The folk of the Calorie Restriction (CR) Society are continuing their efforts to raise funds to broaden human CR research with a fundraising event in August. As for many successful health-oriented organizations, the Society prospers through close ties with the research community - just look at any of their conferences in recent years. As Mary Robinson relates:

At last year's CR Conference, we all told Dr. Spindler that we would raise the money for him to do a human study on gene expression in CR - on us. This is a cool idea in so many ways. From all the moaning and groaning from the calorie restriction researchers at the conference, it is very clear that they are having a hard time getting funding from NIH. It's not a disease, after all - aging. Or is it? Spindler also thought it would be hard to get subjects. We all had quite a chuckle over that one. Told him that he was looking at a room full. Dr. Fontana vouched for us - and was just as amused, I think. So, we decided as a group to give him no excuse not to study us. He's too fond of rats, IMHO. It seems to me that most biologists are very fond of rats, mice, or worms or yeast.

April Smith has more details on the fundraiser:

People from all over the world will converge from Friday, August 10 through Sunday, August 12 on the village of Tarrytown, New York, near Sleepy Hollow, where Washington Irving spun his yarn of "The Headless Horseman." But this is a meeting of facts, not fiction. It is a workshop on calorie restriction, the only scientifically proven way to slow aging .

...

The workshop is a benefit for the continuation of a milestone research project on the effects of calorie restriction on humans. Initiated in cooperation with the Calorie Restriction Society by Drs. Luigi Fontana and John Holloszy, of Washington University Medical School in Saint Louis, the first two phases of the research have discovered new knowledge that allows people everywhere to better understand how to prevent disease associated with aging.

A highlight of the workshop will be presentations by Dr. Fontana and by Dr. Stephen Spindler, whose genetic analysis of calorie-restricted animals has garnered worldwide acclaim. Dr. Spindler will lead the exploration of the genetic and cell signaling patterns of human calorie restrictors in Phase Three of the research whose funding is spearheaded by the Calorie Restriction Society.

Contributions of $1,000 or more for the research project are requested for anyone wishing to register for the workshop. As a special "thank you" for this support, workshop attendees will receive a glucose control kit that includes a glucometer, testing strips, and stylus. A copy of NutriBase, the leading dietary tracking software, will be available for participants to use while they are at the workshop and to take home to try. Participants will also receive a bibliography and copies of the charts presented at the workshop.

All who are interested in slowing the ravages of aging are invited to take part in the warm, friendly immersion experience of the Calorie Restriction Workshop, where they can meet kindred spirits, exchange ideas, and make friendships that may last for a very long lifetime. Attendance is limited so that a personal experience can be provided to all attendees.

The practice of calorie restriction and exercise is most likely going to do more for your chances of avoiding many of the common age-related diseases than any drug presently in the pipeline. This isn't the future of longevity medicine - it won't take too many more years for research to actually repair age-related molecular damage rather than just slow the accumulation, a huge jump in potential effectiveness - but it is free and it is available now. Anyone can do it.

Taking better care of your body makes a real difference over the long term, and increases your chances of being alive and in good health when the real longevity medicine becomes available - some decades from now, when adding decades of rejuvenated health to the lives of those already aged will be a realistic proposition.

Technorati tags: activism, calorie restriction

Posted by Reason at May 27, 2007 1:31 PM | TrackBack (0)