A Pill to Extend Life? Restricting Calories Extends Life

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A discovery of a single gene called SIR2 that had been found to extend a yeast cell's life generated that explosive headline in The New York Times of September 22, 2000. It was highly theoretical although unbeknownst to the newspaper, ways to extend healthful life are known to scientists for years.

It has been shown that restricting calories does extend life. The problem is that the effect succeeds only when food intake is reduced drastically. But Dr. Diane F. Birt has shown precisely what cutting calories does to extend life. And the same effect can be duplicated without reducing consumption.
What she showed was that dietary restriction reduces the activity of the body's prime signaling enzyme. This also has the salutary effect of reducing cancer risk.

For a complete discussion of this enzyme, see "What Your Doctor Doesn't Know Could Kill You", published by C.A. Inc.

A Pill to Extend Life? Restricting Calories Extends Life Bibliography

The New York Times of September 22, 2000 Dr. Weindruch of Wisconsin University and others

Journal of Nutrition, l999, vol. 129. Corollary work has appeared in Molecular Carcinogenesis, vol. 21, l998, Endocrine Reviews, vol. 14, l993, and Carcinogenesis, in l996 and l992. Also in Chemoprevention of Cancer pub. l998 by Williams & Wilkins, Balt., Md., and in Cancer Research  (many times.) Dr. Diane F. Birt and her colleagues at Iowa State U. and The U. of Nebraska Medical Center