According to a study conducted by investigators at Pennington Biomedical Research in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, people who reduced their caloric intake by 15 percent over two years experienced a significant decrease in their metabolism. 

Aging and caloric restriction expert Rozalyn Anderson, PhD, associate professor, Geriatrics and Gerontology, commented about the research. 

"So much of what they're reporting is entirely consistent with what we've seen in our monkey studies....We've got a match between the monkeys and the humans, and that's absolutely brilliant. This is a really neat gap to have closed in terms of aging biology," said Dr. Anderson.

The study involved 34 healthy people who volunteered to consume a calorie-restricted diet for two years by choosing between three different strategies in an effort cut their daily calories by 25 percent. 

On average, participants were able to attain a 15 percent caloric reduction and stay with this level for two years. Tests of metabolic and physiological function indicated that the volunteers' bodies experienced changes that have previously been linked to longer lifespan in animals and people. 

Dr. Anderson postulated that caloric reduction prompts more efficient energy use, with benefits for aging. "We know, for example, there's a really tight connection that we don't understand between fasting and resilience -- the ability to stand up against distress," said Dr. Anderson. 

She cautions against individuals self-experimenting with calorie restriction, however, explaining that it is both challenging to achieve, and that researchers use it as a means of understanding aging processes so that these processes can be addressed by means other than a severely restricted diet. 

"We want to see what those trigger points are, and can we get at them in a different way."

Resources:

• "Want to live longer? Eating a little less may do the trick," Everyday Health, March 22, 2018