Healthy Life Extension

Does Aging Stop? YES!

posted on July 19, 2011

Dear Future Centenarian,

Paleo is more than a diet. It is a way of life that we have abandoned in favor of mass produced food and sedentary lifestyles. Hunter-gatherers rarely got heart disease, cancer and diabetes. In fact, these are modern day diseases caused primarily by grains, dairy, legumes, processed food, sugar and inactivity. Even dementia can be linked to contemporary lifestyles.

It’s true we can avoid most of the common aging-related diseases with simple lifestyle habits, headed by diet and exercise. But we’re tempted by irresistible advertising from food and beverage companies, and often forced to eat the unhealthiest foods, because they are more affordable. They’re more affordable, because they are subsidized, not because fruits and vegetables usually cost more to grow. Herbicides, other pesticides, hormones and GM foods make it easier to feed the masses, and the Age of Agriculture and its division of labor and mass production made it possible for populations to explode. That was a very good thing for economies. But look at the cost in human misery.

There’s not much debate as to what foods are healthier and which are making us sick. It’s obvious that government intervention has distorted the economy and is largely responsible for allowing, and even encouraging the food industry to poison us.

Think about this.

Why are we as a society getting fatter every year, experiencing diabetes at earlier and earlier ages and suffering and deteriorating more and faster, in spite of the fact we have so much more health awareness?

It’s because unhealthy food is cheap to produce, is largely subsidized… and is profitable. It’s profitable not only to the food companies and to the subsidized farmers, but also to the medical establishment, including big pharma. Why? Because the sicker you get, the healthier it is for the medical industry.

I learned this reality thirty years ago when I became an advocate for paralysis cure. I was naïve enough to court the rehabilitation industry for research support. What a reality check! Doors were literally slammed in my face until I realized the futility of trying to accomplish something that would jeopardize the livelihoods of people with vested interests in misery. Do you really think drug companies would embrace cures? In fact, don’t you think they might even oppose cures with all their hundreds of billions of dollars and government influence? I have not morphed from an idealist into a cynic. I just grew up.

Here’s a current example:

The FDA had the audacity to classify walnuts as a drug when Diamond Foods, Inc posted truthful, science-based facts regarding the health benefits of walnuts on their website. They were forced to take the information down or risk being forced out of business. At the same time, the FDA allows companies like Frito Lay to make healthful claims for ingredients in their deep fried carbohydrate-laden chips. Other fast food and processed food companies seem to get away with health claims as well. Their lobbyists are much more powerful than a company like Diamond Foods can afford.

The FDA is trying to force food companies, who exercise their First Amendment rights by publishing science-based articles, to put natural foods through the same rigorous human trials that drug companies do for drugs. Drug trials and approval can routinely cost almost $1 billion and take around ten years. Then drug companies get monopolies on drugs that they mark up by 100 times until their patents expire. Of course, food companies can’t get monopolies and don’t enjoy obscene margins.

PLEASE go to www.lef.org/lac to support legislation that could stem this insane tide by urging your representative to support the Free Speech About Science Act (H.R. 13642). This bill would give back First Amendment rights that the FDA is trying to snatch away from food companies.

We may able to stem that tide. And we can certainly take care of ourselves and our families in the meantime.

In fact, Dr. Michael Rose has even hypothesized that a hunter-gatherer lifestyle can STOP aging. In the worst case, it can prevent, and even reverse, many of the diseases that kill us. You can avoid nearly all heart disease, cancer, diabetes… and more if you start early enough.

The government’s motives may not be in your best interest, so you need to stay informed if you want to protect your health. If you haven’t read about how to stop aging in Life Extension Express yet, I encourage you to do that. And if you are curious as to how to stop aging, I suggest you check out 55 bite-sized lessons on how going Paleolithic can halt aging. Go to www.55theses.org. You will take advantage of 16 years of research to extend your healthspan in 55 easy lessons.

