Do diets have a real effect on healthier aging?

2022-02-21T13:58:12.031Z

Studies have shown that calorie restriction can improve some of the diseases related to aging, but the long-term effects of these diets have not been evaluated

One of the most common resolutions, each time a new year arrives, is to lose weight or eat healthier, which in most cases involves submitting to a more or less strict diet.

These changes in diet are commonly used as a tool to improve physical appearance.

However, as history shows, physical appearance and diets are determined by the culture of each era, from the beauty standard established by Rubens with chubby people to the extreme thinness of some models of current social networks, without being these a reflection of ideal health.

Numerous scientific studies show that changes in eating habits are a therapeutic tool.

In recent years,

Particularly those diets that reduce calorie intake or temporarily decrease food consumption have been studied.

Something that is not new to humanity, since many cultures establish fasting periods, although for different reasons.

The benefits produced by reducing the calories we eat are based on the activation of the cellular recycling process, known as autophagy, whose main function is to eliminate the damaged components of our cells to keep them healthy.

This would be something similar to the garbage collection or recycling services that are responsible for removing the waste we produce.

When the services work well, the city is clean.

If services stop working, garbage accumulates and our quality of life decreases.

Well, this is autophagy, our body's garbage collection and recycling service.

The importance of autophagy for our health is such that the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2016 was awarded to one of its discoverers, the Japanese Yoshinori Ohsumi.

Many other groups have shown that,

when we get sick or when we age, harmful compounds accumulate that prevent the proper functioning of our body.

Increasing autophagy helps eliminate these damaged components and restores the proper functioning of the body.

Numerous research teams are looking for strategies to activate autophagy and thus help eliminate harmful products.

Today, caloric restriction, that is, reducing the amount of calories we eat, is the most effective known tool.

In fact, caloric restriction has been shown to improve health during aging by stimulating cell recycling, although the studies are primarily in animal research models.

These animals reside in a protected environment whose feeding is controlled, and, in addition, contrary to what happens in nature, they have food available at all times.

These circumstances are far from the conditions in which people live.

Studies in humans, called clinical trials, have shown that caloric restriction can improve some of the diseases related to aging, mainly cardiovascular diseases.

However, it has not been possible to evaluate the effects of these diets in the long term, since it is extremely difficult to establish these dietary changes as a routine.

To give us an idea, in Western countries we consume just over 3,000 kilocalories per day per person.

Following these diets means reducing almost 1,000 kilocalories a day, which would be like eliminating an entire meal from our routine, or cutting our plate of lentils in half.

These types of restrictions can cause psychological problems or the well-known "rebound" effect when the diet ends.

What's more,

We must add factors that have nothing to do with calories, such as the importance we give to food as a social tool, for celebrations, to establish new links... However, in recent years, various studies have been carried out on this type.

The most important, called CALERIE, carried out by a consortium of American universities, implemented a 30% reduction in daily calories, keeping participants with these restrictions from a few months to two years.

The results obtained denoted an improvement in the health of the participants, mainly metabolic markers, that is, weight loss, improved response to sugar, decreased blood pressure... Even,

some patients improved in aspects that at first seem to have little to do with diets, such as memory.

It should be noted that these clinical trials require a high level of professional psychological support during their duration.

Following this type of diet without the help of qualified personnel (scientists, doctors, psychologists and nurses) is very complicated.

This causes a high cost and makes its application to the general population almost impossible, at least for now.