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Science has shown that diets that veer close to starvation can make everything from mice to monkeys live longer.

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  By Ed Ou, AP

  Calories of each food item appear on a drive-thru menu in New York.

By Ed Ou, AP

Calories of each food item appear on a drive-thru menu in New York.

But can such a strict eating regimen prolong human lives, and if so, would those extra years be healthy, happy ones?

Recent research from Washington University scientists found that people who slashed their calorie intake have lower core body temperatures than those who eat more. Core body temperature is the temperature at which all of the functions in the body can operate at maximum efficiency, so the link looks like a positive one, according to some researchers.

Trent Arsenault, a 35-year-old engineer in the Bay Area, certainly hopes so.

He has been a “calorie restrictor” since 2000, consuming just 1,800 calories a day or 25% less than what a male of his size — 6-foot-1 and 150 pounds — would normally consume, he said.

Since he started, he has shed 60 pounds and now has a body-mass index of 19, just one notch above underweight (which is 18). His body fat composition is only 10%.

Arsenault is also one of 28 participants in the first long-term clinical trial to look at extreme calorie restriction in humans, and its effects not only on longevity but also on health.

He was recruited with the help of the Calorie Restriction Society, an international organization with several thousand members.

The study is known as CRONA (Caloric Restriction with Optimal Nutrition and Aging Study). It is being done at the University of California, San Francisco, where participants from many different states as well as England and Japan are traveling for a weekend of tests including cognitive exams, body measurements and a visit to an egg-shaped chamber that measures body fat composition. They’ll also complete surveys on everything from their medical history and eating habits to sleep patterns and stress levels.

“It’s an interesting paradox because restriction in animals seems to be the fountain of youth, but all my prior work in humans has shown not such great outcomes,” said Janet Tomiyama, a psychologist who is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Society Scholar at UCSF and principal investigator of this trial.

And the animal studies haven’t had clear data on how well the animals are actually living.

“The animal data seems good with all the longevity studies but what people really don’t know is how healthy the animals actually are,” said Heidi A. Tissenbaum, an associate professor in the Program in Gene Function and Expression and in molecular medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. “How happy are the people? Are they feeling restricted all their life?”

Not only will the investigators be looking at cholesterol and other markers of health, but they will also measure the length of telomeres. These are pieces of DNA which, when shortened, seem to be linked with health problems and a shorter lifespan.

Among other things, the study will look at how personality might differ in calorie restrictors compared to normal eaters or overweight/obese people, as well as cognitive ability, impulse control and how stress is handled.

The study participants are mostly male (as are most calorie restrictors), well-educated and middle-aged.

It will take decades to have results from the trial but Arsenault feels he already has seen a difference.

He doesn’t catch colds or the flu, has plenty of energy and neither his sexual drive nor his fertility have been affected, he said. In fact, he has fathered at least 15 children through a sperm bank since he started restricting calories.

Unlike many calorie restrictors, Arsenault did not have a mid-life health scare which propelled him into action. Instead, at the age of 25, he realized he wanted to concentrate on his career, postponing marriage and children.

“(I wanted to) keep myself looking decent enough so that in 10 years I could get married and still be healthy enough to spend time with kids,” he explained.

The study is funded by the Appleby Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Society Scholars program and the University of California, Berkeley Population Center.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Drought in China has affected 6.5 million hectares of farmland, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said on its website on May 20. Photographer: Keith Bedford/Bloomberg

Global food output may be hurt as
climate change brings more extreme weather over the next decade,
with China likely set for harsher droughts and North America
getting heavier rain, said the World Meteorological Organization.

“Extreme events will become more intense in the future,
especially the heat waves and extreme precipitations,” Omar
Baddour, a division chief at the United Nations’ agency, said in
a phone interview from Geneva. “That, combined with less
rainfall in some regions like the Mediterranean region and China,
will affect crop production and agriculture.”

The more extreme weather — including in the U.S., the
world’s largest agricultural exporter — may disrupt harvests,
possibly cutting production of grains, livestock and cooking
oils and boosting prices. Global food costs reached a record in
February, stoking inflation and pushing millions into poverty.

“We foresee with high confidence in climate projections
that intense precipitation in some parts of the world will be
more intense, and drought will be more intense,” said Baddour,
who’s tracked the subject for more than two decades. Extreme
heat waves “will also be more intense and more frequent.”

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s World Food
Price Index, which tracks 55 food-commodity items, rose nine
times in the past 10 months, with the gauge peaking at 237.24 in
February. The index climbed to 232.07 last month.

