Calorie Restriction Protects Against Age-Related Muscle Loss

You have to look hard in the scientific literature to find evidence of any age-related changes made worse by the practice of calorie restriction - the only one that springs to mind right now is that progression of ALS is likely to be worsened. The much more common story is that detrimental change is resisted or attenuated: immune system aging, stem cell decline, heart aging, DNA damage, loss of health, loss of vitality, increase in risk of age-related disease ... all slowed by simply eating less while still obtaining optimal levels of nutrients. Almost everything studied by reserchers to date shows strong evidence of being made better through calorie restriction as a lifestyle choice. Now we can add sarcopenia, age-related muscle loss, to this long list. That is counterintuitive - eating more leading to losing more muscle mass over the years - but then what is straightforward and simple in biology? Here's the abstract at PubMed: Sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass with normal aging, devastates quality of life - and related healthcare expenditures are enormous. The prevention or attenuation of sarcopenia would be an important medical advance. Dietary restriction (DR) is the only dietary intervention that consistently extends median...