Has there ever been a study done on people who are slim naturally (and maybe
those who really enjoy a low cal diet)? I wonder if they live longer.
I don't know if they are slim, but the Okinawans of Japan naturally eat a
slightly calorie restricted diet, and tend to live longer. The October issue
of Life Extension magazine talks briefly about this (was this already
mentioned?).
On average, Okinawans appear to eat a mild version of the CR diet. Okinawans
live much longer than genetically similar people on a more traditional
Japanese diet. If the longest-lived of different Japanese sub-populations
are compared, the difference is striking. According to a recent study, the
overall proportion of centenarians in Japan was 21.6/100,000 people in 1990.
By prefecture, the highest proportion of centenarians, by far, was in
Okinawa. In Okinawa, the centenarian rate was found to be 133.8/100,000-a
statistically significant difference. Note that this is the highest
corroborated per capita centenarian rate in the world, among a large cohort.
If you are slim "naturally" you probably have a fast metabolism, which isn't
good for anti-aging. Not many people will willingly restrict calories for
long periods of time, while maintaining adequate nutrition, while food is
abundant. Evolution favors fast growth and abundant breeding, and that can
best be accomplished with an inbred desire for high calorie foods to insure
our survival. So true CR is hard to find in a natural environment, and
humans are difficult subjects to study because of their long life spans.
GM
(long time lurker--hi!)
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