‘Massive Disruptions’

Baddour’s comments add to projections that more extreme
weather may affect farm production. Sunny Verghese, chief
executive officer at Olam International Ltd. (OLAM), among the world’s
three biggest suppliers of rice, forecast in February that food-
supply chains face “massive disruptions” from climate change.

Drought in China has affected 6.5 million hectares of
farmland, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters said on its website on May 20. China has ordered
the operator of the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s biggest, to
release water to replenish the Yangtze River and counter the
local region’s lowest rainfall in half a century.

The drought in China may cut early-season rice output if
there’s no adequate rain over the next two weeks, according to
industry researcher Cngrain.com. “If the drought doesn’t end in
two weeks, the impact on the region’s rice will no doubt be
significant,” Zhang Lu, an analyst at the group, said yesterday.

In the U.S., floods along the Mississippi River and its
tributaries have affected almost 3.6 million acres of cropland,
causing the most damage in Arkansas, the American Farm Bureau
Federation said on May 23. Floods in Canada’s Frenchman River
Basin may be the largest since 1952, and the waters slowed the
nation’s sowing, the Canadian Wheat Board said on April 20.

Intense Pressure

“Climate change, high-and-volatile food and energy prices,
population and income growth” will put intense pressure on land
and water and challenge global food security as never before,
according to Mark Rosegrant, director of environment and
production technology at the International Food Policy Research
Institute. Rosegrant also cited changing diets and increased
urbanization in a May 24 e-mailed statement.

Corn will average $7.75 per bushel this quarter and $8 in
the third quarter on “growing concerns about crop weather in
the U.S., Europe and now parts of Russia,” said Abah Ofon, a
Singapore-based analyst at Standard Chartered Plc. Corn traded
at $7.4625 per bushel at 7:29 p.m. in Singapore today, more than
double the price a year ago.

Food costs are at “dangerous levels” after pushing 44
million people into poverty since June, World Bank President
Robert Zoellick said Feb. 15. That adds to the more than 900
million people around the world who go hungry each day, he said.

Agricultural research is needed to adapt farming to climate
change, Olivier de Schutter, the UN’s special adviser on the
right to food, said at a conference on May 23. “The improvement
of plants is absolutely important given the challenges we are
facing, particularly the threat posed by climate change,” de
Schutter said in Brussels.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at
ljavier@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Poole at
jpoole4@bloomberg.net

Click here to view the full photogallery.Extreme Chef Photos: Food Network

A new series on the Food Network takes pretty much every absurd challenge in an entire season of Top Chef and condenses them into a single episode. Extreme Chef, which premieres June 30, forces three competing chefs to swim lakes, milk cows, use cuticle scissors in place of actual cutlery, and complete any number of other seemingly insurmountable challenges to prepare a meal. The show is hosted by British “adventure seeker” Marsh Mokhtari, and judges will include writer Josh Ozersky, Next Iron Chef judge Simon Majumdar, Next Iron Chef finalist Marco Canora and “stiletto chef” Candice Kumai.

The trailer contains lots of high energy music and heavy usage of the word “extreme.” One contestant even exclaims, “I skinned a bear, I cooked it, ate it for dinner, and if that’s not extreme, I don’t know what is.”

Video: Extreme Chef

CHEFS TAKE CULINARY CHALLENGE TO THE EXTREME FOOD NETWORK PREMIERES NEW COMPETITION SERIES ‘EXTREME CHEF’

Premieres Thursday, June 30th at 10pm ET/PT

NEW YORK – MAY 23, 2011 – Food Network takes chefs out of their kitchen comfort zone in new primetime series Extreme Chef premiering Thursday, June 30th at 10pm ET/PT. Hosted by TV veteran and seasoned world traveler Marsh Mokhtari, each episode pushes three chefs to their physical and mental limits as they must adjust to extreme conditions and unpredictable curveballs such as swimming across a lake for ingredients and using a car engine as a makeshift stove. Whether extracting ingredients from a block of ice or using a pocket knife as a lone cooking utensil, each of the eight episodes in season one follows three culinary pros as they navigate this over-the-top contest vying for $10,000 and the coveted title of Extreme Chef.

With three challenges per episode, the competitors’ wits, adaptability and artistry are tested as they must cook up a way to showcase their creative chops while surviving the ultimate competition. With minimal time to complete each challenge, speed counts but quality matters most in the end. After the first two challenges, one chef is eliminated and the two remaining competitors battle in the ultimate showdown. From beaches and farms to ghost towns and mountains, Extreme Chef takes the competitors to obscure locations for each out-of-the-box challenge, like cooking a meal on a deserted island, preparing a perfect block party in a torrential downpour and gathering ingredients from a bucket of rattlesnakes.

