At least that’s the conclusion that scientists have come to after studying thin mice. Thankfully the thin mice were between the Paris and Milan fashion shows (gives a whole new meaning to catwalk, no?) and were available for research. All that exercise stuff that everyone’s so worked up about? Totally last season. The intrepid researchers found that mice that are thin because of caloric restriction live longer than mice that are equally thin because of exercise. No word on if the thin mice chain-smoked or did heroin although one admitted to partying with Lindsay Lohan before going to mouse rehab.
You read me right: If you want to live longer, eating less is more important than exercising – even if the end weight is exactly the same. I’ll wait while your head explodes. And lest you get all indignant because last you checked you were not a mouse, two prior studies examined the same thing in human beings and came to the same conclusion.
The Three Little Mice
Grab your pillows children because I have a bedtime story for you. Once upon a time there were three little mice. One day their wealthy father died, leaving a princely sum to whichever mouse lived the longest.
The first mouse was broken down from years of being compared to his older brothers and having no money for therapy, decided to just give up and watch TV and eat potato chips for the rest of his life. On the side he ran a successful blog snarking at various TV celebrities but lacking for real companionship, he took up drinking alone and anyone who has seen Silence of the Lambs knows where that leads.
The second mouse was your typical overachiever attention-whore and in an effort to escape the legacy of competition left by his late father took up Iron Man competitions interspersed with ultra-marathons. He eventually got his own TV show as a personal trainer for spoiled celebrities which, ironically, won him a space of honor on his little bro’s website. Not that he ever knew it. His Achilles heel, however, was his love of good food and so he too ate whatever he wanted.
The third mouse was a serious computer programmer with a penchant for oversleeping and the irritating habit of being on time even when being spontaneous. So involved was he with his open-source revolution that he often forgot to eat, going long stretches where all he consumed were wee bites of cracker and gouda.
So one day when their father’s attorney came a huffin’ and a puffin’ fit to blow their doors down, he found the first little mouse in a diabetic coma and summarily disinherited him. It was harder to judge between the second and third mice though, seeing as they were both lean. Finally the attorney decided he would just have to wait it out and see which one bit the proverbial dust first. (Thankfully mice have a pretty short life span and the attorney was a human. What – you thought he was going to be rat? Pig.)
Unfortunately the attorney found the first mouse’s blog and laughed so hard that he choked on a peanut and died before either of the two remaining mice. But I will tell you the end: the programmer outlasted the jock. Moral of the story: the geek shall inherit the earth. Alternate moral: know when to give up on a bad analogy that you just can’t finish.
But Why?
If exercising is better than nothing but calorie restriction is better than even exercising, why is this so? The researchers anticipated your question and examined whether the results were due to exercise causing some kind of cellular damage or if calorie restriction altered something in the body that extends life. They found the latter to be true.
Specifically, calorie restriction lead to hormonal benefits that made both the people and the mice in all three studies live longer. The Silverman (as in Sarah) lining to this cloud:
“However, calorie restriction studies are difficult to carry out in people because participants often complain of feeling hungry, lethargic, and cold.” Ah, said like a true researcher!
Personally, I would like to live to be 100 but preferably without feeling hungry, lethargic and cold (there’s an epigraph for your tombstone!). Science might just have an answer to that but I’m warning you, you’re not going to like the first suggestion;)
ooooh can I select DO BEST I CAN AND SHOVE HEAD FIRMLY IN THE SAND FOR THE REST OF THE TIME AND LET LIFE DEAL THE CARDS IT MAY?
the eating less studies are becoming more and more common AND compelling.
(did you see the NY Mag article about a year ago on this/the gaggle of manhattanites who are hardcore practicers?)
yet there is no way Im joining in (shocking I know) Ill eat well/clean/whatevah we wanna deem it but not skimpy.
M/
http://nymag.com/news/features/23169/
(feel free to delete the above after you see it…)
M.
What about when they factored in mouse traps?
I guess this is at least partly why the IF craze is everywhere. Of course, IF’ers don’t necessarily restrict calories (they tend to make up the lost calories when they do eat – on purpose). Any studies on IF v. calorie restriction?
From an evolutionary standpoint it makes some sense that “starving” wouldn’t be so bad for us and would be sustainable. Eating lots of good fat, grass-fed meat and some veggies and nuts and stuff (basically your low-carb fare but with better quality meat) will keep your body humming nicely – load up in summer (with a bit of fat storage) and starve some in winter and use the FAT (not glucose) as energy. Of course, that doesn’t hold true for warmer climates…
gah- it makes me nervous to read things like this.
i second mizfit, i will eat my fill, exercise and die whenever the hell i feel like it.
