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Caloric restriction of about 30% daily extends the life span of many simple animals and many mammals, and also lowers risk for age-associated diseases — particularly diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. This effect of caloric restriction has not been demonstrated in primates.
A research group at the University of Wisconsin randomized 76 rhesus monkeys to calorie-restricted but nutritious diets (CR group) or to control diets. At 20 years, control monkeys were three times more likely to have died from age-associated diseases than were CR monkeys. Rates of cancer and cardiovascular disease were 50% lower in the CR monkeys; moreover, 42% of control monkeys — but no CR monkeys — developed prediabetes or diabetes. As expected, the CR monk…