Health and Longevity

Expert Finds We’re Biologically Programmed to Not Die

posted on March 23, 2010

Is it just me, or are we seeing a groundswell of health and longevity awareness springing up all around us?

Last weekend, I participated in a gigantic annual conference and trade show called Natural Products Expo West. The hottest new health and longevity products, including supplements, were featured by over two thousand exhibitors for more than 53,000 industry professional attendees. They set an attendance record this year in spite of the economy.

Every year, attendees seem to be more fascinated by anything that can make them, their customers and clients live longer healthier lives. And there were a lot of products including natural foods that made that promise. But I wasn’t blown away by any quantum leap in the efficacy of the products. There wasn’t any. I just saw steady progress in their quality.

Another thing that impressed me was the over all health and fitness of the vast majority of everyone there. Sure, the obese and smokers were represented as well as muscled up fitness buffs. Most of the rest leaned toward the fitness extreme and away from the unhealthy. I don’t know if lean healthy people gravitate toward this industry or if good health practices rub off on its members once they join. I expect a bit of both and suspect it’s mostly the former. Either way, it’s refreshing to be surrounded by an ever-growing population of health conscious people all in one place.

Just before the event, I found out about a brand new life extension documentary that overflows with credibility. Imagine a 120-year-old living like today’s 50 year-olds. Possible? Yes, according to the scientists in Robert Kane Pappas’ new film, To Age or Not to Age.

It includes some of the most respected and productive researchers in the field. A few impactful video clips explain not only the reality of extreme life extension in your lifetime but also what it will mean to your overall health and longevity. The You Tube clip points out how you can reverse your aging to some extent right now, today, and how others have done it in five weeks. See the overnight benefits subjects in a study experienced. Then track the research from now on and be alive to reap the benefits.

The scientists featured in the film have found the means to postpone and possibly mitigate diseases tied to aging, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes, and increase our lifespans.

While To Age or Not to Age profiles the science of aging, it also addresses some of the moral, religious, social, practical and economic implications of increased, lifespan.  Who will have access to the medicine? Who will benefit from the breakthroughs? Will the price of these compounds make this a drug for the elites? What happens if we live even longer? What does that mean for societal structures, family, marriage, social security? 

See why Dr. Thomas Kirkwood says “A lot of people think we’re biologically programmed to die, but the truth is we’re biologically programmed for survival. There is no mechanism inside us that turns on to kill us when a certain period of time has elapsed.”

The film should be released soon, and here are some links:

trailer http://www.toageornottoage.com/

About the film, scientists interviewed http://info.toageornottoage.com/about/

General Info http://info.toageornottoage.com/

clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o2xRrMgoec

Long Life,
David Kekich 
______________________________

LATEST HEALTHY LIFE EXTENSION HEADLINES

THE SOURCE OF SKIN STEM CELLS (March 12 2010) http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/vnl.cfm?id=4635
From Reuters: "researchers conducted a study in mice and found that the stem cell that produces all the different cells of the skin actually lives in hair follicles. The findings, which they say will translate for human use, mean it may be possible to harness these stem cells to help with wound repair or skin transplants for burns victims. The same stem cells exist in humans, we can see them, and the promise is that these cells are probably going to be much better than anything we have had to date at making new skin. The skin has three different populations of cells - hair follicles, moisturizing sebaceous glands, and the tissue in between, known as the interfollicular epidermis. Stem cells are original cells, or drivers, from which all human cells develop. Scientists had previously thought that stem cells in each of these three skin populations were capable of producing their own cell type, but until now, a 'mother' stem cell which produces all three types had not been found. Scientists are already able to grow new skin in laboratories using tissue from existing skin cells from patients who have been badly burned, but the new skin is often brittle, dry and does not have hair - making it look unusual. Tthe advantage offered by the 'mother' stem cell finding would be that they could grow skin from its original basis - allowing it to be 'real new skin' with moisture from sebaceous glands and the ability to grow hair."

