than being overweight, according to study of 13,500 elders in California.
Are these risks really worth it? Consider that many of the benefits of calorie restriction--such as lower insulin levels--can be gotten by exercising and eating vitamin-rich foods instead of junk.
Walking for 30 minutes daily five days a week can extend life
Proponents of calorie restriction argue that their way is better because it is not anorexia nervosa and fear of fatness, but is based
Fans of calorie restriction follow a variety of strict regimens, posting many on their personal Web sites. One man follows what he calls "calorie restriction with adequate nutrition," and writes that he breakfasts on a smoothie made of broccoli, blueberries, protein powder, flaxseed and supplements. Lunch is tofu or cottage cheese plus bean sprouts. Dinner includes "high-water, high-fiber vegetables, as much as I can stand it," such as cabbage.
He mostly avoids fats, sugar and meat, and even regards certain fruits, such as bananas and grapes, as "empty calories." He soothes his craving for sweets with a soupy mix of fiber supplements and cereals.
The man reports he is 5-foot-8 and weighs 120 pounds. Although I have never met this person, to me he sounds malnourished and far below the normal weight range for his height (140 to 185 pounds, depending on his muscle and bone structure).
His food diary sounds eerily similar to what many of my anorexic patients have reported
I cannot recommend calorie restriction: Besides being inadequate, it sounds fearful, joyless and too high a price to pay for an unproven chance at living a few more years.
To me, it boils down to a question of quality versus quantity. More is not better if it entails needless suffering.
I'd rather live moderately, savoring delicious food until I am full and being moderately active, rather than counting calories so obsessively that I am too hungry, distracted and moody to really enjoy the few morsels I allow myself.
I plan to fully enjoy the years I have, rather than starving and striving so hard to earn more that I miss life's delights. Each moment is a gift, if we pay attention.
JENNIFER MOTL, a registered dietitian, welcomes reader questions via her Web site, brighteating.com, or mailed to Nutrition, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401.