People who restrict their caloric intake in an effort to live longer have hearts that function more like those in people who are 20 years younger.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that a key measure of the heart’s ability to adapt to physical activity, stress, sleep and other factors that influence the rate at which the heart pumps blood, doesn’t decline nearly as rapidly in people who have significantly restricted their caloric intake for an average of seven years.
Laboratory animals with a restricted calorie intake tend to live 30 percent to 40 percent longer than those that eat standard diets. Many humans who practice calorie restriction believe they also will live significantly longer, but that won’t be known for several more years. Still, Fontana says much of his research suggests calorie restriction with optimal nutrition contributes to significant changes in people that are similar to changes seen in animals.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120606092535.htm
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