Why is Dr. Cynthia Kenyon eating a low-carb diet? To help her live a longer and healthier life.You might not have thought that a tiny worm could hold the secret to humans living longer, healthier lives, but Dr. Cynthia Kenyon, a geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco, has thought so for a long time. She has spent many years studying the genes that affect aging in a worm that is only a millimeter long. Since this worm naturally completes its life cycle in 2 - 3 weeks, it can serve as a lens to look at the genes which influence aging and death. In fact, scientists in Dr. Kenyon's lab have discovered over 50 genes that affect lifespan. (Read more about the work in Dr. Kenyon's Lab .)
One of her recent discoveries may be the most exciting, because it actually shows how diet may affect the expression of some of the longevity genes. There is a great article about this is the U.K. - based Mail newspaper: Can cutting carbohydrates from your diet make you live longer?
Essentially, Kenyon and her associates have discovered two genes (dubbed "Grim Reaper" and "Sweet Sixteen" for their opposite effects) that seem to govern the mechanism by which low-calorie diets prolong life in many species. Unfortunately, as most of all know all too well, cutting calories permanently does not lead to a very enjoyable life -- unless you enjoy being hungry and tired all the time. But the news gets better: a low-carb diet may affect the very same genes! Conversely, glucose and insulin cause the Sweet Sixteen "youth" gene to turn off and the "Grim Reaper" gene to turn on.
I've long wondered about this. Since we in the U.S. started eating more carbohydrate and less fat in the 1970's, the incidence of diabetes and obesity has exploded. I've had my own pet theory that part of the reason is that this high-carb diet was switching on genes that govern the processes which affect diabetes, obesity, and probably other chronic conditions. (I even talked about in an interview with Jimmy Moore last year.) It now seems that indeed that may be the case! The extra glucose in our diet (remember: all carbs break down into sugar in our bodies) causes extra insulin which could affect our genes. (If you read the article in the Mail be sure to check out the comments where one person jokingly(?) guesses that the reason the government has been promoting high-carb diets is so it won't have to pay out as much in the British equivalent of Social Security.)
So what is Dr. Kenyon eating these days? She says in the Mail article, "I've cut out all starch such as potatoes, noodles, rice, bread and pasta. Instead I have salads, but no sweet dressing, lots of olive oil and nuts, tons of green vegetables along with cheese, chicken and eggs. I'll have a hamburger without a bun and fish without batter or chips. I eat some fruit every day, but not too much and almost no processed food. I stay away from sweets, except 80 per cent chocolate." Hmm..sounds a lot like my Low-Carb Food Pyramid!
Photo: Dimitri Vervitsiotis/Getty Images
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Little by little the world is FINALLY waking up and “getting it”. Sometimes it seems like “two steps forward and one step back”, but I believe, in time, the old low calorie, low fat myth of the 70’s will be replaced.
I have fought the battle of weight all my life, and now, after 2 years of low carbing, I am finally in control.
The people for whom I feel the sorriest are the diabetics, still receiving archaic advice and getting more and more ill. Hopefully those docs will also begin to see the light!
All I know is I feel so much better when I don’t consume the starch. Although i have to admit i haven’t lost any weight but my weight has reproportioned itself.
I am on low carb diet +exercise since 1 year,enjoying good health , away from medicines. never had recurrent urti or other illness. looks young , fresh and energetic.
this news add feather in cap for low carb eaters!!!
Syed Mudasser, keep at it. It took a while for my body to “kick-in” and start losing weight on low carb dieting. I found that I did need to drink more water and also that those atkins bars slowed my weight loss down. I stick with lean protein, eggs, salads with avocados and ranch dressing and green veggies do the trick.
It sure takes folks a long time to catch on, but so many are doing so now. I see bits and pieces of recommendations of low-carb foods slip into popular diets that used to not include them. I am thankful for all the good info I have learned at Low Carb Diets instead of waiting for the rest of the world to catch up!
Finally the world is waking up – carbohydrate diet = sugar diet. The body sees ALL carbs as sugar – bread, starch, rice, potatoes, fruits and fruit juices etc. NOT just cane sugar. These foods don’t occur naturally and when they do, they were only available in small quantities at a few times of the year. So the ‘nutritionists’ that created the artificial food pyramid with bread etc at top are largely responsible for the world wide obesity epidemic. Amazing that these criminals still flog that story, even today. We have lived a low carb regime now for many years, initially wanting to lose about 40 lbs which we did, never looked back. Fitter, healthier, happier and continue to amaze our doctor who sadly for him never has anything to prescribe. So we will say slim, healthy and happy and the nutritionists continuing to flog the poisonous sugar diet will die long before we do.