Protein Restriction to Extend Life

Posted in Dr. Gabe Mirkin's weekly health/fitness e-zine today. Curious as what you folks think about it. I know a lot here are on high-protein diets.
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Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
February 20, 2011

Restrict Protein, Not Just Calories, to Prolong Life

Recent research show that protein restriction may be far
more effective than calorie restriction in prolonging the lives of
humans. Many studies show that restricting calories prolongs the
lives of yeast, worms, spiders, flies, insects, rats and probably
monkeys. Humans who severely restrict calories have long-life
characteristics, such as low cholesterol and blood pressure and
hearts that are more than 15 years younger than those of other
North Americans their age (Experimental Gerontology, August 2007).
However, most of the test group of humans who restrict
calories do not have a drop in a hormone called Insulin-Like
Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) that appears necessary for living a long
time. High blood levels of IGF-1 are associated with premature
aging and diseases of aging such as diabetes and cancer.
IGF-1 levels are lower than normal in worms, flies and mice on
restricted-calorie diets, but not in humans. This week a report
shows that IGF-1 shortens life by increasing cell DNA genetic
damage, and causes cancer by blocking apoptosis that causes cancer
cells to kill themselves before they destroy their host (Science
Translational Medicine, February 16, 2011).
Luigi Fontana, a professor of medicine at Washington
University in St Louis, noticed that most calorie-restricting
humans eat high levels of protein, about 1.7 grams per kilogram of
body weight/day. This is more than the US government-recommended
intake of 0.8 g/kg/day, and even higher than the 1.2 g/kg/day that
the average American eats. Dr. Fontana asked humans on calorie
restricted diets to reduce their intake of protein to 0.95 g/kg/day.
After just three weeks of reduced protein intake, their IGF-1 levels
dropped markedly (Aging Cell, September, 2008).
Among the calorie-restricting humans, vegans have lower
levels of IGF-1 than meat-eaters (Rejuvenation Research, February
2007). Strict vegans also have significantly lower IGF-1 levels
than people who restrict just calories, even if they are heavier
and have more body fat. Strict vegans take in about 10 percent of
their calories from protein, whereas those on calorie restriction
tended to get 24 percent of calories from protein. Other data
show that diets lower in protein might protect against some
cancers. So restricting protein may be more important than
restricting calories.
If fruit flies and rodents are fed special diets that
restrict protein, they can eat as many calories as they want and
still live longer (Nature, December 2009). This suggests that as
long as you are not overweight, you may not need to restrict
calories. Instead, restrict only protein which is far easier to do.
Furthermore, you can probably eat all the fruits and
vegetables you want and not restrict calories as long as you
restrict protein. That's very good news because it is far easier
to restrict protein than it is to restrict all foods. The only way
that you can restrict calories and still remain healthy is to eat
a diet based on vegetables. It now appears that you extend your
life far more by reducing protein that you would by restricting
just calories.

I think the trick here is to eat more plant based protein or non-meat based protein.

What they seem to be referring (though I didn't spend time wading through the details) is meat-based protein.

And to eat protein and food in general to feel 80% full each meal.

All I know is that this summer and fall when I was in marathon training, my fingernails and toenails were so brittle that I could hardly cut them. Even though I kept them super short, they would break at the slightest pressure.

When we ordered our Thanksgiving turkey, we asked for as small a turkey as possible, but we were late ordering (largely because DH would've preferred our usual veg Thanksgiving, but I was really craving protein and talked him into it) - so a lot of people were ahead of us for the smallest ones. We wound up with a 15# turkey, so we ate turkey for eight days running. I can't remember the last time I ate meat eight days in a row, but it had to have been at least 20 years ago. DH, who's not athletic, didn't deal with it well, but for myself, I just felt topped up. Like I'd gotten something I'd really been lacking. No ill effects at all on my digestion or whatever, just feeling really good.

Protein powders (which I really dislike getting essential nutrients from "food-like substances," powders or pills), and even fish that I usually eat once or twice a week, just weren't doing it for me.

Over the winter I can get better meat than I can in the summer, and I've been eating beef or chicken about every other week. My nails are better, I'm making steady progress healing from my crash (pretty much 95%, now - not quite ready for handstand when I tried two days ago, and not totally pain free shifting my RD, but otherwise good).

So I continue to believe, even more strongly than I did before, that I need more protein than I typically get. As with just about everything, I think the lesson is listen to your body.

