Calorie-Restricted Diets May Not Live Up to the Hype

Calorie-restricted diets come with a set of challenges. Before starting those New Year's health resolutions, you should know the risks and benefits of restricting calories.

By Theresa Sullivan Barger
Jan 18, 2023 9:15 PMJan 18, 2023 9:14 PM
Fork with measuring tape
(Credit: Anna Dashkovets/Shutterstock)

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This article was originally published on Jan. 7, 2022.

Calorie restriction and intermittent fasting have been touted as a way to prolong good health even into the later years. After all, for nearly a century, studies have found that restricting calories in some animals and insects extends their lives and delays age-related illnesses.

But calorie restriction (CR) isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, reports a 2003 paper in Science of Aging Knowledge Environment. Rodents on a restricted diet are smaller and less muscular than those fed a regular diet; they’re also more sensitive to the cold, more susceptible to bacterial infection, heal more slowly from wounds and are much less fertile, the paper reports. Unfortunately, there have been no long-term studies with humans — but some dieters regain the weight they’ve lost if they can’t maintain the diet.  

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