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The CRON diet for longevity

7K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  GhostUser 
#1 ·
CRON stands for Calorie Restriction Optimal Nutrition. CRON operates on the premise that becoming very thin while eating a very nutritional diet, slowly over several years, will increase your life span. This premise is probably true and is based upon thousands of experiments involving a range of animals from single celled organisms to mammals. Countless experiments prove the validity of CRON. Currently, experiments on long lived primates is ongoing at the NIH and the results are confirming the validity of CRON. Below I post an abstract of a recently conducted study using Rhesus monkeys. AL stands for "ad libitum" and DR stands for "dietary restricted." The monkey study - as reported on sci.life-extension - reports a 28% increase in average lifespan:

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J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2003 Mar;58(3):212-9

Mortality and morbidity in laboratory-maintained Rhesus monkeys and

effects of long-term dietary restriction.

Bodkin NL, Alexander TM, Ortmeyer HK, Johnson E, Hansen BC.

Obesity and Diabetes Research Center, Department of Physiology, School

of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore 21201, USA.

nbodkin678@aol.com

Mortality and morbidity were examined in 117 laboratory-maintained rhesus monkeys studied over approximately 25 years (8 dietary-restricted [DR] and 109 ad libitum-fed [AL] monkeys). During the study, 49 AL monkeys and 3 DR monkeys died. Compared with the DR monkeys, the AL monkeys had a 2.6-fold increased risk of death. Hyperinsulinemia led to a 3.7-fold increased risk of death (p <.05); concordantly, the risk of death decreased by 7%, per unit increase in insulin sensitivity (M). There was significant organ pathology in the AL at death. The age at median survival in the AL was approximately 25 years compared with 32 years in the DR. The oldest monkey was a diabetic female (AL) that lived to be 40 years of age. These results suggest that dietary restriction leads to an increased average age of death in primates, associated with the prevention of hyperinsulinemia and the mitigation of age-related disease.

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The idea of applying CRON to humans was popularized by Dr. Roy Walford in his book The 120-year Diet and more recently the updated Beyond The 120-year Diet. These two books are not full of the typical hype presented in most diet books. They are fully referenced and written in witty sophisticated manner. They would be useful to any Vegetarian wanting to optimize the nutritional content of their diet.

You might wonder what is the optimal BMI for a human practicing a CRON diet? Well, shockingly, it is about 19. Not surprisingly, not many people opt for such a diet. You must live every day with hunger and plan your meals to perfection. Still, there are a number of people practicing CRON and based on lab tests they are extremely healthy. You can read about CRON at http://www.calorierestriction.org/index.htm

In closing, I would like to point out that I do not condone animal experimentation. Nonetheless, the results of the animal studies are fascinating.
 
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#3 ·
I've heard of that. Vegetarians/vegans tend to be a little lower weight than omnivores and overall we probably get more nutrients. So, we are probably closer to that kind of diet.

CharityAJO:

Well, we could still have chocolate cake but make it healthier with less sugar and fat. To me most cake I eat tastes too sweet anyway.

I guess it's up to the person. If you are the kind of person that likes their cake sweet with a lot of fat and you don't care about living a long life then eat the unhealthy cake.
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally posted by CharityAJO

Heh. Who wants to live a longer life if you can't have chocolate cake? Two extra years thinking about how I'm not devouring those jelly beans? Rather die with my tummy happy.
i have to agree with charity! and it's not that i "don't care about living a long life", i just would rather not stress over extra calories (doesn't stress take years off anyways?).

btw, how many calories does this low-cal diet allow?
 
#10 ·
Thanks for posting this stuff about CRONS, very interesting! I actually believe that a lower cal diet is probably healthier, especially less hydroginated oil in the diet. I think restricting unhealthy fats and replacing them with avocados, cold pressed oils, nuts, and seeds is the way to go. I would love to me motivated to give up bad fats ..but i still have cravings.
 
#13 ·
the CRON diet sounds good to me. i believe thin is better than fat anytime! but maybe i am biased - my BMI is low, apparently (18). and i don't really plan my meals all the time. of course i do think, wht am i gonna have for dinner tonight etc and trust me i have huge cravings sometimes! but i am not complaining about the low BMI!!! i kinda like being the way i am
and i guess being happy with yourself living a not-so-long life is better than living a longer, miserable life? i can't belief i am saying this; it's taken me years to come to terms and be happy with myself as i am!!!
 
#14 ·
One of the TV newsmagazine shows, like 60 Minutes, did a segment on this diet a few months ago. They interviewed a man who was following the diet. He eats like 6 pounds of salad a day. Anyway, they did "before and after" photos and descriptions, and he lost a ton of weight, but he looked terrible, his sex drive had gone down to nothing, and he didn't look particularly happy. They interviewed his wife, too, and while she said she was supportive, you could tell she thought it was pretty wacky.

Honestly, even as a vegan, what's the point of living to 120 if I have to eat six pounds of salad a day and never have sex? I'd rather drop dead right now at 30.
 
#15 ·
well personaly I beilieve there is much more to life than sexual and other sensual pleasures. The cron diet is not nessicarly about eating alot of salad thats just as bad as saying all vegans eat nothing but salad, and as for someones happiness I doubt diet is the biggest factor.
 
#16 ·
This type of study has been done before, with rats, providing the same results. I think the point to take away here is to not OVER-eat. Over-eating leads to being over-weight, and possibly even obese, and those two things result in fairly pre-mature death.

Those of us who are fairly healthy veg*ns, who don't over-eat, and eat good quality foods 90% of the time, and especially if we exercise, should expect to live long, healthy lives, barring any genetic anomalies, accidents, etc.
 
#17 ·
i think tis sort of diet is yet another sad indicator of the all too commmon obsession with the physicality of life... i noticed the first thing mentioned in the post was 'by becoming very thin...

so the first attribute mentioned about this diet was a physical result, not any kind of ethical or emotional decision to eat well for a happy and healthy lifestyle, with loads of energy to get into life!

remember people, this diet may sound tempting to some, especially those of us who are v*n and have thought a lot about what we eat more than the regular person,

but,

these studies and the diets that result from them come from the same school of thought as that lovely aitkens and his high protein 'revolution' that celebs swear to all in the name of vanity, rather than individual responsibility for healthy eating!
 
#18 ·
I am sorry but this isn't some fad diet. Its about genetics, and gentic break down rate. Your genes have somthing on the end of them that when it runs out the cell dies. A reduced cal diet causes (without explanation) this part of your gentic material to degrade slower. This isn't about preventing disease its about literaly protecting your cells from aging.
 
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