That's an interesting study, but like Oak, I tend to believe that my body does better on more protien. Additionally, I've recently discovered that my mood swings to the 'dark side' when I don't get enough fresh veggies in my diet (daily), so it really, really is a balancing game.

I think that part of it is quality of life versus quantity. Maybe I could live longer if I ate less protien, but then I'd be hungrier, have less energy and less ability to do the things I love doing...so it's kind of a trade off.

Exactly.
What's the point of eternal life if you haven't got eternal health?
An infinite career of aches and pains and doctor visits? No thank you.

I once saw a t.v. program on calorie restriction and longevity and the proponents of the diet were eating meagre proportions and it just seemed silly to sacrifice so much just to live a bit longer. They claim they didn't miss eating how they used to, but I don't know, it looked sad.

My dad eschewed sweets in the months before he died, being told that sugar's bad. We all said "why not eat what you enjoy?" as my mother's a fabulous baker and he's always loved cakes and such. I'm sure if he had known that he would be gone in a few months he would've eaten all the things he enjoyed rather than denying himself the pleasure for the sake of living a little bit longer.

"everything in moderation", no??

Life is a banquet; don't starve.

From what I've seen and read about the people who eat those severly calorie restricted diets they're always cold. They have to bundle up even in the summer. It just doesn't seem worth it to me. Like others have said, moderation is the key.

On a personal note, if I don't get enough protein I get terrible cravings and I get snippy and easily aggravated. We eat a lot of chicken but only have red meat about once a month.

I think I will make a concerted effort to eat more fresh and cooked vegetables from now on. My mood seems to veer toward the dark side a lot, and I don't like being that way. I live in the dark dreary great lake effect lower Michigan(which is bright and sunny today, a fluke).
I would like to have better legs for climbing, and I don't know if I can accomplish that by eating less protein. I am also trying to reduce or eliminate as best I can, refined starches and sugar. The experts recommend giving up or reducing caffeine and alchohol to eliminate inflammatory issues, but then I would go to the dark side even more!

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Originally Posted by beccaB

The experts recommend giving up or reducing caffeine and alchohol to eliminate inflammatory issues, but then I would go to the dark side even more!

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If you just switch from coffee to green tea, the combination of much less caffeine plus lots and lots of anti-inflammatories will let you get the health benefits without the caffeine withdrawal. I made this switch a few years ago on my doctor's advice, when I had a hand injury. I honestly didn't notice faster healing, but I did feel so much healthier and cleaner in about every other way. My oral flora were visibly healthier - suggesting my intestinal flora probably were as well.

Alcohol is a tough one for me, too - and I have to make a special effort because I'm at high risk for both breast cancer and high blood pressure - but as far as the psychological effects, alcohol has an ENORMOUS rebound effect. Even though I crave alcohol to relax me, it makes my anxiety much, much, much worse. Give it a try ...

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Originally Posted by badger

My dad eschewed sweets in the months before he died, being told that sugar's bad. We all said "why not eat what you enjoy?" as my mother's a fabulous baker and he's always loved cakes and such. I'm sure if he had known that he would be gone in a few months he would've eaten all the things he enjoyed rather than denying himself the pleasure for the sake of living a little bit longer.

"everything in moderation", no??

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My great-grandmother always had a stash of chocolates by her bedside, stashed in her wheel-chair, under her pillow . . . We also used to smuggle her in salt-shakers. She lived to be over a 100. 100 years old and her doctor's are telling her not to eat sugar and salt? Crazy.

I think the problem with the article you are citing, is that while it refers to bonafide research studies, it takes things out of context and draws weak conclusions.

I think >90% of it is about having a healthy lifestyle, which most of us on this board have, in part due to our love of cycling. What is defined as a healthy diet can vary from individual to individual, since our individual genetic makeup and metabolism vary. Some of us (like me) don't process carbs well and do better on a high protein diet. Others do better on a more vegetarian diet. I think for all of us, its figuring out what combination of diet and exercise allow us maintain a healthy body weight and have energy for an active lifestyle. There is no one size fits all when it comes to diet prescription.

One problem with cutting protein too low, especially if you are also restricting calories in an attempt to lose weight, is that you will catabolize muscle for energy. Also, on a high carb diet you hormonally put yourself into a state that favors fat storage (higher ratio of insulin to glucagon).

