Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-01-19
Do Thin
People Live
Longer?

III II Professor M.
the Laboratory of Animal Nutrition at Cornell I'm
Wersy. who says it's the thin and not the fat
who look forward to remaining longest this earth
DR. McCay bases his conclusions tests that he has
been carrying on for ten years with white rats.
Some of the rats DR. McCay used allowed to grow
into and pudgy animals they got diet heavy
caloes Another group kept thin by having the
amount of caories received kept down Still another
group kept their figures being around daily in
ton barrels cages. The two groups who kept down
their weight had much longer life than the fat rats
DR.. McCay warns however. that exercise found
to be favorable only in certain for he discovered
that the animals weight fell below certain level its
life span shortened In other words body be
down too severely through too little food and too
much exercise
From his research the Cornell scientist believes that
the first goal Of those who studying the relations be-
tween what eat and how long live is to find way
proeng the active years of middle life when the mind
is clear and the spirit is willing and keep them produc-
tive this productive period be heightened he be-
lieves that knowledge be gained that will help do
away with much of the suffering and disease of old
The white rat is very convenient animal for study
ing diet and ageng because its life span covers period
of only about thousand days" explains DR.. McCay.
Thus within three years is born grows to maturity
passes through this middle life which wish to
extend and finally period age many
of the same characteristics found in old people.
TN the Autumn 1880 the studies started
at Cornell to If the life span could be modified great
deal by controlling the diet not just in middle but
throughout life. beginning with infancy"
In the first trial group of rats got much they
wanted to eat of adequate diet They followed their
normal of life to the grave Two other groups got
only enough calores to grow very slow rate
proved possible hold back the growth of these two
groups of rats until they much 900 days old
life span about equal to 30 years in human being Yet
these rats could sl grow maturity One of them
even lived until ii was past 1400 days DID,
In comparison with human beings THIS 140O day-old
nearly od-age record Thomas Parr
Engishman who claimed he 1872 years old when he
died and had lived through the reign of ten British kings
The natives of Shropshire where Parr lived who bear his
name today claim that it the climate that gave their
ancestor his long life But scientists know that he was
abstemous eater.
But Br- McCay it is diet and not climate that is
important From his first experiments he concluded that
the life span Of could be greatly increased by
stricng the Galleries given it. He proved this later by
feeding different groups of the age with different
diets Animals of relatively great age produced
and it was definitely shown that while knows how
many thousands of socalled normally fed rats would
nave TO be produced to get one that would live to 400
days of such rats could be produced of
every 100 rats fed the low calorc diet.
Since the life span be greatly increased by this
method it follows that the Of age
life have also postponed gives experts
method of attacking age and DR. Nc
Cay thinks the day not distant when physicians dealing
with old age problems will work closely with nutrition
laboratory where the effects of different diets
studied animals
did was produce from a small group Of rats
number of old men like Thomas Parr" Or McCay says
1t must also be remembered that after 900 days of
slowing up the growth OF these rats the animals able
to resume their growth and get body size only
ten per cent smaller than the socaed normal the
that ate to its hearts content"
In the second study, the were kept back for
period of 600 days instead At the end of that
time all the normal rats had already died But
tarded rats resumed their growth long
period and they eventually got to within per
the normal
Al present third experiment has Just shown a
500 days only about per kept on low
csloe diets had diseases Of the lungs the commonest
ament that ends the lives Of old but the
normal rats the fat had diseases the lungs
The experiment Or Mckay considers the most inter
estng carried for eight years TO find the
best diet for the second haH Of life experiments
the rats all were kept standard they
about year old Part Of them kept thin and
again the thin rats outllved the fat ones