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October 26, 2006
Should We Try To Convert People to CR?
Interesting question comes up from time to time within the CR Society about how much should our mission be to actively convince other people to take up the practice of calorie restriction for longer life.
My answer may surprise you. I say no.
Now make no mistake about it, I would like to convert the masses of people out there suffering with diet induced illness and unhappiness to basic healthy eating. That tends to look a lot like moderate CR, since it involves cutting out empty calories in favor of more nutritious foods, and decreasing the total calories is almost always a result of getting away from junk food and into foods that actually give your body what it needs. Many of the tricks and tools that one learns from practicing CR can be applied, with less rigor and intensity, to eating healthy, maintaining a low but not extremely low body weight, and reducing risk of obesity related illnesses. I'd love to see everyone in the world take up that kind of healthy eating... it should would lower health care costs. And while I have no delusions that great numbers of people will abandon their Big Macs in favor of mangoes and kale, I do hope that the information I provide in this blog will help some people transition to heathier living.
However, I don't expect many people at all to take up the real practice of CR, which involves lowering calories beyond what your body thinks it needs in order to actually slow the aging process. That's just too much effort, too much going against the grain of biology and social pressure, for the vast majority of people. It's a very individual thing, to put such a high priority on living longer and remaining healthy that you're willing to give up other things to get there.
Sometimes I wonder if all this talk about CR is a distraction from the real issue. The fact is, CR won't and never will reverse the damage of aging. Only biotechnology that is in process but far from complete can hope to deliver on that. That's why I'm a supporter of the Mprize, and why I spend volunteer time fundraising for the Methuselah Foundation and SENS research. What you choose to eat on a daily basis doesn't do anything to extend my lifespan, though I sure do get excited when I find that someone has used the tips in the blog to improve his or her own health. But if you choose to donate to the Mprize, or fund a graduate student to work on SENS related projects, or write your legislators to ask them to prioritize research on ending aging, then you're doing something that might help me too.
Let's face it: it's a whole lot easier to give money than to give up french fries. I often think that I should stop doing these media appearances re: CR and just focus my energy on SENS. But the fact is, I love talking about CR, and I find that giving people something they can do here and now is very satisfying. Still, the moderate CR/healthy living that most anyone who reads the blog might adopt may lower their risks of obesity induced diseases, but it won't add much time to their lifespan. We're not even sure that serious calorie restriction will work in humans, though we have every reason to believe it will. Those of us who are willing to eat our veggies and take our chances are betting that it will give us enough extra life and health to get to the point where better things will become available. We could be wrong, but it's a chance we're willing to take. I would never try to convince someone else to take that chance, but I do want to make the information available to the one in a million who is motivated to take advantage of it.
In the meantime, I'd love it if my work on CR influences people to take up healthier eating. It will make them happier, and it will make their doctors happier. But there are very few people who are willing to commit to the kind of dramatic change in lifestyle that we think will be necessary to actually add to lifespan. For the few out there, welcome aboard the weird orange ship. For the rest of you, pick what you find helpful from the buffet of tools, techniques and recipes we make available. Either way, I hope you enjoy the ride!
Posted by april at October 26, 2006 6:30 AM
Comments
Some nitpicks:
1. "We're not even sure that serious calorie restriction will work in humans, though we have every reason to believe it will." This sentence reads like one big oxymoron. If you have "every" reason to think it will work, then you should be sure that it does. Presumably you are not distinguishing between 100% certainty and 99.99999999% certainty, because the notion that CR works in humans is neither of those. So you must be distinguishing between reasonable certainty (roughly, say, 97% certainty) and having some confirming evidence without much disconfirming evidence (perhaps, say, 60% certainty). The latter would seem to describe rational confidence in the ability of CR to extend the maximum human life span.
So "We're not even sure that serious calorie restriction will work in humans, though we have no reason to think it won't" would be better; but even that is false, because Aubrey de Grey has provided evolutionary reasons, based on evidence from a number of species, for thinking that it won't work in humans.
