| According to the CDC,
the 10 leading causes of death in the United States in 2002 were:
1. 696,447 Heart Disease
2. 557,197 Malignant Neoplasms (i.e. cancer)
3. 162,555 Cerebrovascular disease
4. 124,777 Chronic Low. Respiratory Disease
5. 105,796 Unintentional Injury (Accidents)
6. 73,248 Diabetes Mellitus
7. 65,418 Influenza & Pneumonia
8. 58,866 Alzheimer's disease
9. 40,801 Nephritis
10. 33,569 Septicemia
(out of a total population of 283,974,000 people in the U.S. at least
1 year old)
All else being equal, calorie restriction can have a
powerful impact in reducing all of these calamities except Unintentional
Injury (accidents).
Calorie Restriction with Optimum Nutrition:
Introduction
Calorie Restriction with Optimum
Nutrition, or CRON, is an acronym given to a diet -- and a lifestyle
-- by doctor and UCLA professor of pathology, Roy
L. Walford. Walford's experiments, building on research conducted
since the 1930's, confirm that laboratory animals whose calories -- not
nutrition -- have been reduced increases both average
and maximum lifespan. Walford began his experiments in the
1960s. Since then, other scientists (e.g., Weindruch
and Spindler)
have come to similar conclusions: Calorie Restriction is the only
proven, research-backed technique currently known to science which extends
lifespan and ones "healthy years".
 What
about humans? The magic of calorie restriction has been proven
for all types of living things: from microorganisms, cats, dogs, cattle
and, more recently, primates. The only official (controlled) human study
was conducted back in the early 1990s inside Biosphere 2 -- a
giant, sealed greenhouse in Arizona (image on left). Walford, the official
Biosphere 2 physician, and seven colleagues, participated in this project.
For two years, the crew lived inside the hermetically enclosed structure,
farming for a living. Serendipitously, the crew could not grow enough
plant food to support a calorically-normal diet. Despite having less to
eat, the quality of the diet was optimum: rich in vegetables; devoid of
"junk" and processed foods. The results
gained from the CRON diet was remarkable. Important "biomarkers"
of aging, such as cholesterol and blood pressure, had improved significantly.
These results indicate that the effects of CRONing apply to humans just
as they do for lab animals.
What other human studies are there? None, as extensive,
nor done with the same level of control as in the Biosphere project. However,
"uncontrolled" experiments (empirical reports) have revealed
that Okinawans, who consume only 70 percent of the calories of their neighboring
Japanese mainlanders have, among their number, "up to 40 times as
many centenarians as their countrymen." Recently, a
remarkable new study, -- which I (Khurram
Hashmi) and 17 other volunteers participated in at Washington University,
St. Louis, -- concluded calorie restriction reduces risk of heart attack,
stroke and diabetes. [Continued]
Currently, calorierestriction.org
is constructing an official report by studying a much larger sample
of humans who are privately practicing calorie restriction (CR). If you
practice calorie restriction and have had medical records documenting
your progress, please visit this all-important site for instructions in
how to participate.
The purpose of this site:
- Present the information on calorie restriction, nutrition, related
life-extension and health/medical science.
- Provide a portal for resources -- books, web links, etc. -- allowing
individuals to ease into this life-preserving diet.
- Serve as a linking hub in a "network" for those seeking
complete human-lifespan-extension solutions.
Comments and suggestion are greatly appreciated. Please send them to: "kh1
AT khurramhashmi DOT org". [NZCSF] |