Long Life,
David Kekich
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LATEST HEADLINES FROM FIGHT AGING!

A STEM CELL TRIAL FOR MACULAR DEGENERATION Friday, July 15, 2011 http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/07/a-stem-cell-trial-for-macular-degeneration.php
From the Technology Review: "In a bid to harness the potential of embryonic stem cells, surgeons in California have implanted lab-grown retinal cells into the eyes of two patients going blind from macular degeneration. The two patients, whose names weren't released, are among the first volunteers ever to receive a treatment created using embryonic stem cells. We are excited about this treatment, because we think this has the potential to slow the disease progression. This company has had their ups and downs, and I am really happy to see they got into the clinic. We've had our fingers crossed. During a recent visit to Advanced Cell's laboratories, a research technician adjusted a microscope to show off the company's lead product: cube-shaped retinal pigment epithelial cells growing in a petri dish.

Some were translucent, while others already had the brownish coloring of a mature cell. (The pigment absorbs stray light in the eye, acting as a kind of glare shield.) These retinal cells are the type that are killed off in macular degeneration, eventually leading to the death of photoreceptors, and the gradual loss of central vision. Advanced Cell believes that injecting new, lab-grown cells into the eye may cure the condition. It's no accident [that] both early studies of embryonic stem-cell therapies - those of Geron and Advanced Cell - involved cells of the nervous system. The reason is that embryonic stem cells naturally want to make neuroectoderm, a cell lineage in the embryo that forms the nervous system. Embryonic stem cells have a mind of their own, and they want to do certain things. Efforts to produce other cell types, such as liver cells, have proved far more difficult."

A POPULAR SCIENCE ARTICLE ON CENTENARIAN STUDIES Thursday, July 14, 2011 http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/07/a-popular-science-article-on-centenarian-studies.php
At the Wall Street Journal: "At his lab in the Bronx, geneticist Nir Barzilai has spent more than a decade trying to unlock the biology of aging. His secret weapon: some of the New York area's oldest Jews. One of his major studies analyzes the genetic make-up and life habits of the oldest of the old: 500 physically and cognitively healthy individuals living well past the century mark. Research that began with some of the oldest New Yorkers is now set to spread throughout the U.S. Barzilai's work is the template for a ambitious national study to create a full sequencing of the genomes of 100 ethnically and geographically diverse centenarians.

Barzilai's work seeks to improve the quality of life for the elderly. His research has found, to his surprise, that the 100-plus crowd has less than sterling health habits. As a group, they were more obese, more sedentary and exercised less than other, younger cohorts. Biologically speaking, what has allowed the centenarians in his study to live so long, even with life habits that often lead to disease and death in others? Barzilai and his team at Einstein's Institute for Aging Research have so far discovered three uncommon genotype similarities among the centenarians: one gene that causes HDL, good cholesterol, to be at levels two- to three-fold higher than average; another gene that results in a mildly underactive thyroid, which slows metabolism; and a functional mutation in the human growth hormone axis that may be a safeguard from age-related diseases, like cancer. He suspects there may be additional genotypes that scientists have yet to locate."

AN UPDATE ON ORGANOVO Thursday, July 14, 2011 http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/07/an-update-on-organovo.php
Organovo is the bioprinting startup whose investors include the Methuselah Foundation: "Organovo has been generating enough revenue from a series of new partnerships that [the company] put off an expected Series A venture round. The company has raised just over $2 million from private investors to develop 'bio-printing' technology that operates much like an inkjet printer. Instead of laying down ink, however, Organovo's bio-printer lays down a pattern of cultured cells and a jello-like hydrogel that supports the cells in a 3-D structure. In this way, Organovo already has been able to grow bio-engineered blood vessels, and to lay more ambitious plans to create kidneys, livers, and other vital organs in the same way.

