It’s the life in your years, not the years in your life
A low-calorie diet boosts health but does not prolong life, at least not in rhesus monkeys, scientists found in a new study into a long-held link between food restriction and longevity.
Spanning 23 years, the research found monkeys that ate fewer calories than non-dieting counterparts were healthier but did not live any longer.
Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) are a preferred choice for lab study, as they are long-lived primates like humans – their average lifespan in captivity is 27 years and the usual maximum is 40 years.
The exceptionally long study, launched at the U.S. National Institute on Ageing (NIA) in Maryland in 1987, saw monkeys of different ages fed a diet 30% lower in calories than others that followed a ‘normal’, nutritious diet.
photo { Krass Clement }
