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Low-Protein Diet May Extend Lifespan

sciencehabit writes "A new theory about the foods that can extend life is taking shape, and it's sure to be a controversial one. Two studies out this week, one in mice (PDF) and another primarily in people (PDF), suggest that eating relatively little protein and lots of carbohydrates — the opposite of what's urged by many human diet plans, including the popular Atkins Diet — extends life and fortifies health."

24 of 459 comments (clear)

  1. Eating relatively little extends lifespan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Fixed that for you....

  2. Low protein extends life? by MobSwatter · · Score: 5, Funny

    If this gets around to my girlfriends I'll sue...

  3. Old people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ron, an elderly man in Florida, owned a large farm for several years. He had a large pond in the back.
    It was properly shaped for swimming, so he fixed it up nice with picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some orange and
    lime trees.
    One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn't been there for a while, and look it over.
    He grabbed a five-gallon bucket to bring back some fruit. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee.
    As he came closer, he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond.
    He made the women aware of his presence, and they all went to the deep end.
    One of the women shouted to him, "We're not coming out until you leave!"
    Ron frowned, "I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked."
    Holding the bucket up Ron said, "I'm here to feed the alligator."

  4. Re:Tried it already. It kind of flopped. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    "lots of carbohydrates" doesn't mean "lots of bread, grains and pasta" - fruits and vegetables are a source of carbohydrates.

    Basically, this is just confirming what we have already known for many years, but some of us refuse to admit: the best diet is one that is high in fruits and vegetables, and meat should be eaten in small portions (if at all).

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet

  5. Misleading Summary; Less than exhaustive research. by digsbo · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Full article indicates the human study was based on a one-time interview with participants. Even then (FTFA): "as the NHANES cohort aged, protein became more important. In the over-65 crowd, those who ate lots of protein survived longer, on average, than those who ate less."

    So, sort of, maybe, but not.

  6. Re:Atkin's Diet by roc97007 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm pretty sure the Atkin's diet was ruled out by anyone with any knowledge of actual human health. The man died a fat, bloated fuck and doomed many of his blind followers to live the same.

    Um, I'm not an Atkins proponent (been vegetarian since the seventies) but part of that was marketing by Atkins detractors. He slipped on ice and suffered a severe blow to the head. In the hospital, he contracted another condition (which escapes me at the moment) which caused bloating. There is an urban legend that militant vegetarians (which always struck me as an oxymoron, but never mind...) snuck in and got photos of Atkins on his deathbed as rather disingenious "proof" that his diet killed him.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  7. Protein's Turn For Demonization by organgtool · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the late 80's and early 90's, fat was the energy source of the devil that needed to be avoided at all costs. Then in the early 2000's, carbs were the new nutrient to avoid. And now, another decade later, they're telling us to avoid protein. I'll stick to eating a variety of foods in moderate portions supplemented by exercise, thank you very much.

  8. I'll pass on this one by reboot246 · · Score: 4, Funny

    What good is it to live a long time if you can't eat what you like to eat?

    The four basic food groups are good enough for me - caffeine, nicotine, bacon, and pussy. Without those, life has very little meaning.

  9. Re:Misleading Summary; Less than exhaustive resear by buchner.johannes · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Any reasonable recommendations can only come from large, longitudinal studies, over multiple generations. You know, those that shape the food pyramid / WHO guidelines. And they do exist, and give pretty clear ideas. Such as that halving your meat intake is a good idea.

    But I guess that's not exciting, news needs to either repackage (MyPlate) or go after highly fluctuating results from microstudies which is the latest research, but in the stage of formation (all these diet fads, X is bad for you, Y heals cancer, drink a glass of red wine a day [because a encyme in a petri dish did something], etc. ).

    By the way, why does there need to be one right way of nutrition? Why can't we accept that multiple ways to obtain the basic building blocks are possible.
    In the end, we can't be so off by so much: We have so many people living with such a big variety of foods, and they are doing pretty similarly well (i.e. get older than, and are healthy at, 65). The need to prove that everyones diet is completely wrong is ridiculous.

