The fountain of youth just may be filled with zero-calorie liquid.

MyHealthNewsDaily reports that while restricting your calories may not make you live forever, new research shows it could help treat asthma, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and spinal cord injury and possibly assist in keeping Alzheimer’s and cancer at bay.

Neuroscientist Mark Mattson of the National Institute on Aging tells the news service he would advise the overweight or obese to restrict their calories for better health. In a study from last year, he and his fellow researchers found that women who cut their calories by 25 percent experienced lower hormone and inflammation levels associated with breast cancer.

And in a study from 2007, Mattson’s team found that overweight asthma participants who ate just 500 to 600 calories every other day (eating whatever they wanted on the other days) reported an improvement in symptoms after eight weeks, according to MyHealthNewsDaily. The news service adds that other studies on calorie restriction have shown positive effects on additional diseases and injuries.

So apples one day, chocolate cake the next? We might be able to live … a really, really long time … with that.

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