Its also important to get your health screenings when recommended for your family history. I put off my first screening colonscopy for a bit longer than I was supposed to, and low and behold they did find and remove a large polyp that my doctor said would have progressed into cancer had it not been found and removed when it was (and I am only 53). So, paying attention to all your health markers is also really important. So whether its screenings for breast cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer, etc. take them seriously.

we are talking about 2 things here, one is, when you are in your 80's and 90's or close to death and you continue to restrict yourself from the things you love (Which I agree, it's ridiculous) It took a life sentence to get my grandmother to allow herself to eat Figs (which she LOVED) after a doctor told her 6 years before that she should avoid foods with seeds in them....

The other side of this story, and more accurate from the OP's post; is a LIFETIME of more ascetic eating. That's not the same as denying my grandmother a fig, or someone else's grandmother her chocolate (that's going to be me)

The fact is, with the frighteningly high rates of obesity in our country today, a NORMAL diet and lifestyle from 1940 would definitely improve our overall health.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Alcohol is a tough one for me, too - and I have to make a special effort because I'm at high risk for both breast cancer and high blood pressure - but as far as the psychological effects, alcohol has an ENORMOUS rebound effect. Even though I crave alcohol to relax me, it makes my anxiety much, much, much worse. Give it a try ...

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Yes! I find the alcohol rebound effect so great that I gave up alcohol altogether. Luckily, this is fairly easy for me.

I recommend that everyone at least consider whether alcohol is affecting them this way. That extra glass of wine when you are feeling low might be making things so much worse.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

If you just switch from coffee to green tea, the combination of much less caffeine plus lots and lots of anti-inflammatories will let you get the health benefits without the caffeine withdrawal. I made this switch a few years ago on my doctor's advice, when I had a hand injury. I honestly didn't notice faster healing, but I did feel so much healthier and cleaner in about every other way. My oral flora were visibly healthier - suggesting my intestinal flora probably were as well.

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Oak - what kind of green tea are you drinking? I LOVE the tea at one of our sushi places, but everything I've tried from the grocery store is really blah. I love coffee, but I also love good green tea and would be happy to make the switch most days of the week if I could find a good one.

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

Oak - what kind of green tea are you drinking? I LOVE the tea at one of our sushi places, but everything I've tried from the grocery store is really blah. I love coffee, but I also love good green tea and would be happy to make the switch most days of the week if I could find a good one.

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does the tea contain a bit of rice in it? Most sushi places serve "genmai-cha", which is literally brown rice tea. Really good, high-quality green tea makes me pee like nothing else - an excellent diuretic. But I also get indigestion if I drink too much (say 3 cups spread out over the course of the day). I think this is something that's unique to me, though. My relatives in Japan are just fine drinking 2-3times more than I do on a daily basis.

GLC - How are you brewing your green tea? It responds much better to cooler (175 degree f or so) water, and shorter (like 2-3 minute) steep times. Grocery store teas to tend to be iffy (unless you're going to an Asian market of some sort). Can you describe the green teas you have liked?

My everyday tea is Rishi sencha. I get it in 250-gram envelopes from their website. +1 the better the tea, the lower the temperature you steep at. Thirty seconds is usually plenty, especially for a second or third infusion.

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Originally Posted by badger

does the tea contain a bit of rice in it? Most sushi places serve "genmai-cha", which is literally brown rice tea. Really good, high-quality green tea makes me pee like nothing else - an excellent diuretic. But I also get indigestion if I drink too much (say 3 cups spread out over the course of the day). I think this is something that's unique to me, though. My relatives in Japan are just fine drinking 2-3times more than I do on a daily basis.

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One place does serve it with rice in it, but that's not my favorite one. It's definitely good though and certaininly better than anything I've made at home.

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Originally Posted by Blueberry

GLC - How are you brewing your green tea? It responds much better to cooler (175 degree f or so) water, and shorter (like 2-3 minute) steep times. Grocery store teas to tend to be iffy (unless you're going to an Asian market of some sort). Can you describe the green teas you have liked?

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Probably with water that is WAY too hot! ;) I can't really describe the ones I like except that they are both mild and flavorful. And they don't leave an aftertaste which I often find with the grocery store ones...

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

My everyday tea is Rishi sencha. I get it in 250-gram envelopes from their website. +1 the better the tea, the lower the temperature you steep at. Thirty seconds is usually plenty, especially for a second or third infusion.

