X-Message-Number: 24023
Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 00:28:46 -0700
Subject: Re: Dr. Walford
From: Kennita Watson <>

 From the death announcement:
> Dr. Roy Walford, pioneer in techniques of calorie
> restriction for extension of life span, has died in
> UCLA-Santa Monica Hospital today of complications of ALS, a
> rare muscle-wasting motor-neuron disease with no
> well-established modifiable risk factors. Dr. Walford was
> two months short of his 80th birthday. ...

From: Thomas Donaldson <
> FOR Steve Harris:
> A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION: you say in your news about Roy Walford
> that he was an advocate of calorie restriction. How much did he
> actually use calorie restriction himself? Clearly 79+ years isn't
> out of line for the lifespan of a normal person. And if Walford
> never practised calorie restriction for very long, there would
> be no problem.

My impression is that Dr. Walford practiced calorie restriction.
That has nothing to do with his death from ALS.  ALS (also known
as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease) can
kill you at an early age no matter how much or little you eat
(Lou died at age 37).  There's a short intro to ALS
at http://www.lougehrig.com/about/als.htm .

More importantly, I think people know enough about ALS that
they won't hold Dr. Walford's early demise against caloric
restriction.  And, I just saw the following article on
Medscape:

Long-term Calorie Restriction Improves Cardiovascular Risk
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/473866

An excerpt:
"It's very clear from these findings that calorie restriction
has a powerful, protective effect against diseases associated
with aging," senior author John O. Holloszy, MD, from
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri,
says in a news release. "We don't know how long each individual
actually will end up living, but they certainly have a much
longer life expectancy than average because they're most likely
not going to die from a heart attack, stroke, or diabetes."

It also talks about protection from cancer, extended life in
animal models, the human experiments in progress, etc.  An
excellent article, IMHO.

Live long and prosper,
Kennita
--
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
none but ourselves can free our minds.
           -- Bob Marley, "Redemption Song"

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