Longevity in Okinawa is considered to be a result of traditional low calorie diet. Le Bourg suggests that Okinawa is an example of severe malnutrition, which is harmful for later generations. We believe that current loss of longevity advantage in Okinawa is a result of diet westernization and that the dietary restriction is a valid way of life extension in humans.

During the last few decades, consumption of low-calorie sweeteners, as a substitute for caloric has sharply increased. Although research shows that versus sweeteners can have differential effects on brain, it is unknown which neuronal populations are responsible detecting difference between two types sweeteners. Using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, we investigated how drinking sucrose or s...

Prevailing thinking about obesity and related diseases holds that quantifying calories should be a principal concern and target for intervention. Part of this thinking is that consumed calories – regardless of their sources – are equivalent; i.e. ‘a calorie is a calorie’. The present commentary discusses various problems with the idea that ‘a calorie is a calorie’ and with a primarily quantitat...

BACKGROUND We have previously shown that dietary iron restriction prevents the development of renal damage in a rat model of chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, iron deficiency is associated with appetite loss. In addition, calorie restriction is reported to prevent the development of end-stage renal pathology in CKD rats. Thus, the beneficial effect of iron restriction on renal damage may d...

which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Excessive calorie intake and subsequent obesity is associated with multiple chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes melli-tus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancers such as colon cancer, endometrial cancer,...

Anticancer drugs have been reported to damage the intestinal mucosa. We evaluated the effects of caloric intake on the mucosal morphology and immune cells in rats treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Rats were received a liquid diet plus 5-FU treatment for 8 days as follows: Low calorie group (25 kcal/day with 5-FU), Normal calorie group (50 kcal/day with 5-FU), and Control group (50 kcal/day wi...

Euglycemia is the ultimate goal in diabetes care to prevent complications. However, the benefits of euglycemia in type 2 diabetes are controversial because near-euglycemic subjects show higher mortality than moderately hyperglycemic subjects. We previously reported that euglycemic-diabetic rats on calorie-control lose a critical liver weight (LW) compared with hyperglycemic rats. Here, we eluci...

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet long used to treat refractory epilepsy; ketogenesis (ketone body formation) is a physiological phenomenon also observed in patients following lowcarbohydrate, low-calorie diets prescribed for rapid weight loss. We report the case of a pair of twin sisters, whose high-frequency migraine improved during a ketogenic diet they followed in orde...

BACKGROUND Adipose tissue functions as an endocrine organ by releasing adipokines which have important roles in the regulation of inflammation and insulin sensitivity. Although there is evidence of improvement in circulating levels of adipokines with weight loss, few studies relate such changes to specific diets. We investigated the effects of weight loss achieved by two different diets on circ...

Obesity has become a worldwide epidemic and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. More than two-thirds of adults in the United States are either trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain. Very low calorie diets, diets with energy levels between 200 and 800 kcal/day, are used commonly for rapid weight loss. These diets are generally safe and well-tolerated and have been repo...