METHUSELAH FOUNDATION DONOR'S KEY CLUB (March 12 2010) http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/vnl.cfm?id=4634
If you're a Methuselah Foundation donor, then you have access to a new area of the Foundation website: "The Donor's Key Club previews the results of new longevity research funded by Methuselah Foundation, and made possible through the generous support of our many donors. News from the laboratories, advance notice of new research results, webinars, and interviews with researchers in fields important to human longevity: all these and more will be forthcoming. Watch this space! Only donors to Methuselah Foundation can access the Donor's Key Club. The first materials added to the Club include an essay by Dave Gobel and the results of research into the biochemistry of supercentarians encouraged by Methuselah Foundation. From this modest start, the Donor's Key Club will grow to be a way for supporters to learn more about healthy longevity and aging science, and clearly see how their donations are used to advance the state of the art."

EXERCISE AND LIFE EXPECTANCY (March 11 2010) http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/vnl.cfm?id=4633
The Wall Street Journal on the potency of exercise: "So what do boomers need to do not just to survive to 85, but to live healthy lives into old age? The most important strategy, according to the latest research to look at the question, is to be physically active in middle age. 'If you are fit in mid-life, you double your chance of surviving to 85.' Put another way: If you're not fit in your 50s, your projected life span 'is eight years shorter than if you are fit.' [These findings] are based on an analysis of 1,765 men and women who had physical examinations performed during the 1970s and 1980s at the Cooper Institute, the Dallas-based birthplace of the aerobics movement. They are a reminder that despite an array of effective drugs and other medical advances, the front line for most of us in the battle to prevent heart disease and survive into old age lies in adopting healthy living habits. The report also underscores the importance of physical activity in maintaining overall health: Fitness even trumped smoking cessation in the magnitude of benefit among participants in the study - though not by much. The combination of being physically fit, not smoking and having low blood pressure was a powerful predictor of longevity."

REASONED OPTIMISM ON LONGEVITY (March 11 2010) http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/vnl.cfm?id=4632
From Singularity Hub: "The fastest growing age group in the industrialized world is the centenarian club. Pushing past 100 used to be a rare feat, but most demographic studies agree that by 2030 there will be about a million of us enjoying the three digit lifestyle. Those studies don't even count on the revolutionary longevity treatments we could develop in the next 20 years. We could hit that million mark much sooner, and we may start getting people past the 150 or even 200 mark. Either way, baby-boomers are going to become elder-boomers and before that happens we all need to take a crash course on what it means to live to be really, really old. Turns out, it's not that bad. Judging by the centenarians scientists have studied all over the world, living beyond 100 isn't about slipping into decrepitude. A good portion of these elders live independent, happy lives without long suffering illnesses. Hopefully, the lessons that centenarians can teach will allow all of us to live longer and healthier lives. I fully expect the human lifespan to keep increasing, maybe indefinitely. In a few years, I may be rewriting this article as 'Get ready to live past 1000.' The longer you live, the more chance you have to access technologies to extend your life. It's a good reason to take care of yourself. See you in the next century."

STEM CELL THERAPIES IN COLORADO (March 10 2010) http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/vnl.cfm?id=4631
A good article from Singularity Hub examines an entrepreneurial medical practice in Colorado that offers stem cell therapies in defiance of the FDA. More of this sort of proactive civil disobedience is needed, but it has a way of ending badly for those involved, sadly. FDA bureaucrats have not hesitated in the past to destroy legitimate and responsible businesses for failing to toe the line. From the article: "RSI provides its patients with the Regenexx procedure, an adult stem cell transplant that uses your own cells (autologous) to treat joint injuries and bone damage. There’s no surgery needed. A needle extracts bone marrow, RSI isolates the stem cells and cultures them in your own blood, and then these cells are injected into the area where they are needed. They've treated 348+ patients with 800+ injections and show no signs of slowing down. According to RSI's own surveys, 89% of their knee patients showed marked improvement, as did 75% of their hip patients! Within months some patients can walk or run in ways they haven't been able to in years. We've seen these kinds of results from stem cell treatments before, but only in horses and dogs. That's because human stem cell therapies like this one aren't approved by the FDA. How can [RSI] flaunt the lack of federal approval? They claim that Regenexx is solely used as a part of their medical practice, only within the state of Colorado, and as such is no more regulated by the FDA than it would be by the FAA or the Department of Motor Vehicles."

