Roy Walford shows Alan how to make a life-extending lunch

New research is pointing to a remarkable benefit of a low-calorie diet - it may actually help us to live longer.

Dr. Roy Walford has long been a pioneer in uncovering the connection between eating and longevity. In the early nineties, he was one of the Biosphere II scientists challenged to live in a greenhouse environment for two years, subsisting off of their own crops. Food was about 40% short. But Walford noted through testing that his fellow scientists had never been healthier.

Mice on high-calorie diets age more quickly than their diet-restricted counterparts

In the lab, Walford's former student Rick Weindruch is reaching similar results with mice and monkeys. It's immediately evident to Alan that the mice being fed a low-calorie diet are full of youthful energy, even though they are the mouse equivalent of senior citizens. Across the way, their same-aged companions, eating much more, spend their day napping.

In his well-fed monkeys, Weindruch is finding evidence of free-radical damage, a condition that's been linked to many illnesses in humans including cancer. But monkeys on a restricted diet have minimal damage, meaning they could be heading to a longer life. Walford for one is convinced this will work for humans too.

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