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CNN Live At Daybreak

Dieting Can Help You Live Longer

Aired September 04, 2001 - 07:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And in other medical news -- and I'm eating this for a reason, because it's my power bar. I'm trying to be good for this next story, because we've learned something this morning. It's not quite the fountain of youth, but medical researchers say changing your diet to a low calorie one can not only take the pounds off, it can also add years. You can live longer because of me.

CNN medical correspondent Rea Blakey has details on how to cheat time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Come and get it.

REA BLAKEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ah, food, glorious food. But all that high calorie eating could be cutting years off our lives. Now research shows aging can be reversed by maintaining a low calorie diet and it doesn't have to be a long-term project.

According to research at the University of California Riverside, even in very old mice 70 percent of age related changes in gene expression were reversed, in only four weeks, based on a low calorie diet. That implies the health benefits of low calorie diets can begin quickly, at least in mice.

But what about people? Other than the eight original scientists who lived for two years with a sometimes rationed food supply inside the restricted world of Biosphere II, very little research exists about humans living on a long-term low calorie diet. Doctors say their caloric restrictions resulted in slower heart rates and lower blood pressure rates.

Still, how does caloric restriction reverse damage to genes? Well, researchers say age brings an increase in genes associated with inflammation, which can lead to injuries, even cancer. In the mice studies, those genes throttle down, reversing aging in the mice.

(on camera): But it's a delicate balance and it's possible to go too far. Based on the mice studies, researcher Stephen Spindler (ph) says the more you decrease, the better, until you reach the point of malnutrition, which can actually shorten lifespan.

Rea Blakey, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

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