The assumption that no data exists to support human results following dietary restriction ignores much research into therapeutic fasting and naturopathic treatment methods which include dietary restriction. I will outline these methods later in this chapter and in other chapters.

Fasting patterns
On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays Weindruch and Walford had fed their experimental animals an isonutrient diet (that is, all the nutrients that a free feeding animal would receive but with calorie restriction), and they reported equal success in terms of life extension and disease reduction with animals fed every day but in reduced quantities. Whichever regimen, their overriding rule was that the animals were never malaourished and always received their total requirement of protein, vitamins and minerals whilst calories were restricted. The pattern of feeding, therefore, was one of 'undernutrition without malnutrition'.

If you or I were eating on alternate days only, we would be fasting on the others, and even if we ate just once daily, we could be said to be fasting for the rest of the day. It is in the variations of patterns of eating and fasting that we should look to find our personal strategies, for it is the effects of periodic fasting which might hold the key to the door to life extension and disease reduction. The benefits seem always to be the same whatever variation in pattern used, as long as the basic principle of calorie restriction is kept to.

Reduction in disease levels
From strains of rats and mice specially bred for experimental it is possible to select types which are more than commonly prone to particular diseases. These may involve different types of tumour (lung, breast, leukaemia etc.) or a variety of other chronic degenerative diseases. When such prone types were used in the dietary restriction experiments of Weindruch and Walford the development of a wide array of diseases was seen to be delayed and the overall incidence was dramatically reduced. As the dietary restriction programme was intensified the disease prevention effects became greater and this was most marked in the case of cancers of many types. On top of this, research also shows that despite the dietary restriction normal physiological function is maintained and in many instances improved.

Weindruch and Walford's experimental work is recent and ongoing. Another man's efforts in researching the nutrition health link dates back to earlier this century, but it is no less valid and important today than it was when he carried it out.

McCarrison's Indian observations
During his many yeas in India, the famed medical researcher into nutrition, Sir Robert McCarrison, observed the varying patterns of health current amongst different groups on the subcontinent. He was fascinated by the different levels of health and physical efficiency, and found that the single factor that had the most profound influence on these characteristics was not the climate, endemic disease or race, but food. His first observations were of the decline in stature, body weight, stamina and efficiency of the people as he traveled from the north to the south of India. He compared this with the local diets and found a direct and constant correlation in that there was a fall in nutritive value of the commonly eaten food, from north to south. He makes the following statement in his book Nutrition and Health (McCarrison Society, London, 1982):