Scientists suggest that going on a permanent diet can help you live longer. This new study found that monkeys live three years longer than normal with calorie restriction.

This long-running trial on macaques has revealed crucial findings on how calorie restriction can prolong life, adding three years than normal for monkeys (or nine years in humans).

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According to Julie Mattison of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Baltimore, Maryland, this type of diet may not be suitable for everyone, and understanding its benefits can lead to a more effective anti-aging medicine. The focus of the study was to improve overall human health, she explained.

Past studies have provided evidence that calorie restriction can extend the lifespan of organisms. As a result, many have chosen to restrict their intake of calories from 2500 calories a day to at least 1500 calories daily. 

In this new study, two trials of calorie restriction were carried out on macaques that have lived for more than 25 years in captivity. While the results varied, both trials showed that the macaques were able to extend their lifespans by more than three years.

 Since the trials began in the late 1980s, two separate reports from the University of Wisconsin and the National Institute on Aging have revealed that monkeys on restricted diets lived longer. However, the NIA trial showed that there is also no difference in survival rates for the monkeys.

Now, both teams analyzed and compared their recent results with earlier trials. They found that some monkeys were eating fewer calories than expected and some of them began this diet during their juvenile years.

During the NIA trial, the monkeys who began this strict diet as adults lived over 40 and broke records for the macaque species. During the Wisconsin trial, the primates lived significantly longer with males living two years longer and females six years. Lower rates of heart disease and cancer were also observed in the monkeys. 

According to the President of the Calorie Restriction Society, Brian Delaney, despite various results, it is advisable to still try the calorie restriction diet. However, this involves meticulous meal planning and could have some side effects such as feeling cold and reduced libido.

These studies were published in the journals Science and Nature Communications.