AN INTERESTING THEORY ON OBESITY (March 09 2010) http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/vnl.cfm?id=4629
Almost nothing in biology is entirely immune to a good argument for altering what is presently thought of as cause and effect. Here, for example, a researcher argues that the metabolic syndrome we presently ascribe to excess fat, caused by eating too much, is in fact a direct consequence of that high calorie intake, not the fat. It is an intriguing view, but one that needs more evidence before being taken seriously, I think. From the release: "obesity is the body's way of storing lipids where they belong, in fat tissue, in an effort to protect our other organs from lipids' toxic effects. It's when the surplus of calories coming in gets to be too much for our fat tissue to handle that those lipids wind up in other places they shouldn't be, and the cascade of symptoms known as metabolic syndrome sets in. There is some disagreement in the field about whether insulin resistance is a primary cause of metabolic syndrome or just one of its features. Insulin resistance is not the cause of metabolic syndrome, [according to this theory], it is a 'passive byproduct' of fat deposition in the liver and muscle once storage in fat cells begins to fail. Based on the genes they carry, some people will be better able to sustain lipid storage in fat and can get away with being overweight, even obese, without the other symptoms. Eventually, though, the need to cut calories is something all of us will face. Once you reach a certain age, almost everybody is leptin resistant. Nature stops protecting you once you pass the reproductive years."

LITTLE GOLDEN ASSASSINS (OF CANCER) (March 09 2010) http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/vnl.cfm?id=4628
A great deal of work is presently taking place to develop targeted nanoparticles to kill very specific types of cell with no side-effects or collateral damage. This is good, as the applications of this technology range far beyond cancer: the aging immune system, for example, or cases of autoimmune disease could benefit from killing off malfunctioning immune cells. Many other potential uses exist. Here is another example of work in progress: "researchers synthesized nanoparticles - shaped something like a dumbbell - made of gold sandwiched between two pieces of iron oxide. They then attached antibodies, which target a molecule found only in colorectal cancer cells, to the particles. Once bound, the nanoparticles are engulfed by the cancer cells. To kill the cells, the researchers use a near-infrared laser, which is a wavelength that doesn't harm normal tissue at the levels used, but the radiation is absorbed by the gold in the nanoparticles. This causes the cancer cells to heat up and die. This is a so-called 'smart' therapy. To be a smart therapy, it should be targeted, and it should have some ability to be activated only when it's there and then kills just the cancer cells."

WHY SUPERCENTENARIANS DIE (March 08 2010) http://www.longevitymeme.org/news/vnl.cfm?id=4627

The Daily Bruin looks at the work of the Gerontology Research Group and Supercentenarian Research Foundation: "UCLA's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine recently autopsied 115-year-old Gertrude Baines, formerly the oldest person in the world. Baines was one of the current 77 validated living supercentenarians in the world, a group including any person aged 110 years or older. She died Sept. 11, 2009 from Senile Systemic Amyloidosis. Supercentenarians appear to escape from the common diseases that kill ordinary people, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes, but there's another form of the grim reaper waiting in the wings. Senile Systemic Amyloidosis is a common cause of death among supercentenarians. The mechanism involves a slow process in which a native protein called Transthyretin, which transports thyroid hormones to the body, becomes increasingly unstable. As humans age, the carrier protein begins to unravel and misfold, sticking to the inside of blood vessels and restricting blood flow. As a result, the heart undergoes hypertrophy, growing and working harder in an attempt to compensate. The consequence of this process includes the symptoms of congestive heart failure, but without an autopsy, the attending physician would never know the underlying cause. Now that we've started this research, we can draw attention to Senile Systemic Amyloidosis and we can try to find a cure for this disease. Maybe supercentenarians could live healthy even longer."

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