You’ve been reading for years that severely cutting your total daily calorie count by 30% or so—basically, eating a lot less—is a real-life fountain of youth.

In fact, scientists had strong evidence that even for people who aren’t overweight, eating a “calorie restricted” diet might extend lives.

And if you’re like me, you’ve probably said to yourself, “Yeah, I really should do that”…but you didn’t.

Let’s face it: Food is delicious, and eating less of it if you don’t really have to isn’t a goal that’s easy to accomplish.

Well, we all can feel a little less guilty about our decision now, because a new study has arrived at a very different conclusion—that eating a lot less food probably doesn’t help us live longer (or stay healthier).

MONKEYING AROUND WITH CALORIES

Intrigued? So was I, so I called study author Julie Mattison, PhD, to learn more about the latest findings. Her research analyzed 23 years’ worth of data on rhesus monkeys that had been split into two main groups. Both groups were fed diets that contained the same nutrients, but one group was fed a standard amount of total calories per day and the other group was fed 30% fewer total calories each day.

The results: The monkeys on the restricted diet did not live any longer than those that were fed a standard number of calories. And while the monkeys were living, those on the restricted diet weren’t necessarily any healthier. For example, male monkeys on the restricted diet did have lower cholesterol levels, but female monkeys on the restricted diet did not. Also, those on the restricted diet had lower odds of getting cancer, which was good news, but on the other hand, they also had a higher chance of developing cardiovascular disease.

These results conflict with those from an earlier 2009 study from Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, which found that rhesus monkeys that ate 30% less food than a control group did live longer. But according to Dr. Mattison and her team, the monkeys in that study’s control group ate much more sugar and much more food, overall, compared with the control group in this new study, which made the control group more likely to develop health problems and die earlier.

THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU CUT CALORIES

Dr. Mattison was hesitant to say whether her team’s new findings would likely apply to humans (there is no way to feasibly confirm these results in our species), but there’s a chance that they could, since rhesus monkeys are, physiologically, very similar to humans.

In other words, radically reducing our caloric intake is probably not as much of a “home run” for our health as we previously thought. So before you go on a diet that significantly cuts calories, talk to your doctor about all the pros and cons.