The combination of the example you gave, CR, and the subtitle of the post you link to "The dangers of using one lab animal to study every disease." is 100% bullshit: CR has been studied in a huge number of animals, from worms to primates. I foolishly read a few paragraphs, and it sounds like Mark Mattson simply hasn't read the literature on CR.
Nope: "Mattson is among the leading researchers on the effects of calorie restriction and the brain." - source.
An article about the pitfalls of using mice for animal research leads off with the example of calorie restriction. The controls for calorie restriction mice experiments were obese mice, suggesting that the health benefits of calorie restriction might be conflated with the health benefits of not being obese. I get the impression that people who study calorie restriction still think it worthwhile for life extension, but it's useful to try and integrate all evidence you come across.
[edit] timtyler suggests this is a well-understood effect that's already been taken into account by CR scientists.