Aging, Healthspan, Lifespan and Longevity 1.01

1.01 Caloric Restriction (CR) is the reduction of the number of calories ingested. There are hundreds of studies showing the benefits of CR on health and lifespan of various organisms, but very little on humans. Here is one:

J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2015 Sep;70(9):1097-104. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glv057. Epub 2015 Jul 17.

A 2-Year Randomized Controlled Trial of Human Caloric Restriction: Feasibility and Effects on Predictors of Health Span and Longevity. CALERIE Study Group.

CONCLUSIONS: Sustained CR is feasible in nonobese humans. The effects of the achieved CR on correlates of human survival and disease risk factors suggest potential benefits for aging-related outcomes that could be elucidated by further human studies.

Here's another study result below. "Methylation drift" or "epigenetic drift" just means that as you age, different genes are turned on and off.

Nat Commun. 2017 Sep 14;8(1):539. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00607-3.

Caloric restriction delays age-related methylation drift.

Maegawa S1,2, Lu Y3, Tahara T4, Lee JT4, Madzo J4, Liang S5, Jelinek J4, Colman RJ6, Issa JJ4.
"We propose that epigenetic drift is a determinant of lifespan in mammals. Caloric restriction has been shown to increase lifespan in mammals. Here, the authors provide evidence that age-related methylation drift correlates with lifespan and that caloric restriction in mice and rhesus monkeys results in attenuation of age-related methylation drift."

The quote above is from the study's conclusions. This study just says that reducing calories reduces the changes in gene expression as you age.

1.01 conclusions: Caloric Restriction is healthy as long as you have adequate nutrition. It's also the hardest thing to do!
Don't worry, there are easier things coming in future posts!

You can read these studies youself on https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28912502 or just search for caloric restriction on their website for hundreds of similar studies.