As a recent general interest health article illustrates, the practice and benefits of calorie restriction (CR) are enjoying a newfound spread of understanding in wider culture. It wasn't more than a few years ago that CR was very much on the fringe, known and practiced by only a few. Now, CR is marked by its absence in any common sense article on good health practices.

Rats fed 30 percent less than normal live 30 percent longer than usual -- and in a recent study at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the hearts of the leaner human calorie-cutters appeared 10 to 15 years younger than those of regular eaters. In other research, calorie restrictors improved their blood insulin levels and had fewer signs of damage to their DNA. Eating less food, scientists believe, may reduce tissue wear and tear from excess blood sugar, inflammation, or rogue molecules known as free radicals.

Edward Calabrese, Ph.D., and Mark Mattson, Ph.D., have opted for "calorie restriction lite."

Calabrese, a professor of toxicology and environmental health sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, dumped the midday meal. Mattson, chief of the laboratory of neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging, has done without breakfast for 20 years.

Try it

Skip a meal a day. You don't need to try to cut calories; Mattson's research suggests you'll naturally consume less that day. Or try fasting one day a week. Just drink plenty of water.

Rigor that is not, but the basic ideas are there: less food, maintain the right nutrition, and reap the benefits. The evidence to date suggests that at least some of the benefits scale with the reduction in calories: mild CR brings mild benefits; resistance to age-related disease, and possibly a meaningful extension of maximum human life span.

The spread of knowledge regarding calorie restriction is nothing short of an impressive success for the healthy life extension community. It shows just what can be done when advocacy and small, active interest groups intersect with the scientific community in a synergy that pushes both sides forward. Funding is hard to find without interest, knowledge and support; it's hard to raise support and educate the world without new science to back you up. But folk have managed to bootstrap calorie restriction research and public knowledge of the practice of calorie restriction into a growing, self-sustaining process.

Well done.

The take-away lesson here: this shows that we can do exactly the same - and better - for any aspect of scientific anti-aging research we set our minds to. It's not rocket science, and we have a lot of lives to save - so the faster we get this bus moving, the better!

Technorati tags: advocacy, calorie restriction, health, life extension