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Yes, most women who CRON seriously are amenorrhetic and infertile.
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I'm not sure that is true, especially for more moderate CRONies on the yahoo calorie restriction support group. They advise women to increase calories if this happens too.
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Men on CR with low protein/fat consumption have lower sperm count and lower testosterone.
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The majority of CRers are male, what I've picked up from the lists is that weight and testestorne, existence of libido isn't well correlated with weight. For example, I have had 0 loss of libido, even when I was as low as BMI 16.3. But some males experience total loss at BMI's of upto around bmi 21
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Also, it is well established that conditions which shut off female reproduction are associated with poor health.
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Just to note; non-human primates that are subjected to 30% CR and are underweight do not experience infertility. There is usually a huge degree of restriction before this happens in larger mammals that CR have been tested on. And yes, increased health and longevity does occur even after shut off of the female reproduction system because the theory is your body moves its resources to maintenance and repair. Without a shut off of the reproductive system CR'd life extension is significantly less in other mammals tested.
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Calorie restriction in rhesus monkeys.
Mattison JA, Lane MA, Roth GS, Ingram DK.
Intramural Research Program, Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, NIH, 5600 Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA. mattisonj~mail.nih.gov
Calorie restriction (CR) extends lifespan and reduces the incidence and age of onset of age-related disease in several animal models. To determine if this nutritional intervention has similar actions in a long-lived primate species, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) initiated a study in 1987 to investigate the effects of a 30% CR in male and female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) of a broad age range. We have observed physiological effects of CR that parallel rodent studies and may be predictive of an increased lifespan. Specifically, results from the NIA study have demonstrated that CR decreases body weight and fat mass, improves glucoregulatory function, decreases blood pressure and blood lipids, and decreases body temperature. Juvenile males exhibited delayed skeletal and sexual maturation. A
dult bone mass was not affected by CR in females nor were several reproductive hormones or menstrual cycling. CR attenuated the age-associated decline in both dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and melatonin in males. Although 81% of the monkeys in the study are still alive, preliminary evidence suggests that CR will have beneficial effects on morbidity and mortality. We are now preparing a battery of measures to provide a thorough and relevant analysis of the effectiveness of CR at delaying the onset of age-related disease and maintaining function later into life.