Monday, October 27, 2008

More on calorie restriction and other ways to live longer....

Today's post: Monday, 10-27-2008


Two news stories that appeared today in the online health news had some exciting findings on just this topic.

1. The one that was in several sources was about the effects of a purple tomato that researchers had bioengineered to have anthocyanins that provide the purple color in blackberries, blueberries, bilberries, and other kinds of fruit.

Those researchers tested it on mice bred to develop cancers. The mice who were fed this tomato lived so much longer it would be as if humans fed this kind of purple tomato lived an average of 20 years longer.

They also found that two measures of inflammation and LDL cholesterol were significantly lower in these mice. Those effects tend to prevent cancer and protect against heart and cardiovascular disease

Since in today’s world we encounter so many kinds of chemical pollution our bodies already contain so many we might just as well be genetically bred to develop cancers because of the cumulative possible effects of these chemicals. To me that suggests that getting an abundant supply of anthocyanins from fruit and supplements is quite likely to do as much for us. And there is beginning to be some research that suggests this is so. Eating blueberries has been shown to help prevent or even reverse age related mental decline for example. I personally take bilberry extract and grape seed extract and eat blueberries 3 times a week.

My Tuesday, 10-14-2008 post on 14 ways to live longer that included, “eat purple food” looks to be accurate and the method effective based on this new study.

2. The second story appeared in yesterdays, Sunday, 10-26-2008 HealthDay online news.

In this study, the researchers fed rats tart cherry powder and the results suggest that calorie restriction and the effects of the anthocyanins in tart or sour cherries may overlap the results of calorie restriction. In fact, the study suggests that eating tart or sour cherries (with no sugar added anyway) and/or taking tart cherry extracts such as the tart cherry powder the researchers used may be a significant help to people trying to lose fat and to lose it from their waist or belly or abdominal area.

The rats the researchers fed the tart cherry powder to lost 14 % of their bodyweight mostly by losing fat in their belly or abdominal areas.

Most of us have ancestors who successfully survived famines, many of them more than once. So these fat loss effects are likely much more than people would experience. The amount of tart cherry powder per pound of bodyweight may also have been higher in these rats than people would be likely to consume.

However, it still looks as if sour cherries and any kind of tart or sour cherry extract is likely to give you some of the effects of calorie restriction. And, if you are eating right to lose fat or are using calorie restriction, eating sour cherries &/or taking any kind of tart or sour cherry extract might well improve your results and help you lose fat from your belly or tummy region.

Given the negative effects of excess abdominal fat on your health and appearance, that’s very good news indeed.

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