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I think I need to learn more about tea. I like it when I have it at restaurants but I really dislike it made at home or work. It must be how I make it (and what I buy). Time for an education for me!

Thanks for all the info, everyone. :)

There are a ***lot*** of different types of green tea, too. Chinese and Japanese varieties in general taste very different (Indian teas tend to be more like Chinese tea), but even so, there's a huge range of flavors and mouth feel - and caffeine content, too.

I'm not an enormous fan of Teavana, but they will let you sample the aromas of any tea on the shelf, plus they usually have several for tasting. You could also sample aromas if you have an Asian grocery with bulk bins.

GLC, if I remember correctly, one of the teas commonly served at Japanese restaurants (including one of my favorites here) is bancha. I'm not a huge fan of green teas, but it's one I like drinking.

This reminds me, I need to go order some tea...

Thanks, Oak and Owlie!

My husband is going to be very annoyed with you guys. I finally got him drinking coffee with me every morning and now I'm going to switch to tea! :eek: I just ordered a book on the subject and I'm going to hitch a ride with a couple of local friends the next time they visit their tea place.

I believe we have quite a few in the area, so I should have lots of opportunities to learn! Thanks for all the info!


.....we now return you to your regularly scheduled programing/post, currently in progress.....

Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive article on green tea.

Too bad they don't have taste-a-vision.

I'm not giving up coffee. Cutting back, sure, but not giving up. (Since I don't drink coffee at home, it's as much to save money as anything else.) Alcohol...I don't drink much because I keep forgetting I can buy it. And if I didn't eat much protein, I guarantee you I'd be cranky and spend every day with a splitting headache. I don't want to live to be 100 and be miserable!

(If I don't get at least one serving of meat a day, I get headaches...even when my vegan former roommate (who did her homework) cooked.)

Everything in moderation, right?

Lots of good discussion here, and just to be clear, I posted the article b/c I found it interesting, not because I agree with it or follow caloric restriction in my own diet. I definitely am a "moderation in all things" gal, eating neither a high protein nor high carb diet overall. I did do low-carb for a couple of years when I had 15 lbs. to lose, but it was hard to for me to eat that way over the long haul since my DH is very much a high-carb man, so now I am back to a more balanced way of eating. I try to eat healthy, whole foods, plenty of vegetables, very little red meat. I eat fish and chicken, and I also like to get protein from beans, nuts and nut butters, and some low-fat dairy, like yogurt.

Emily, I was just laughing to myself over how far some of these threads can travel :)

I've read some interesting studies on calorie-restricted diets and their effect on lifespan, but I'm not sure what they considered "restricted" and the activity level of the participants. I'd say I probably don't eat a lot of meat but I was a vegetarian for several years and it's mostly b/c I'm uncomfortable cooking it (while I don't mind medium steak, I've never cooked chicken without seriously overcooking it).

Peanut butter, however, is another story. Please tear me away from the girl scout Tagalongs.

Send 'em my way.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

All I know is that this summer and fall when I was in marathon training, my fingernails and toenails were so brittle that I could hardly cut them. Even though I kept them super short, they would break at the slightest pressure.

When we ordered our Thanksgiving turkey, we asked for as small a turkey as possible, but we were late ordering (largely because DH would've preferred our usual veg Thanksgiving, but I was really craving protein and talked him into it) - so a lot of people were ahead of us for the smallest ones. We wound up with a 15# turkey, so we ate turkey for eight days running. I can't remember the last time I ate meat eight days in a row, but it had to have been at least 20 years ago. DH, who's not athletic, didn't deal with it well, but for myself, I just felt topped up. Like I'd gotten something I'd really been lacking. No ill effects at all on my digestion or whatever, just feeling really good.

Protein powders (which I really dislike getting essential nutrients from "food-like substances," powders or pills), and even fish that I usually eat once or twice a week, just weren't doing it for me.

Over the winter I can get better meat than I can in the summer, and I've been eating beef or chicken about every other week. My nails are better, I'm making steady progress healing from my crash (pretty much 95%, now - not quite ready for handstand when I tried two days ago, and not totally pain free shifting my RD, but otherwise good).

So I continue to believe, even more strongly than I did before, that I need more protein than I typically get. As with just about everything, I think the lesson is listen to your body.

