Fewer Calories Keeps Our Hearts Healthy and Young

Wed, 06 Jun 2012

Those of us who restrict the number of calories in our diet may have hearts which function like those in individuals 20 years younger.

Washington University School of Medicine researchers have discovered that a major way of measuring the heart’s ability to adapt to exercise, stress, sleep and other variables which influence the rate at which the heart pumps blood, does not slow down nearly as quickly as in those who have considerably controlled their caloric intake for approximately seven years.

Researchers hooked portable heart monitors to 22 practitioners of calorie restriction (CR) who adhered to healthy diets, however, who ate 30 percent fewer calories than they otherwise would.

The average age of participants was 51. In order for a comparison, researchers studied 20 other people of around same age who stuck to standard Western diets.

Heart rates were considerably lower in the CR group, with their heart rate variability being considerably higher.

Higher heart rate variability means that the heart can adapt to changing needs more rapidly and effectively.

Heart rate variability drops with age as our cardiovascular systems gets less flexible, and poor heart rate variability is related to an increased risk of cardiovascular death.
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