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.
