Is aging a disease?

Calorie Restriction does actually show to reduce aging in humans. They isolated the main factor for there extreme longevity was a traditional low calorie diet and many different varieties of vegetables rich in antioxidants.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17986602

 

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Caloric restriction is not inconsistent with slowed ageing, but has not been demonstrated to be a factor in humans - not even in Okinawa. Okinawans on average live longer than most peoples, but there are many possible reasons for this - caloric restriction being just one hypothesis. Average age of death among Okinawans is 84, versus 82 for Japanese, versus 80 for most of Europe and other western nations, with the noted exception of the USA where it is 76.

However, I happen to know that, in my country (New Zealand, with average longevity - 80), those people who have tertiary qualifications live longer than the average Okinawan. That is not due to caloric restriction, since such people still eat very well, but probably due to simply looking after themselves. New Zealanders have an obesity rate higher than almost every other western nation.

It is also worth noting that, much to the surprise of researchers, the obesity epidemic has not stopped, or even noticeably slowed, the increasing longevity of people world wide. This is probably not due to any increase in potential life span, but simply to reducing early deaths, with better medical science.

Animal experiments suggest that caloric restriction has the potential to increase life span in many species by a very substantial amount - up to 25%. There is no human society, regardless of how much is eaten, that has an average longevity increased to anywhere close to that, compared to other well nourished nations. Okinawans, for example, live just 5% longer than New Zealanders on average.

There is, in my opinion, a very good reason not to expect any strategy to increase human life span by more than a small amount. Humanity already lives much longer than any other mammal in our size range. It appears that evolution has already done everything it can easily do to make us live longer. Assuming that is the case, the law of diminishing returns cuts in, and strategies for increased longevity become less effective.

 

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well the thing is that its a average. When many of the centurions were interviewed it was found that they kept to a low calorie diet and a diet with many antioxidants. They still ate on average about 1200 calories per day not comparable to what calorie restriction diets in animals were.

 

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