Could it really be true that humans in the future might be able to escape the usual diseases of the elderly and lengthen their lifespan by simply sticking to a certain diet. Well, a long anticipated study on aging of rhesus monkeys indicates that this might be possible.
This diet that was incorporated in the study includes all the ordinary healthy foods but with 30 percent less calories. Mice who stay on this diet from birth have been reported to live up to an astounding 40 percent longer than mice who are fed the usual way.
Of course the most important question here is could the same beneficial results happen in people. There were 2 studies that were begun more than 20 years ago to discover whether primates had the same positive results as rodents did. Since monkeys live up to an average of 27 years old, so patience was a must in conducting these studies.
One of the studies that was led by Ricki Colman and Richard Weindruch from the University of Wisconsin, announced the results on July 9 in Science. They reported that the monkeys are showing such benefits as less diabetes, cancer, and heart and brain disease. The researchers said that “these data demonstrate that caloric restriction slows aging in a primate species.”
Although some critics said that this conclusion was too early, Weindruch believes that it is very positive news. He said that “it says much of the biology of caloric restriction is translatable into primates, which makes it more likely it would apply to humans.
When compared to 13 percent of the dieting group, thirty-seven percent of the other monkeys have died from from factors that are due to old age.
The researchers Weindruch and David Allison, his statistician, said that they expect the dieting monkeys to live 10 to 20 percent longer than normal, based on similar studies that were done on mice of the same age.
There is a second study, by the National Institute on Aging, but it is not as advanced. The number of deaths in the two monkey groups have not been reported, but there are indications that the immune system for those in the dieting group is doing significantly better, according to study leader Julie Mattison.