There's a very interesting fasting yahoo group focusing on Intermittent Fasting and caloric restriction.
Here's a sample thereof:-
"Exp Gerontol 1985;20(5):253-63
The effects of aging and chronic dietary restriction on whole body growth and protein turnover in the rat.
Lewis SE, Goldspink DF, Phillips JG, Merry BJ, Holehan AM.
Changes in whole body growth, nucleic acids, and protein turnover have been studied in conjunction with ageing and chronic dietary restriction. Normal developmental changes between weaning and senescence included progressive decreases in the fractional rates of growth, protein synthesis, and protein breakdown; the decline in the synthetic rate correlating with decreases in the ribosomal capacity. Dietary intervention was imposed at weaning and involved pair feeding to 50% of the ad libitum food intake. Although this regime slowed whole body growth by retarding the developmental decline in protein turnover, growth was extended into the second and third years of life. The dietary-induced increase in longevity resulting from a retardation of the ageing process(es) appears therefore to be associated with an enhanced turnover of proteins during the major portion of the life span of dietary restricted rats. These observations are strange as up to 50% of basal metabolic rate may be due to the energy requirements for protein synthesis. So an increased protein synthesisi in caloric restricted animals becomes difficult to reconcile with the sharply decreased energy availability in these seme animals, althouh on a lean body mass basis, these may be no decrease. (from Weindruch & Walford 1988)."
