Study: Low-Calorie Diet Keeps Heart Young

ST. LOUIS Jan 13, 2006 — A very low calorie diet can help the heart age more slowly, according to researchers who released the what they call the first-ever human study on the subject.
 
The findings confirmed earlier studies on mice and rats that demonstrate the cardiac benefits of a restricted calorie diet.
 
The study looked at the heart function of 25 members of the Caloric Restriction Society, ages 41 to 64, who consume 1,400 to 2,000 nutritionally balanced calories per day. They were compared to 25 people who eat a typical Western diet, consuming 2,000 to 3,000 daily calories on average.
 
The result: Those limiting caloric intake had the heart functions of much younger people typically about 15 years younger than their age. Ultrasound exams showed group members had hearts that appeared more elastic than most people their age; their hearts were also able to relax between beats in a way similar to hearts in younger people.
 
"This is the first study to demonstrate that long-term calorie restriction with optimal nutrition has cardiac-specific effects that (delay or reverse) age-associated declines in heart function," said Luigi Fontana, lead author and assistant professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.
 
The study will be published Tuesday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
 
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