Is meal size related to longevity? American study: Reduced food intake may extend life by 20 years, really?

In everyone's opinion, is it better to be "blessed to be able to eat", or is it better to "eat in moderation"? Especially for the elderly, eating more and less is related to their health.

Wang Derong, director of the Gastroenterology Department of Jinan Central Hospital in Shandong Province, once introduced in the article "Why the Japanese live the longest in the world":

When I first arrived in Japan, I felt that I was always hungry, and I was often hungry. Every time I went to the dining hall, I only had a few pieces of vegetables, four or five pieces of meat, a small bowl of rice, and a small bowl of soup .

Several times I went to a Japanese friend's house as a guest. The director was very enthusiastic and served more than a dozen dishes, but the weight of each dish could only be tasted a few times, and I couldn't eat enough. In China, if the guests do not return home with a good meal, it means that the host is not treating them well.

However, this country that "eats less" is the country with the longest life expectancy in the world . What is the relationship between small appetite and longevity? What does "eat less" mean? How to eat to be healthier?

1. How much food is related to life expectancy, how much is good to eat?

An analysis of the results of several studies conducted by Julie Mattison, a scientist at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), and others found that reducing food intake may lead to longer lifespan.

In 1935, the research team conducted a novice mouse experiment and found that it lived longer by reducing its food intake by 30%-50% .

In the 1980s, the research team conducted a joint study on rhesus monkeys (93% genetic similarity with humans), and found that monkeys that ate 30% less per day lived up to 43 years old, surpassing the monkeys. The average life expectancy of the group is 20 years .

In the 20-year observation period, the mortality rate of the monkeys controlled by the diet was only 13%, and the mortality rate of the monkeys without control of the appetite was as high as 37%.

The researchers analyzed that the aging of primates is controllable, and by reducing the diet, the factors that are good for the body can be increased, the aging can be controlled, the onset of diseases is relatively delayed, and the organisms naturally live longer.

In fact, there have been many studies on the relationship between dietary intake and longevity in recent years.

In January this year, a study published in eClinicalMedicine, a journal under the Lancet, conducted 12% calorie control in people aged 21-50, and found that the population's insulin resistance, lipoma, tumor markers, etc. have improved. In other words, keep your mouth shut and you can improve your health.

If you control the amount of food properly and eat a little less every day, what will happen to your body?

1. Lose weight

Eating less, the most obvious feedback to the body is that people will naturally lose weight. A study published in Cell Metabolism found that by controlling the diet of the participants, each person lost 18 pounds after 2 years.

2. Reduces Inflammation Levels

When food enters the human body and is converted into energy, it also brings oxygen free radicals. If this free radical cannot be removed in time, it will accumulate in the body and cause oxidative stress, thereby increasing the occurrence of inflammation. Restricted diet can inhibit the production of a large number of free radicals, thereby slowing down the role of the inflammatory response.

3. Anti-aging

When the body contains too many oxides, it is not only prone to inflammation, but also induces protein denaturation and lipid peroxidation. These changes are "poisons" for cells and tissues, which can cause internal damage to the body, thereby accelerating the risk of human aging.

4. Prevent Alzheimer's

People always feel sleepy after eating. Part of it is because the brain receives the signal of fullness and releases a factor that can cause insufficient blood oxygen supply in the cerebral cortex, atrophy of brain tissue and deterioration of brain function. thereby increasing the risk of dementia.

Second, the more you eat, the sooner you die? 5 hazards to recognize

Eating a lot makes it uncomfortable, but have you ever found that as long as you don’t leave the dining table, you can’t help but want to put some food in your mouth…

Why do some people still stop eating when they are full?

This kind of craving to eat when full, many people think it is "greedy", but in fact it may also be a kind of psychological deception . The craving for food is a human instinct. After eating, the first "full" should be the stomach, but the real control is the mouth and the brain.

After eating, blood sugar starts to rise, and the brain thinks you are "full", but there may be room in the "stomach" at this time.

But the "stomach" is a bit like the new and the old. Faced with a food, if you eat two more bites, you will start to feel tired, which will give the brain a signal of fullness, but when you find new tastes, such as desserts and snacks after meals, the brain will restart. Excited, the stomach can store new food again.

When people are full and hungry for a long time, the appetite control will begin to fail. If you eat too full, the body may face the following X consequences:

1. Induce gastrointestinal diseases

The stomach is limited by space. Once eating too much, it will increase the load on the digestive system, resulting in stomach bloating and stomach pain, and it is easy to induce digestive tract diseases for a long time.

2. Increase the burden on the heart

Excessive satiety will cause the stomach to expand and deform, resulting in increased intrathoracic pressure, which may affect the blood supply to the heart, thereby increasing the burden on the heart.

3. Increased risk of stroke

When the stomach is full of food, the blood of the whole body will be concentrated in the stomach for digestion, then the blood flow to the brain will be reduced, people will feel tired and sleepy, and may also increase the risk of stroke.

4. Induce obesity

What to do if the excess energy cannot be consumed, it will naturally accumulate in the body and precipitate into fat. Over time, it will cause obesity and induce the "three highs" problem.

5. Increased burden on the pancreas

The digestive system needs the help of pancreatic juice secretion. When the food intake is too much, the pancreas will have to work overtime. This will inevitably lead to overload and inflammation.

3. Humans can only eat 9 tons of food in their lifetime?

There are rumors on the Internet that people can only eat 9 tons of food in their lifetime. Whoever eats it first will leave first. If this is the case, wouldn't it be faster to "cool" if you eat a lot?

This statement is derived from a study that found that people will cause damage to the body after eating, and this damage can gradually accumulate, so it is proposed that the amount of food a person can eat is limited.

But if this is the case, then reducing the amount of food by half can also increase the life expectancy by half? This is obviously impossible, so this statement is also pure nonsense.

What is the healthiest amount of food a person should eat? It's actually seven

When you feel 70% full, that is, you are not as greedy as when you first saw the food, and you feel full when you touch your stomach, you can put down your chopsticks. The energy and nutrients ingested by seven points of fullness are enough to maintain daily activities .

How should a healthy meal be eaten? It is recommended to start from the following three aspects:

1. Eat less energy-dense foods

High-energy foods only need one or two bites to quickly meet calorie needs, but the body does not have much satiety, which may easily lead to excessive intake of fat and sugar.

2. Eat regularly

Don't wait until you're hungry or have low blood sugar to eat, as it's easy to gobble up and eat more food than usual.

3. Implement a meal-sharing system

Just like in the dining hall, using dishes to serve meals can better control the amount of food you eat, and know how much of what food you eat and whether it exceeds the standard.

Of course, reducing the amount of food can not be achieved in one or two days. It can be gradually changed from each meal. For example, if you eat a bowl of rice on weekdays, you can start by reducing the amount of rice by one spoon. This allows the stomach to have an adaptation process, and it is easier to achieve a reasonable amount of food. Target.

References:

[1] "I'm already full, why can't I help but want to eat? ". Life Times. 2021-07-06

[2] Is there a scientific basis for "If you want to live to old age, eat seventy percent full"? 》.China Science Expo.2021-05-06

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