http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9480451/The-52-diet-can-it-help-you-lose-weight-and-live-longer.html# The most impressive competitor,
however, had to be Fauja Singh,
also known as “the turbaned
tornado”. At 101, he is the world’s
oldest marathon-runner.
Fauja is a bit of a mystery. His
lifestyle is nothing like that of the
average marathon-runner. He is a
strict vegetarian, so he is not
getting muscle-building protein
from fish or meat. He also eats
much the same thing every day —
he lives mainly on lentils,
vegetables garnished with ginger,
brown bread, fruit and yogurt —
and his portions are tiny (no carb-
loading for Fauja). Which explains
his weight. He is 5ft 8in tall and
weighs just 53kg — about 8 stone.
He attributes his success to his
eating habits: “My life is protected
because I control my eating.”
Fauja is right to believe that
controlled eating is the way to a
longer and healthier life. Scientists
have known since the Thirties that
one of the best ways to extend life
is to eat a nutritionally rich but
calorie-restricted diet. Mice on
such a diet live up to 40 per cent
longer than normal mice.
The trouble is, I cannot seriously
imagine living on a severely
calorie-restricted diet for the rest
of my life. Fortunately, there is an
alternative that seems to offer
many of the same benefits —
intermittent fasting.
One scientist who has been
studying fasting for many years is
Professor Valter Longo, the
director of the University of
Southern California’s Longevity
Institute. When I visited him for
BBC Two’s Horizon , he showed me
a remarkable little mouse that had
been genetically engineered to live
longer.
“This,” he proudly told me, “is a
dwarf or Laron mouse. These mice
hold the record for longevity
extension in a mammal.” The
average mouse has a lifespan of
about two years. Laron mice can
live for up to five years.
The mouse I held was the
equivalent of an 80-year-old
human being. Like his genetically
engineered relatives, he should live
to the equivalent of 120, maybe
even 180.
Laron mice are largely immune to
heart disease and cancer, and when
they die it is usually of natural
causes. Oddly enough, when the
mice are examined, scientists are
often unable to find a cause of
death. The heart just stops.
One of the links between fasting
and longevity seems to be a
hormone called insulin-like growth
factor 1 (IGF-1). As Prof Longo
explained, IGF-1 and other growth
factors keep our cells constantly
active. It’s like driving along with
your foot hard on the accelerator
pedal.
You need adequate levels of IGF-1
and other growth factors when you
are growing, but high levels later in
life appear to lead to accelerated
ageing. The evidence for this comes
not just from animals such as the
Laron mice, genetically engineered
so that they don’t respond to
IGF-1, but also from humans.
Topic: Fauja Singh, also known as “the turbaned tornado”. At 101, he is the world’s oldest marathon-runner. (Read 2475 times)