The work is still highly experimental, so getting regulatory approval to graft a bio-engineered blood vessel in a living patient will take years. In the meantime, [Organovo] found a burgeoning market among pharmaceutical companies by [creating] 3-dimensional 'constructs' of diseased or dysfunctional human cells that can be used as models for testing new drugs. Creating a 3-D matrix of cells enables each cell to interact with adjoining cells, so they react to drug compounds much as they would in the body. One of the pharmaceutical partnerships is with Pfizer to create 3-D constructs for drug discovery in two therapeutic areas. Organovo also is in talks with several additional partners. One of the things that's been good about the past six months is that the promise of our technology is holding true. The constructs we're creating robustly build [blood vessels] with collagen, so the blood vessel grows stronger over time. The next challenge is getting to greater and greater vascularization of the construct. The emerging story is going to be, 'Who can make thicker tissues with more blood vessels inside?'"

ON THEORIES OF AGING Wednesday, July 13, 2011 http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/07/on-theories-of-aging.php
An introductory open access review paper looks briefly at some of the theories of aging: "Aging and senescence are related words and are often used interchangeably as both processes are characterized by progressive changes in the tissue of the body, eventually leading to a decline in function and death of the organism. Senescence refers to a post-maturational process that leads to diminished homeostasis and increased vulnerability of the organism to death. Aging, in contrast, refers to any time-related process and is a continuous process that starts at conception and continues until death. The mechanisms involved in aging are partially intrinsic to the organism, like genetic and epigenetic factors, and partially to the external origin, such as nutrition, radiation, temperature and stress.

Various theories have evolved to improve our understanding of the ageing process so as to formulate strategies that enhance extension of life. The theories of ageing are classified based on the level at which the ageing mechanism is targeted: 1. Evolutionary theories, 2. Systemic theories, 3. Molecular and cellular theories. Evolutionary theories state that ageing results from a decline in the force of natural selection. As evolution acts primarily to maximize reproductive fitness in an individual, longevity is a trait to be selected only if it is beneficial for fitness. Life span is, therefore, the result of selective pressures and may have a large degree of plasticity within an individual species as well as among species. In systemic theories, the aging process is related to the decline of organ systems essential for control and maintenance of other systems within the organism. [Molecular and cellular theories] theories attempt to discern the mechanisms of aging process at the cellular and subcellular levels."

MORE TRANSDIFFERENTIATION: BRAIN CELLS TO HEART CELLS Tuesday, July 12, 2011 http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/07/more-transdifferentiation-brain-cells-to-heart-cells.php
Demonstrations of transdifferentiation, converting one cell type directly into another, have been picking up of late. Like research into creating stem cells, it has the potential to enable a new generation of regenerative therapies, or make existing therapies more effective and less costly. Here is an example of the present state of research: "For the past decade, researchers have tried to reprogram the identity of all kinds of cell types. Heart cells are one of the most sought-after cells in regenerative medicine because researchers anticipate that they may help to repair injured hearts by replacing lost tissue.

Now, [researchers] are the first to demonstrate the direct conversion of a non-heart cell type into a heart cell by RNA transfer. Working on the idea that the signature of a cell is defined by molecules called messenger RNAs (mRNAs), which contain the chemical blueprint for how to make a protein, the investigators changed two different cell types, an astrocyte (a star-shaped brain cell) and a fibroblast (a skin cell), into a heart cell, using mRNAs. The method the group used, called Transcriptome Induced Phenotype Remodeling, or TIPeR, is distinct from the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS) approach used by many labs in that host cells do not have to be dedifferentiated to a pluripotent state and then redifferentiated with growth factors to the destination cell type. TIPeR is more similar to prior nuclear transfer work in which the nucleus of one cell is transferred into another cell where upon the transferred nucleus then directs the cell to change its phenotype based upon the RNAs that are made. "

