Is Caloric Restriction Good For You?

What about getting really skinny, though? Severe caloric restriction—like not eating every other day—has been found to extend the lives, and improve cognition, of animals in laboratories.

But human data has been lacking, until now. A study was published this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the country. You can’t get enough people to stick to alternate-day fasting long enough to see if people actually live longer, but if you pay them enough, you can get them to go three months with skip-a-day eating to at least study the cognitive dimension.

So, for human beings, does caloric restriction help, or not?

They found a dramatic improvement in memory.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

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• A.V. Witte, M. Fobker, R. Gellner, S. Knecht, & A. Floel. Caloric restriction improves memory in elderly humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 106(4):1255-1260, 2009.

image thanks to fakepunju via Flickr.

• cognición
• esperanza de vida
• estudios en animales
• longevidad
• memoria
• mortalidad
• restricción calórica
• salud cerebral