My Take on Calorie Restriction (CRON)

Written by Lovelyn on April 27, 2009 – 9:32 pm -

You may have heard of calorie restriction (CRON). Calorie restriction has been studied for it’s anti-aging effects. If you have the discipline to cut your calories about 30% a day, you could live a longer, better life.

Research

In 1934, scientists at Cornell University discovered that if they fed mice a calorie restricted diet that was high in nutrients the mice lived twice as long as normal. In 1986, Richard Weindruch showed that mice on a calorie restricted diet not only lived longer than mice fed a normal diet, but also remained younger looking and their activity levels were that of younger mice. His finding were published in The Retardation of Aging and Disease by Dietary Restriction.

In 2006, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine found that squirrel monkeys who were on life-long calorie restrictive diets were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than monkeys fed normal diets.

Benefits

From September 26, 1991 to September 26,1993 eight scientists and researchers including Roy Walford, a leader in the calorie restriction movement, lived in a man-made fully enclosed ecological system called, Biosphere 2. During the time in Biosphere 2, they realized that they weren’t going to be able to produce as much food as they thought and all of the residence went on a calorie restrictive diet. At the end of the 2 year period they were very thin, but they also had lower blood pressure and cholesterol rates. They had lower insulin and glucose levels. You can read the PDF report about the results of their caloric restriction in biosphere 2 here.

Besides the benefits that the people in Biosphere 2 experienced, people on calorie restriction have less incidents of cancer, diabetes, get sick less and have better immune health in general.

The Downside

There is a downside to calorie restriction though. People on the diet tend to have a loss of bone and muscle mass. They are at risk of getting anemia. They are also infertile.

If you decide to go on a calorie restrictive diet you should do so under medical supervision. You must make sure that you eat nutrient rich foods and supplement. A calorie restriction diet done incorrectly will lead to malnutrition.

My Two Cents

If you don’t mind measuring and weighing all of your food and you like the gaunt look, I guess calorie restriction could work for you. I don’t know if living longer is worth the trouble.

If you want to find out more about calorie restriction, check out the calorie restriciton society website.

Photo by malias

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6 Comments to “My Take on Calorie Restriction (CRON)”

  1. Evita Says:
    April 28th, 2009 at 8:26 pm

    Hi Lovelyn!

    I totally agree with everything you said about the benefits as I have come across the same research myself.

    However, I think that some people take calorie restriction to various levels, some healthy and some not and that is where a lot of the health problems come in as with everything else.

    Just a few weeks ago on Oprah they covered calorie restriction diets and they had people eating around 1700 calories. Now to me that is not that little at all. I used to think calorie restriction was like 1200 or less. The fact that the average North American eats around 3000 calories is a whole other story. The average diet should be around 2000 calories, so going down to even 1500 is not that crazy. But of course take one fast food meal and a person can be at 1000 calories already.

    What I have found personally is that on a natural plant based diet, one naturally and symbiotically gets the benefits of a calorie restriction diet too. So two benefits in one. I would say I rarely eat more than 1700 calories per day, perhaps even around 1500 and I never have to count one calorie, I am never hungry, deprived or suffer from low energy. In fact my energy levels and health has never been better.

    The fertility issues too only come in, if the person reaches a state of being underweight and malnourished, for women too having too little percentage of body fat. But on 1500-2000 calories that is not a problem for the average person at all.

  2. Lovelyn Says:
    May 4th, 2009 at 10:29 am

    Thanks for your insights, Evita. You always have a lot of good points to make.

    I didn’t know about the Oprah episode, but I checked out some clips of it online and it looked really good.

  3. My Take on the Paleolithic Diet | The Art of Balanced Living Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    [...] eating grains. It seems that the lack of these diseases in ancient man are more related to their restricted calorie intake and  cutting out processed foods than to not eating grains. I’m no expert, but that [...]

  4. Mary - Lower Cholesterol Diet Says:
    December 28th, 2009 at 2:58 am

    I agree with your last statement! Why bother extending life if it isn’t peppered with all those wonderful things (like amazing food) that make it so enjoyable?

  5. James Garcia Says:
    June 17th, 2010 at 12:39 am

    Calorie Restriction really helps in avoiding some diseases like diabetes and heart disease.”*.

  6. Thomas Morris Says:
    July 13th, 2010 at 1:29 am

    research suggest that calorie restriction can also lengthen a person’s life span.;.

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