The season’s competitors hail from across the country and span the culinary spectrum. From restaurateurs to executive chefs, these kitchen masters will need their varied perspectives and cooking styles to tackle seemingly unthinkable tasks. Leading the competitors through this jaw-dropping journey is host Marsh Mokhtari, a U.K. based adventure seeker and host of several cable network travel and lifestyle specials. Notable judges from this season include: Simon Majumdar (Next Iron Chef judge, food journalist), Josh Ozersky (food journalist), Marco Canora (Next Iron Chef finalist, restaurateur) and Candice Kumai (food writer).

Extreme Chef is produced by Smart Dog/Valencia Productions, LLC.
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· All Food TV Coverage on Eater -EN-
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Billy Brown/Special to the Record Searchlight
Solid food can be more fulfilling than gel packs on long hikes or bike rides. Three to choose from are Honey Stinger Waffles, Brubar and Jelly Belly Extreme Sport Beans.

For athletes whose training goes past the one-hour mark, bringing along some spare calories and electrolytes is a great idea. Gel-style food like Gu and Powergel is generally regarded as the standard because it digests quickly and stores well in a pocket. There are drawbacks, however — having a sticky wrapper make a mess of your hand or pocket for the rest of your run/ride is never pleasant, and while it goes down easy, slimy nutrients don’t always satisfy. Here are my favorite non-gooey options for eating on the run, all of which are available in Redding sporting goods stores.

Honey Stinger Waffles

Inspired by the Euro-popular stroopwafels, honey-based energy food company Honey Stinger’s Organic Waffles give much-needed crunch to the goo-based food market. Besides the welcome texture, the waffles taste like a waffle cone and honey sandwich. They’re great for a mid-ride energy boost. The waffles come in honey and vanilla flavors (I prefer vanilla).

Caveat — your best bet may be to slow down when consuming. I was inhaling one — figuratively — mid-stride during a trail run, and my labored breathing caused me to inhale — literally, this time — some crumbs.

$1.29; honeystinger.com

Brubars

Here’s the Cherry Almond Brubar’s list of ingredients, straight from the Brubar website: “malt extract, rolled oats, dates, cherries, almonds, coconut, olive oil, almond extract, baking soda, cinnamon.” Made by two home brewers based in Davis, the Brubar’s rich, not-too-sweet taste makes it my favorite snack bar by far.

That barley malt extract provides a sweet malt flavor that never crosses the line into saccharine. It also makes it one of the more moist bars out there, helping it to go down easy during exercise, and helping to prevent it from freezing solid in colder conditions. They come in original malt, apricot, oatmeal raisin and cherry almond flavors.

$2.25; brubar.com

Jelly Belly Extreme Sport Beans

They’re jelly beans with electrolytes and caffeine (hence the extreme). What would be a nightmare for our parents when we were kids is now a helpful reality in our active lives. I’m a fan of Jelly Belly’s Sport Beans because you can portion them out easily; instead of having to eat the whole pack at once, you can spread out a pack one or two beans at a time for as long as you want. The beans’ resealable package and firmer nature also is convenient — it’s great to be able to eat half of your pack of food without having to worry about baby-sitting a half-open package of slime for the rest of your workout. The caffeinated Extreme version comes in cherry flavor, and the decaffeinated version is available in a host of flavors — my faves are berry and fruit punch.

$1.19; sportbeans.com

SEATTLE — With today’s food prices, there’s a renewed sense of needing to save all you can. That is forcing many more to take scissors to Sunday circulars, clipping every conceivable coupon to save every cent possible.

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It even spawned a new reality show where shoppers proclaim extreme savings.

The use of coupons rose 30 percent during the financial crisis of 2008. And last year, shoppers saved $3.7 billion using coupons. But can you really get a thousand dollars worth of stuff for nothing, as one host bragged on the show “Extreme Couponing”?

“It’s a reality show that’s not reality, unfortunately,” said Heather Clarke with Queen Bee Coupons “They’re definitely focusing on the sensational side of couponing, kind of a how cool show instead of a how to show.”

That may be part of Kroger’s decision to limit customers from using both a store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon at the same time. So far the limit only applies to Kroger stores in Ohio. But will our local grocery stores follow suit?

“We haven’t really seen it locally, but I think any time something gets put in excess we’re going to see that they’re going to have to cut back as corporations,” Clarke said.

Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC and Albertsons all say they’re not making any changes to their coupon policies yet. Clarke says she has noticed a change on Proctor and Gamble coupons, now limiting you to use just 4 similar coupons at once.

“It used to be unlimited. And they think four are reasonable,” she said. “I think 4 are reasonable and I think they’re just trying to avoid that expressiveness.”

Clarke said if you work at it, you can see extreme savings without taking it to an extreme level.