There is a whole movement for CR (calorie restriction) for which I was a part of briefly. (i love to eat too much).
A lot of this stemmed from the research of Dr. Roy Walford. He was 1 of 8 that lived in Biosphere 2 (for 2 yrs i think), but they found they couldnt grow enough food so ended up on CR diets. The claim was that they showed improved health afterwards.
It’s important to note that CRers don’t promote not eating and becoming anorexic. The idea is to eat the healthiest, highest quality food while keeping the over cal number down. If ineterested there is a Society that is very helpful:
http://www.calorierestriction.org/
Dang. I think my comment got eaten by my slow internet.
Right so, my reasons against CR:
1. I don’t like to be hungry all the time. It clouds my thinking and makes me sluggish.
2. While living to be 100+ would be pretty cool, are we talking about good quality years, or nursing home years? Mice don’t generally live that long, and die before they become as old and feeble as many people.
3. CR doesn’t guarantee a longer life. Think about diseases such as cancer (which we will almost all have at some point). Mice don’t get cancer because they don’t live long enough, yet people currently live long enough to develop such diseases. Add 15 to 20 more years to a life, and I’m thinking your risk of cancer/heart disease/Alzheimer’s will subsequently increase as well.
Short answer? I’d rather eat and be happy, living to 85 or 95 like the rest of my family, than be hungry and 115.
I might restrict calories, exercise, never enjoy a glass of wine or a bowl of ice cream, and get eaten by a shark on the beach for my 30th birthday.
Or I might have a margarita on the beach, after a steak and a bowl of ice cream, and then get right back to exercise and a “sensible” diet, and live a long happy life, and likely outlast both of my parents and most of the rest of my family. My grandpa lived to 83 smoking, drinking in moderation, and in generally good health.
I’ll take 83 years of happiness and enjoying myself over 100 years of deprivation.
The whole time I was reading that I just kept thinking, “but what about the QUALITY of life?”. Who wants to live for a really long time if they’re going to be, like you said, cold and lethargic and hungry? When I get depressed I tend to eat a lot less, and this has always resulted in me being very cold and lethargic. I’m unable to bring myself to really do anything and enjoy myself because I’m too busy trying to keep warm and struggling to stay awake. I would HATE to spend my entire life like that.
My Nana lived to be almost 103 and she was so crabby. We told her the meaner she was the longer God would let her live. But seriously, she thrived on lots and lots of bread (it runs in our family), so I don’t worry too much about my longevity. I actually worry that I’ll live too long and be so sad to watch all my family and friends die (no wonder Nana was crabby). I try to stick to healthy stuff and remembering to stop before I feel full. Less than 1000 calories – NO THANKS!
Ditto on the quality vs quantity of life.
As I recall, isn’t there something in red wine, resveratrol maybe, that mimics to some extent the calorie restriction benefits? I could have that wrong, but if I do, don’t tell me!
I love that photo of the rat maze!! Years ago, when I first read “The Road Less Traveled.” I had the bizarre notion, that whenever I come to that fork in the road, I get the machete out and make my own trail right between them!
I have been eating warrior style, 20/4 for years! I didn’t start it for health, or fitness, but because it just evolved from the crazy work hours of being a surgeon. (I only read recently that someone named it warrior diet)That said, it seemed to help me stay healthy and fit. At times I wonder if it is just that I’ve adapted to it. There is some discussion of the daily 20 hour fast having positive effects similar to CR.
I liked Roy Wilford’s work and his caring nature about our world 🙁
Dr. J
I don’t know. I have issues with any kind of weight loss ad. Whether they show uber skinny waifs to encourage me to feel like a fatty or some average looking woman (like what slim fast is doing) because I know they’re trying to connect with me. I can just see all the advertising suits, sitting around a large oak table coming up with multiple ways to make us feel fatter than we actually are so they can get better Christmas bonuses.
i like MizFit’s idea…it was hard to take your poll. I, of course, want to live a long and healthy life, but I also don’t want to eat spinach with lemon juice for every meal. It’s all about this thing I once heard of called balance which, until now, has proved a difficult concept for me. Anyway, have you seen the pics of the mokeys raised on CR diest versus normal monkeys? It’s CRAZ! They (the CR ones) look so young and vibrant! That shiz is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S!
OOHH!!!! Now I can comment without having to re-register myself with blogger. YAYAYAY!