Of course, it is natural to tend to grow more confident in something that one (and one's loved ones) has invested in so heavily, both financially, physically, and (most importantly) emotionally. But I think that sentence you wrote betrays a fundamental overconfidence.
Let me also say that, if I had to guess, my gut feeling is that CR will work in humans. The enormous and uncontroversial health benefits, the preliminary and suggestive CR studies on humans and primates, the abundance of anecdotal evidence (tales of skinny people living longer), and perhaps even the temptation, on de Grey's part, to seek to discredit a superficial competitor to SENS, all make me slightly skeptical of his argument and optimistic about CR (although I do not practice CR).
2. The portion "I'd love it if my work on CR influences people to take up healthier eating. It will make them happier, and it will make their doctors happier." But surely, in at least one very important sense, the health of a patient, on whose illness the livelihood of a doctor depends, would tend to make that doctor sadder, not happier. At the very least, the incentives to keep the patient well, and not sick but treated, are perverse.
Posted by: Kip Werking at October 26, 2006 2:53 PM
Good post...
I actually think its good to make people aware of CR and its uses for treating disease... But when It comes down to one of my family members or friends saying "hey, i'm going to try it!" I tend to get them off the idea! and just say eat healthy and don't over eat...
Its probably a bit to do with feeling responsible if they muck it up completely and hurt themselves, and I just don't trust that they could do CR properly! lol.
So I share, but I don't say "hey, everyone do this!"
Posted by: matt - uk at October 26, 2006 3:09 PM
April, I just wanted to add a comment in amongst the rest of these new commenters to say that I love reading your blog, and to thank you so much for all your postings and all the work you do. You're my heroine. I am so impressed by your dedication (to CRON, to MR, to your work, and most importantly to your own self and your health and happiness). Your job must deliver you countless frustrations (mixed in with the victories), and I've certainly seen the rudeness of other people in relation to your CRON and other life choices, and yet ever day you write something inspiring, cheerful, friendly, and just plain NICE. You are one of very few people I've ever "met" (online or in person) who are consistently thoughtful and pleasant and understanding and respectful, and I so completely admire and respect you for it. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and I hope so fervently that CRON works amazingly, and that you and MR end up living to 150 in happiness and joy. Best wishes to you and yours.
Posted by: Christine at October 26, 2006 6:59 PM
I agree with April. People have emotional attachments to food out of which they can't be reasoned. To me, the best example of this fact is how people react to me on the rare occasions when I tell them why I eat the way I eat. They assume that because I choose not to eat things liked fried food, in favour of fruits and veggies, I must be anorexic, or at least neurotic. I've given up trying to explain myself. I just follow the policy that I don't tell them what to eat, and they can't tell me what to eat, and leave it at that.
Posted by: Rachel at October 26, 2006 8:53 PM
But, but, a mango really IS yummier than a big mac!
You know, I don't think hardcore CR or long term life extension is for everyone. Not all of us even *want* to live forever. I'd be happy adding 3-5 years to my lifetime. When I think of what my departed grandmother and stepfather each could have done with 4 extra years, it breaks my heart. So even though I enjoy reading your blog and picking up recipe ideas, I know that when I'm done with having/nursing a child, I'm going to be doing a more moderate CR, maybe only 10-15% reduction. Something that's compatible with "healthy" eating for the rest of my family, but gives me the promise of a few more years of healthy, relaxing retirement with the people I love.
As for Kips point about the incentives for doctors... financial incentives are one thing, emotions are another. The M.D.s I know are never happy to be seeing a non-compliant type 2 diabetic in their office time after time after time. It's depressing to see people go downhill, even if it puts a little more money in your wallet. And with the demand for primary care doctors these days, most docs can easilly have a full patient load without spending a lot of time dealing with chronic illnesses.
Posted by: jj at October 27, 2006 9:53 AM