Related news story: Reduced diet thwarts aging, disease in monkeys

Caption: Richard Weindruch, a professor of medicine in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, is pictured on May 28, 2009.
Photo: Jeff Miller
Date: May 2009
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Caption: Ricki Colman, associate scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is pictured on Dec. 3, 2006.
Photo: Jordana Lenon, WNPRC
Date: December 2006
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Caption: On May 28, 2009, Richard Weindruch (left) and Ricki Colman dress in clean and protective garb before entering one of the monkey colony areas at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Weindruch, a professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and Colman, associate scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, are part of a team of researchers involved in a pioneering long-term study of the links between diet and aging in Rhesus macaque monkeys.
Photo: Jeff Miller
Date: May 2009
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Caption: Brain scans of two different Rhesus macaque monkeys illustrate the findings of a landmark study of diet and aging at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The image on the left shows the brain of an animal allowed free rein at the dinner table (control), while the image on the right shows the brain of a monkey that for two decades has been on a nutritious but reduced-calorie diet. The brain of the animal allowed to eat freely has less tissue volume and more fluid (bright areas) than the brain of a monkey on the low-cal diet. The images suggest less brain atrophy or cell loss with aging for animals that consume a diet with 30 percent fewer calories than if they were permitted to eat as much as they like.
Photo: courtesy Sterling C. Johnson
Date: unknown
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Caption: Rhesus monkeys, left to right, Canto, 27, on a restricted diet, and Owen, 29, a control subject on an unrestricted diet, are pictured at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on May 28, 2009. The two are among the oldest surviving subjects in a pioneering long-term study of the links between diet and aging in Rhesus macaque monkeys, which have an average life span of about 27 years in captivity. Lead researcher Richard Weindruch, a professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and co-author Ricki Colman, associate scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, report new findings in the journal Science that a nutritious, but reduced-calorie, diet blunts aging and delays the onset of such aged-related disorders as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and brain atrophy.
Photo: Jeff Miller
Date: May 2009
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Caption: Rhesus monkeys Canto, 27, and on a restricted diet, is pictured at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on May 28, 2009. The animal is among the oldest surviving subjects in a pioneering long-term study of the links between diet and aging in Rhesus macaque monkeys, which have an average life span of about 27 years in captivity. Lead researcher Richard Weindruch, a professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and co-author Ricki Colman, associate scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, report new findings in the journal Science that a nutritious, but reduced-calorie, diet blunts aging and delays the onset of such aged-related disorders as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and brain atrophy.
Photo: Jeff Miller
Date: May 2009
High-resolution JPEG

Caption: Rhesus monkey Owen, 29, and a control subject on an unrestricted diet, is pictured at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on May 28, 2009. The animal is the oldest surviving subject in a pioneering long-term study of the links between diet and aging in Rhesus macaque monkeys, which have an average life span of about 27 years in captivity. Lead researcher Richard Weindruch, a professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and co-author Ricki Colman, associate scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, report new findings in the journal Science that a nutritious, but reduced-calorie, diet blunts aging and delays the onset of such aged-related disorders as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and brain atrophy.
Photo: Jeff Miller
Date: May 2009
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Caption: Rhesus monkey Owen, 29, and a control subject on an unrestricted diet, studies his reflection while playing with a toy dumbbell at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on May 28, 2009. The animal is the oldest surviving subject in a pioneering long-term study of the links between diet and aging in Rhesus macaque monkeys, which have an average life span of about 27 years in captivity. Lead researcher Richard Weindruch, a professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and co-author Ricki Colman, associate scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, report new findings in the journal Science that a nutritious, but reduced-calorie, diet blunts aging and delays the onset of such aged-related disorders as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and brain atrophy.
Photo: Jeff Miller
Date: May 2009
High-resolution JPEG