CONSIDERING THE NAKED MOLE RAT Tuesday, July 12, 2011 http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/07/considering-the-naked-mole-rat.php
In light of the recent sequencing of the naked mole rat genome, here's a paper on why the species is of interest: "Reactive oxygen species (ROS), by-products of aerobic metabolism, cause oxidative damage to cells and tissue and not surprisingly many theories have arisen to link ROS-induced oxidative stress to aging and health. While studies clearly link ROS to a plethora of divergent diseases, their role in aging is still debatable. Genetic knock-down manipulations of antioxidants alter the levels of accrued oxidative damage, however, the resultant effect of increased oxidative stress on lifespan are equivocal. Similarly the impact of elevating antioxidant levels through transgenic manipulations yield inconsistent effects on longevity. Furthermore, comparative data from a wide range of endotherms with disparate longevity remain inconclusive. Many long-living species such as birds, bats and mole-rats exhibit high-levels of oxidative damage, evident already at young ages.

Clearly, neither the amount of ROS per se nor the sensitivity in neutralizing ROS are as important as whether or not the accrued oxidative stress leads to oxidative-damage-linked age-associated diseases. In this review we examine the literature on ROS, its relation to disease and the lessons gleaned from a comparative approach based upon species with widely divergent responses. We specifically focus on the longest lived rodent, the naked mole-rat, which maintains good health and provides novel insights into the paradox of maintaining both an extended healthspan and lifespan despite high oxidative stress from a young age." The current best explanation for this state of affairs is the membrane pacemaker hypothesis, in which it is theorized that differences in chemical composition of cellular membranes affect their resilience to oxidative damage.

BETTER UNDERSTANDING PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS Monday, July 11, 2011 http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/07/better-understanding-pluripotent-stem-cells.php
Scientists are making steady progress in developing the foundational knowledge that will support the next generation of stem cell therapies: "researchers discovered the fate - or destination - of human pluripotent stem cells is encoded by how their DNA is arranged, and this can be detected by specific proteins on the surface of the stem cells. It's like going on secret trip. When you decide to go to Jamaica, you pack your toothbrush, underwear, and of course shorts, t-shirts and swimsuits. But if, at the last minute, you get rerouted to Alaska, you unpack a few things but the basic elements, like your toothbrush, are going to be the same. You may just trade the shorts and swimsuits for long pants and a sweater.

Until now, common scientific belief has been that all pluripotent stem cells are equivalent and keep all options open at the same time. But that's really not the case. This study showed that pluripotent cells are not all equal. They are all pluripotent. You can force a cell that normally would love to become a neural cell to turn into blood, just like you can force the vacationer to go Alaska instead of Jamaica. They'll do it, but not very well and not happily. For the study, [the] research team found stem cells with roadmaps and specifically packed suitcases for the blood and neural destinations. The researchers discovered when they isolated these stem cells by new protein markers on the surface of cells, they were able produce a greater number of specialized cells - nearly five times as many blood cells and twelve times as many neural cells compared to when the stem cells had to be forced into those cell types."

REGENERATIVE MEDICINE'S PROMISING FUTURE Monday, July 11, 2011 http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/07/regenerative-medicines-promising-future.php
A commentary by researcher Anthony Atala: "Is it possible for humans to regenerate a damaged body part the way starfish and salamanders can? Will doctors one day be able to replace cancer-ridden organs with healthy ones engineered in a lab? Will lengthy waiting times for organ transplants eventually become a thing of the past? Whenever lecturing about the field of regenerative medicine, I always enjoy hearing questions like these from audience members as they excitedly imagine the future applications of regenerative medicine. In fact, scenarios like these aren't outside the realm of possibility.

Regenerative medicine therapies are already helping small groups of patients through clinical trials; and scientists around the world are working both to expand the applications of these therapies and to bring them into more widespread use.

The effort to harness the body's natural healing powers has been called a new frontier in medicine because it offers the promise to actually cure, rather than just treat, disease. It has a several components: injectable cell therapies to promote healing; replacement tissues and organs engineered in the lab; and the use of bio-compatible materials or small molecules to prompt tissue regeneration from within the body."

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