I find your dismissiveness to be disheartening. This isn't the usual fad diet nonsense. This is actually a finding that could be extremely interesting to researchers who work on longevity.
This study fits in with a large array of similar research on other species of mammals. Many of them have found that calorie restriction is associated with a significant extension of lifespan in the model species being used.
There's also some theoretical underpinnings that render the idea plausible. Free radicals are the cause of a number of processes that we collectively refer to as 'aging'. Since free radicals are a product of metabolizing, the reasoning goes that if you eat less you might produce less free radical in the first place, which in turn might lead to less aging.
If this study is accurate, then it suggests that the aging process in primates may not work quite the same way it does in rodents. And who knows where further research into something like that might go; at the very least learning more about primate biochemistry is a good way to figure out potential new treatments for human diseases.
In fact, calorie restriction doesn't even work well in rodents. One of the articles points out that whether calorie restriction "works" in mice depends on the lineage, some breeds it works and some it doesn't.
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I find your dismissiveness to be disheartening. This isn't the usual fad diet nonsense. This is actually a finding that could be extremely interesting to researchers who work on longevity.
This study fits in with a large array of similar research on other species of mammals. Many of them have found that calorie restriction is associated with a significant extension of lifespan in the model species being used.
There's also some theoretical underpinnings that render the idea plausible. Free radicals are the cause of a number of processes that we collectively refer to as 'aging'. Since free radicals are a product of metabolizing, the reasoning goes that if you eat less you might produce less free radical in the first place, which in turn might lead to less aging.
If this study is accurate, then it suggests that the aging process in primates may not work quite the same way it does in rodents. And who knows where further research into something like that might go; at the very least learning more about primate biochemistry is a good way to figure out potential new treatments for human diseases.
In fact, calorie restriction doesn't even work well in rodents. One of the articles points out that whether calorie restriction "works" in mice depends on the lineage, some breeds it works and some it doesn't.