Monday, July 13, 2009

Stay Young with the Monkey Diet!

(Picture via NY Times)

Hi Everybody - Say hello to Canto (left, age 27) and Owen (right, age 29). Scientists at the University of Wisconsin have been studying these two Rhesus monkeys to see if diet controls the aging process.

For 20 years Canto has been on a restricted diet and Owen has been free to eat whatever he wants! They believe that by limiting Canto's calories to 1/3rd of Owen's that they have proven a link between aging and diet.

So if you eat better you will look younger (though Owen looks a bit happier if you ask me).

People are now wondering if this kind of diet control would work on humans - because everyone wants to stay young! - Click Here

More from the NY Times - Click Here

This all sounds pretty good. I wish they would pay me to see what the aging effects are on a monkey (or person) who lives in Disneyland!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

MoJo, you'd have to stop eating hot dogs and pudding. The dieter monkey never tasted such delicacies, so in a way, he had the easy path. Once you've tasted all the fun stuff, it's hard to stop.

I myself will be dining on delectable hot dogs tonight at the ball game.

MoJo said...

So what you are saying is that Canto never had stuff like Hot Dogs and Pudding? But he wasn't on the diet his whole life - or was he?

Hmmmmmm, many questions. Well no diet is easy, perhaps I can just start out with limiting my hot dog/pudding intake, rather than cut it out all together - cold turkey. Mmmmm turkey.

Anonymous said...

The article said Canto's been on a diet for 20 years. I dunno, maybe he's had hot dogs and pudding, but it would have been a long time ago.

I hope they didn't make him watch the other monkey eat pudding and hot dogs for 20 years.

Also, the part about the other monkey being able to "eat whatever he wanted" is a little misleading. A human had to be giving him the "anything he wanted". Either that, or access to a fully stocked kitchen.

I guess I'm thinking no matter how you look at it, some of the things humans do to monkeys aren't too nice.

MoJo said...

Ah - so you think that they are being held against their will? I thought it was a like one of those Jenny Craig or SlimFast things that I see on the TV. Except with monkeys.

If they are being held (and fed) against their will then something must be done!

Anonymous said...

I don't know whether they're being held against their will, but when you think about it, it's not very nice to give one monkey unhealthy foods for twenty years. I mean, in this day and age, did we really need to subject two monkeys to a twenty year experiment to prove people look better if they eat healthy? Why couldn't they just let the monkeys eat the same and be happy and be themselves?

I guess I'm saying these experiments are manipulative of monkeys, who have feelings and who do a lot of good in the world.

Anonymous said...

hey, MoJo...guess what I heard? There's a Bob Dylan concert with John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson at the Blue Claws stadium on 7/23.

MoJo said...

Thanks for letting me know, Anonymous! I don't know about the Melon guy or the Willie man, but I do know Mr. Dylan. Thank you for telling me about his upcoming show - unfortunately, I will be on vacation and he will not be in my area, but you should go and have a good time!!