The fight to cheat death is hotting up.
MICHAEL RAE eats 1,900 calories a day, 600 fewer than recommended. Breakfast is a large salad, yogurt and a “precisely engineered” muffin. In a mere 100 calories this miracle of modern gastronomy delivers 10% of Mr Rae’s essential nutrients. Lunch is a legume-based stew and another muffin. Dinner varies. Today he is looking forward to Portobello mushroom with aubergine and sage. There will be a small glass of red wine. He has been constraining his diet this way for 15 years.
In some animals calorie restriction (CR) of this kind seems to lessen the risk of cancer and heart disease, to slow the degeneration of nerves and to lengthen life. Mr Rae, who works at an anti-ageing foundation in California, thinks that if what holds for rodents holds for humans CR could offer him an extra seven to 15 years of healthy life. No clinical trials have yet proved this to be the case. But Mr Rae says CR dieters have the blood pressure of ten-year-olds and arteries that are clean as a whistle.
The “profound sense of well-being” Mr Rae reports might seem reward enough for his privations. But his diet, and the life extension he thinks it might bring, are also a means to an end. Mr Rae, who is 45, thinks radical medical advances that might not merely slow but stop, or reverse, ageing will be available in the not-too-distant future.If CR gets him far enough to benefit from these marvels then a few decades of deprivation might translate into additional centuries of life. He might even reach what Dave Gobel, boss of the Methuselah Foundation, an ageing-research charity, calls “longevity escape velocity”, the point where life expectancy increases by more than a year every year. This, he thinks, is the way to immortality, or a reasonable approximation thereof.
This story is from the August 13th-19th 2016 edition of The Economist.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 13th-19th 2016 edition of The Economist.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
JOHNNY STARTING OVER AT 60
After dark secrets were exposed, his career took a hitnow Johnny Depp is back in the spotlight
DIVORCE BOMBSHELL
All that glitters is not golden! After just three months of marriage, Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist are going their separate ways.
A CINCO DE MAYO CELEBRATION
Turn your gathering into a festive fiesta with this appetizer from chef Marcela Valladolid
MEGHAN & NACHO: TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT?
STEAMY PHOTOS OF THE DUCHESS WITH HER HUBBY'S BEST FRIEND RAISE QUESTIONS.
Ashanti & Nelly WEDDING & A BABY!
Ashanti has some “Happy ” news! The 43-year-old singer is not only engaged to Nelly, but they also have a baby on the way.
O.J.'S BRAIN WON'T BE TESTED!
After their deaths, some NFL players donate their brains to science to study the impact of the sport on their health.
Behind THE Music
Taylor Swift waxes poetic about love, loss and standing her ground on The Tortured Poets Department
HENPECKED HARRY FINALLY FIGHTS BACK
Has words with domineering wife after humiliating polo match incident
LONELY REESE HIRES HELP TO FIND A MAN!
WITHERING Reese Witherspoon hasn’t had a lick of luck on the dating scene — even though ex-husband Jim Toth has happily moved on — and sources say she is throwing money at a professional matchmaker to help her get back on the horse!
LIEV'S MIND GETS ERASED
IT’S every actor’s worst nightmare — Liev Schreiber forgot his lines on stage!
Zendaya & Tom TALKING MARRIAGE
Tom Holland wants to put a ring on it! The Spider-Man star, 27, is ready to propose to girlfriend Zendaya, Life & Style has learned.
STARTING OVER at 69!
A NEW BEGINNING. ONE YEAR AFTER HIS SHOCKING DIVORCE, KEVIN COSTNER IS BACK IN THE GAME WITH A HOT NEW ROMANCE AND HIS BUZZY NEW FILM PROJECT.
KELLY RIPA - 5 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ME
THE LIVE! STAR OPENS UP ABOUT HER MARRIAGE, EARLY DAYS ON THE SHOW AND MUCH MORE
KATE & KING CHARLES - STAYING STRONG& Carrying On
BATTLING CANCER AT THE SAME TIME HAS DEEPENED THE AFFECTION AND RESPECT BETWEEN THEM
MOTHER'S DAY Memories
OUR FAVORITE TELEVISION MOMS SHARE THEIR FAMILY CELEBRATIONS AND THOUGHTS ON MOTHERHOOD
Michael Jackson's Kids AT WAR WITH GRANDMA
A fight over the sale of the King of Pop's catalog gets even nastier as Katherine Jackson makes a shocking move
WY & CACTUS IN PRICKLY SITUATION!
Fears her family problems are ruining marriage
Demi: Lessons Bruce Has Taught Me
Even faced with a dire health crisis, Bruce Willis has remained a wonderful dad.
TORTURED BY THEIR EXES
Kelly's Still Fighting Brandon in Court
DEMONIC DENTIST DEFANGED
Perv gets 180 years for preying on patients and staff
HOLE LOTTA TROUBLE!
Courtney Love trashes boring Taylor Swift!
GOLDEN BACHELOR: Women Tell All!
NICE GUY OR ON THE MAKE? WOMEN WHO KNOW GERRY TURNER BEST ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT MAKES HIM TICK AND SHEDDING LIGHT ON WHAT LED TO HIS SURPRISE SPLIT FROM THERESA NIST.
GEEZER CLINT GOES TO POT AT ANCIENT 93!
LIVING movie legend Clint Eastwood has always been known for his impeccably coiffed hair and snappy duds, but in a rare recent public appearance, the 93-year-old Oscar winner looks like a homeless old geezer!
DESPERATE HEATHER CALLS IN HER CHIPS!
TINSELTOWN trainwreck Heather Locklear begged T her former co-stars to sign on for a Melrose Place reunion in a desperate bid to jump-start her comatose career, say sources.
QUEEN BEY LINING DOLLY'S POCKETS
NASHVILLE newbie Beyoncé got some giddyup and go for her Country Carter album with her new lyrical spin on Dolly Parton's 1973 classic Jolene but sources dish the R&B queen is sending all of the dough earned from the ditty straight to the Smoky Mountain songbird!
DEEP FREEZE FOR COLD CASE STARS!
CELEBRATED TV series Cold Case is returning to the airwaves after a 15-year hiatus but the original show's acting linchpins Kathryn Morris and Danny Pino won't be a part of the revamp!
Ariana's WASTING AWAY
Under pressure! Ariana Grande hasn't just lost hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers over her relationship with Ethan Slater, she's also lost an alarming amount of weight, worries a source close to the singer, 30.
25 THINGS YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME
Nice to know you! The Incubus frontman belts out some fun personal facts for Us
Meghan's Next Career Move
Between her new brand, American Riviera Orchard, and her upcoming Netflix series, which will focus on cooking, gardening and entertaining, Meghan Markle is slowly carving out a niche as a West Coast lifestyle guru.
DOUGLAS SLURPING FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
NOW that he’s pushing 80, Fatal Attraction stud Michael Douglas is more desperate than ever to turn back the clock on the signs of aging, both for the sake of his career and to hang on to his younger wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, 54, insiders crow.