http://www.fastingweight.com/food-affects-the-brain.htm A Public Experiment in Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss, Health and Longevity Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:15:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 http://www.fastingweight.com/food-affects-the-brain.htm#comment-31 admin Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:52:34 +0000 http://www.fastingweight.com/?p=41#comment-31 Interesting ... your statement that "Fasting and CR only are protective of the brain in certain areas. In other areas, the animals actually do poorer" is not reflected in any IF studies I've seen (CR is not IF and though I report CR studies in this blog, it is out of interest in the similarities, not because results are always the same). Do you have an IF study that supports that statement? As for longer life, as I've said several times in this blog, I doubt that we will see much longevity effect, having started this too late in life. Our main hope is that we will have a healthier old-age, and perhaps avoid developing diabetes. It also seems to improve our weight, bringing us closer to our ideal weights. Any benefits to brain functioning would be just another bonus, and certainly a welcome one. Interesting … your statement that “Fasting and CR only are protective of the brain in certain areas. In other areas, the animals actually do poorer” is not reflected in any IF studies I’ve seen (CR is not IF and though I report CR studies in this blog, it is out of interest in the similarities, not because results are always the same). Do you have an IF study that supports that statement? As for longer life, as I’ve said several times in this blog, I doubt that we will see much longevity effect, having started this too late in life. Our main hope is that we will have a healthier old-age, and perhaps avoid developing diabetes. It also seems to improve our weight, bringing us closer to our ideal weights. Any benefits to brain functioning would be just another bonus, and certainly a welcome one.

]]> http://www.fastingweight.com/food-affects-the-brain.htm#comment-30 jcl Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:43:10 +0000 http://www.fastingweight.com/?p=41#comment-30 Fasting and CR only are protective of the brain in certain areas. In other areas, the animals actually do poorer. It is not a uniform across the board improvement. Also, the mechanisms for longevity and calories are poorly understood. The theory of free radicals and DNA damage isn't robust and probably will not survive. It is also important to remember that the animals being studied do not get the same health care as a typical human, so the calorie poor animals outlive the controls by a large degree. In humans, since we do have health care, the average age of death is being pushed back. So a person might expect to live from 80-90 maybe an extra 20 years on the most severe of diets. You aren't going to see 150 year old people running around. Genetic and anatomical weaknesses that CR doesn't have an effect on will take over. In theory, you could use genetic therapies, organ and tissue generation, but that is expensive, and unethical when many others lack access to any health care. Fasting and CR only are protective of the brain in certain areas. In other areas, the animals actually do poorer. It is not a uniform across the board improvement. Also, the mechanisms for longevity and calories are poorly understood. The theory of free radicals and DNA damage isn’t robust and probably will not survive. It is also important to remember that the animals being studied do not get the same health care as a typical human, so the calorie poor animals outlive the controls by a large degree. In humans, since we do have health care, the average age of death is being pushed back. So a person might expect to live from 80-90 maybe an extra 20 years on the most severe of diets. You aren’t going to see 150 year old people running around. Genetic and anatomical weaknesses that CR doesn’t have an effect on will take over. In theory, you could use genetic therapies, organ and tissue generation, but that is expensive, and unethical when many others lack access to any health care.

]]>