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Sounds interesting

I feel like you need to listen to your body more then anything else

I have had good success with pistachios to keep me going in between meals

I got the same feeling you were talking about like my body got something it really needed

Many years ago I was a very lean vegetarian (who hadn't learned to like veggies all that much). I went through 6 weeks of Peace Corps aquaculture training eating at southern buffets every day, resisting most forms of protein. Then we went to Africa. Within months of eating the high carb, low veggie diet there I CRAVED meat. Not only meat, organ food. I could put away a huge plate of cooked meat, liver, kidney. I listen to my body. As Spring heads our way I start drinking tons of green smoothies: spinach, kale, yum!

Yeah, living longer for me is not a goal. Living healthier, yes. My friend's Mom is 93, just gave up her keys last year. Being 93 and active (cooking for the "seniors" at the center!) is great.

I'm not a fruit fly.

I'm not a rat.

The study doesn't apply to me. ;)

I think it's cute that the end of the article talks about how all you need to do is decrease the protein, and then you can eat MORE of everything else and still get the health benefits!!! Ooh, boy, isn't that music to the Standard American Diet: Look, you can eat MORE! It's all about finding ways to eat MORE! Hey, we'll put cellulose in the bread which you can't digest, then you can eat SIX pieces of bread instead of just TWO! Yay! MORE MORE MORE. Drink this soda sweetened with a neurotoxin, and you can have a sixpack at lunch instead of drinking just one can of sugared soda. MORE MORE MORE. Drop the chicken from your soup, and then you can have THREE bowls instead of ONE! EAT EAT EAT. Give MORE money to the corporations that find ways to feed you more, and everyone gets MORE of what they want. Sheesh.

Eat good food. Savor it. Have 5 ml of alcohol with your meal. Go for a walk.

What is it Michael Pollan says? "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

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Originally Posted by celticgarden

Yeah, living longer for me is not a goal. Living healthier, yes. My friend's Mom is 93, just gave up her keys last year. Being 93 and active (cooking for the "seniors" at the center!) is great.

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+1,000,000. If I can do half what my 89 year old Mom does at her age: gardening, weeding and pruning her garden, canning fruits, raising heck as an activist, walking to the store, reading to her great grandkids .... I'll be happy. :) It's quality of life.

She says "keep moving"

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

I'm not a fruit fly.

I'm not a rat.

The study doesn't apply to me. ;)

I think it's cute that the end of the article talks about how all you need to do is decrease the protein, and then you can eat MORE of everything else and still get the health benefits!!! Ooh, boy, isn't that music to the Standard American Diet: Look, you can eat MORE! It's all about finding ways to eat MORE! Hey, we'll put cellulose in the bread which you can't digest, then you can eat SIX pieces of bread instead of just TWO! Yay! MORE MORE MORE. Drink this soda sweetened with a neurotoxin, and you can have a sixpack at lunch instead of drinking just one can of sugared soda. MORE MORE MORE. Drop the chicken from your soup, and then you can have THREE bowls instead of ONE! EAT EAT EAT. Give MORE money to the corporations that find ways to feed you more, and everyone gets MORE of what they want. Sheesh.

Eat good food. Savor it. Have 5 ml of alcohol with your meal. Go for a walk.

What is it Michael Pollan says? "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

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Oh so true.

A vegetarian friend of mine firmly believes the human body needs only 46g of protein a day, and while she's fond of adding milk, cheeses and eggs to her meals, she holds a certain disdain for the standard american diet.

On the other hand, I know several who are very fond of their Atkins' diets and cling to them like a small child clings to a stuffed animal.

I have to agree with many above, saying that moderation is the key to thriving in every sense.

GLC, If you're looking for a good, 'authentic' Japanese green tea that has lots of flavor, check out the portland japanese garden's gift shop for SA green tea
like this it has a very, very rich flavor, especially if you use hot but not boiling water and only steep for about 3-4 minutes. That way you get the benefits and flavor without the bitterness. It's great with a little honey, too. :)
Hope that helps.

According to this article, athletes who don't get enough protein not only experience slower recovery and slower improvement, they're putting themselves at risk for injury and illness (the latter because the body needs protein to manufacture white blood cells).

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...it is the position of the International Society of Sport Nutrition that exercising individuals ingest protein ranging from 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg/day. Individuals engaging in endurance exercise should ingest levels at the lower end of this range, individuals engaging in intermittent activities should ingest levels in the middle of this range, and those engaging in strength/power exercise should ingest levels at the upper end of this range.

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