    --
    NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
  10. Extends whose lifespan? by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny

    The cows?

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  11. Re:In South Korea... by Bonobo_Unknown · · Score: 3, Funny

    In North Korea all people do low protein diet.

    --
    We don't believe in radical loony monotheistic religions from the middle east -- we're Christians.
  12. So we are like mice? by ras · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As others, the study was done on mice, who are herbivores in the wild. They say what happens to them will also happen to us, but we have been eating meat a long while now.

    I wonder if also applies to my cat? <scarcasm>I know cat's are predominately carnivores, but that shouldn't matter, right?</scarcasm>

  13. Re:Tried it already. It kind of flopped. by RightSaidFred99 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The best diet is probably a balanced diet of about 1200 calories a day. The safest way to avoid getting hit by a car is not to walk across streets or drive a car. The safest way to avoid dying via plane is to not fly, etc...

    Who the fuck wants to live like that?

  14. Re:Tried it already. It kind of flopped. by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet

    Unfortunately, if you stick to a Mediterranean Diet, you get stuck with a Mediterranean Economy . . .

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  15. Re:Stop focusing on the fads by Anubis+IV · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Pfft, and next thing we know, you'll be telling us to exercise too! My sedentary lifestyle has kept me out of the hospital while the active lifestyles kept by the rest of my immediate family have resulted in...
    - Broken collarbone (ultimate frisbee collision)
    - Broken nose (a different ultimate frisbee collision)
    - Hairline fractures in both shins (playing too much ultimate frisbee)
    - Blown out knees (too much jogging for one, carrying a couch for the other)
    - Severed index finger tendon (landed wrong after tripping while jogging)
    - Blown out achilles tendons (they said he'd never jog again, but he was back at it in 6 months)

    And that's just off the top of my head in the last five years, none of which occurred at the same time, and none of which they've learned from, since they're all still engaged in those activities. Man, am I showing them!

    *says the guy who would strongly advocate that others follow his family members' lifestyle choices rather than his own and is VERY aware of the fact that he's setting himself up for significant complications later in life if he doesn't succeed in following his own advice*

  16. Re:Yeah...whatever you believe today... by MindPrison · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sure, my pleasure: Beans, Any vegetables you can think of, broth, some fish...mostly salmon and mackerel, lots of spices...and I mean ...LOADS OF SPICES, water, a LOT of different teas, some honey, raisins, popcorn, assorted nuts etc. All these things EVERY DAY, will make you drop fat like you won't believe it. But it will make you B12 deficient, so make sure you get some of that too.

    --
    What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
  17. Re:Tried it already. It kind of flopped. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Know how to find out if someone is a vegetarian? Just wait, they'll tell you.

  18. Car analogy by istartedi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Focusing on diet for human lifespan is like focusing on gasoline for car lifespan.

    Studies have been done of places where people tend to live longer. Some common threads are: genetics, happiness, close community ties, everyday physical labor, low stress, diet and maybe a few other things.

    Yeah sure, diet is in there; but if your Daddy died at 40, you're pissed off all the time, you don't know your neighbors and you spend 60 hours a day stressing in a cube-farm then the quinoa salad you ate probably won't help much. Go ahead though. It probably won't hurt; just don't expect miracles. Look at *all* the factors.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  19. Re:Yeah...whatever you believe today... by QRDeNameland · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Low Fat, Low Carb...oooh...hardcore...(thats what I did)...nearly died from that one...

    Yep, it's long been known that extremely high protein diets are bad for humans. I actually RTFA, and in the mouse study, it was a 50% protein diet. Mice are herbivores, that much protein is effectively toxic for them.

    So the mouse study doesn't show that low protein diet extends lifespan as much as a ultra-high protein diet reduces lifespan, which is not really news.

    The second study was an observational study of humans, which joins a long list of such studies where you'll find something to support pretty much any nutritional hypothesis you can imagine.

    --
    Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
  20. Only study worth quoting: BBC horizon s2013e06 by n3r0.m4dski11z · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Twin doctors, one eats nothing but fats and the other eats nothing but carbs, for a month. They document it, they work out, they do tests.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programme...

    The result (spoiler alert), either is not great. Eating only fat cannibalizes your muscles, and makes you not get any enjoyment out of food. Whereas eating only carbs makes you feel hungrier all the time.

    But their conclusion had a twist, the main problem is processed foods that have a 50/50 mix of fat and carbs. An excellent example is whipped cream. Your body would reject you drinking pure cream, and also pure sugar. But mix them together, and you cant stop eating it! Same with many of our favourite foods, ice cream, doughnuts. All have the 50/50 mix that vendors long ago realized was the most addictive mix. Your body basically never gets the signal to stop eating.

    Anyone who is interested should check it out.
    http://kickass.to/usearch/hori...

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    -
  21. Re:Misleading Summary; Less than exhaustive resear by judoguy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Any reasonable recommendations can only come from large, longitudinal studies, over multiple generations. You know, those that shape the food pyramid / WHO guidelines.

    Bullshit. Look at the actual science. Endocrinologists can tell you how your body processes nutrients based on hormones. Hormones COMPLETELY control fat storage and use. Diet dramatically affects hormone secretion. As one put it: "Carbohydrate drives insulin drives fat storage"

    --
    Peace is easy to achieve, just surrender. Liberty is much harder get/keep.
  22. Re:Tried it already. It kind of flopped. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can eat a tasty and balanced and varied diet on 1900 calories a day.

    So, would you rather have a tasty diet and live till 88, or eat the same tasty diet, just more of it, and die at 68?

    This is not the answer you would like, but I'll take 68 over 88 any day of the week

    My experience in my family and relatives has been that while we are really good at extending life, it's all on the wrong end of the lifespan. I've seen too many relatives who once would have made it to maybe 70, and now spend their last 15 years as demented zombies, kept alive by the miracles of modern medicine. They have low cholesterol, low blood pressure, and are having their savings, retirement ans SS checks going ot the nursing home, while they luxuriate in their Depends, catheters, and whatever experimental meds they give to Alzheimer's patients to keep them alive in order to extract those last pennies. Seriously undignified and unnaturally drawn out. THere are fates worse than dying.

    People in America get portions far larger then they need. People get used to over eating, so when they get a properly portioned meal they feel hungry, even though rationally they have enough.

    While I don't disagree with you that Americans overeat, the concept of getting people to eat less in times of plenty is going to be difficult to achieve. And the slovenly Americans are not the only people with an overeating problem.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  23. Re:Tried it already. It kind of flopped. by Tim+the+Gecko · · Score: 5, Funny

    "What health problems? My health is probably better than yours."

    Is "Internet Healthy Guy" a new variation on "Internet Tough Guy"?

    "My blood pressure could kick your blood pressure's ass!"

  24. Re:Stop focusing on the fads by JoeMerchant · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This idiot developed and sold some of the world's best respiratory monitoring equipment. One of our repeat customers was a big tobacco company - they paid well, and even sponsored some customization for their research. They never published anything, but they know quite a bit about the science of smoking. The investors and management of the tobacco companies did, indeed, diversify into food in the 1980s, and they have been driving the "improvements" found on grocery store shelves since then, using a similar systematic, scientific approach to selling profitable food products. I believe the consumer's health is at a similar priority for them in food as it was in the tobacco industry.

    Yes, people should stop eating garbage, exercise regularly, save for retirement, etc. However, judging from past performance, they need a little encouragement in the right direction, and the available food choices, and pricing structure of those food choices in the U.S. today do not seem to be the encouragement that most people need to make healthy choices. Next, we can go down a whole health-care profit machine conspiracy hole, if you like.

    Nobody is forcing you to buy pre-processed, packaged foods, you are absolutely free to go to the grocery and buy fresh produce, meats, dairy, and do all the cooking yourself. Look at the shelf space in your local grocery store and tell me where they are making the bulk of their profits. It's not in the produce aisle.