New "Miracle" Anti- Aging Products

It was a fun week.

I just returned from a large annual anti-aging conference and trade show. Every year unveils new “miracle” anti-aging products. Doctors and others lectured for almost a week, and the trade show lasted three days. Thousands attended, mostly physicians.

It was an interesting mix of practitioners, serious scientists, some serious and not so serious participants and a few hundred companies and individuals promoting a huge mix of anti-aging products and services.

I especially enjoyed meeting new people in this exciting field and getting together with old friends. Saturday evening was most stimulating, because I had a chance to take part in brain-stretching discussions with very legitimate scientists, physicians and activists at a private event. We even had a chance to discuss some of the newer products and services on the market. Some credible, backed by scientific studies. Some were worthless snake oil. And there were a whole lot in between that I just couldn’t figure out. I’m not the only one either.

So out of the hundreds or thousands of anti-aging products displayed at shows like this… or especially on the Internet, how do you know what works and what doesn’t? That’s an important question, since your life may depend on it.

How’s that? Your life?

Sure. And here’s why.

As you’ve heard me say over and over, we are going to be able to reverse the damage aging does to you one of these days. And when that happens, you, if you are still alive, could be transformed from the old person you are growing into, to a twenty-something improved version of your former self. And then, you will essentially have a youthful open-ended lifespan ahead of you.

But whether or not you live long enough to see that day could be largely up to you. Don’t forget, your genes only account for 25-35% of your destiny. (And science is working on fixing that 25-35% too.) You largely control the rest.

That’s why knowing which supplements or medical treatments work, and which don’t, might save your life. The extra few or more years the effective ones could add to your lifespan could very well be the difference between your living long enough to take advantage of tomorrow’s life extending miracles… or just barely missing out.

I had a very interesting conversation with two separate gentlemen at the event which led me to a conclusion. Maximum Life Foundation may be positioned to filter most of the anti-aging claims and information that overwhelm us. If we can find out what actually works and what doesn’t, then you will have a handy source of information. It will take several months to work out the details and to determine if we have the time to do this. And if we or someone else can, you will benefit.

Meanwhile, I just finished my longevity book, Life Extension Express, "7 steps you can take now, to catch the emerging wave of medical breakthroughs… for a youthful, indefinite (yes, indefinite) lifespan."

You can get a big jump on boosting your longevity by reading it. You’ll be able to get a copy from Amazon soon, but better yet, you can have a FREE downloadable copy by going to www.MaxLife.org now.
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LATEST HEALTHY LIFE EXTENSION HEADLINES

Gene Therapy Versus Periodontitis and Arthritis (December 12 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/uom-gte121008.php
Via EurekAlert!: "Using gene therapy, [researchers] found a way to help certain cells using an inactivated virus to produce more of a naturally-produced molecule soluble TNF receptor. This factor is under-produced in patients with periodontitis. The molecule delivered by gene therapy works like a sponge to sop up excessive levels of tumor necrosis factor, a molecule known to worsen inflammatory bone destruction in patients afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis, joint deterioration and periodontitis. Targeted Genetics released human trial results that showed the same gene therapy approach [had] positive affects in human patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The company tested 127 human subjects and showed a 30 percent improvement in pain relief, and gain of function, among other enhancements using the gene treatment. The gene also delivers quite a bit of genetic bang for the buck. The periodontal tissues were spared from destruction by more than 60-80 percent with the use of gene therapy. If you deliver the gene into the target cells once, it keeps producing in the cells for a very long period of time or potentially for the life of the patient. This therapy is basically a single administration, but it could have potentially life-long treatment effects in patients who are at risk for severe disease activity."

Manipulating Heart Cells into Regeneration (December 11 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/haog-hra121108.php
Via EurekAlert!: "Up until today scientists assumed that the adult heart is unable to regenerate. Now, researchers and cardiologists [have] been able to show that this dogma no longer holds true. [They] were able to show that the body`s own heart muscle stem cells do generate new tissue and improve the pumping function of the heart considerably in an adult organism, when they suppress the activity of a gene regulator known as beta-catenin [which] plays an important role in the development of the heart in embyros. [Researchers] could now show that beta-catenin is also important for the regeneration of the adult heart. They suppressed this factor in the nucleus of the heart cells in mice. This way they activated heart precursor cells (stem cells) to turn on the regeneration of heart in adult mice. Four weeks after blocking beta-catenin, the pumping function of the heart of the animals had improved and the mice survived an infarction much better than those animals with a functioning beta-catenin gene."

CR Mimetics Are Not CR (December 10 2008) http://pmid.us/19056839
By way of a reminder that there's still a world of difference between calorie restriction (CR) and a CR mimetic drug that reproduces some of the same observed biochemical changes: "resveratrol may produce calorie restriction-like effects on metabolic and longevity endpoints in mice. In this study, we sought to determine whether resveratrol treatment elicited other hallmark changes associated with calorie restriction, namely bradycardia and decreased body temperature. We found that during short-term treatment, wild-type mice on a calorie-restricted diet experienced significant decreases in both heart rate and body temperature after only 1 day whereas those receiving resveratrol exhibited no such change after 1 [week]. We also used [obese] mice to study the effects of long-term treatment because previous studies had indicated the therapeutic value of resveratrol against the linked morbidities of obesity and diabetes. After 12 [weeks], resveratrol treatment had produced no changes in either heart rate or body temperature. Strikingly, and in contrast to previous findings, we found that resveratrol-treated mice had significantly reduced endurance in a treadmill test. We conclude that the bradycardia and hypothermia associated with calorie restriction occur through mechanisms unaffected by the actions of resveratrol."

Another Approach to Restoring Hair Cells (December 10 2008) http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hI6vwfg3SuetvGrNdvVr1wKBUq6Q
Researchers are exploring a range of options to restore the hair cells of the ear that are lost with age, leading to deafness: "Damage to hair cells in the inner ear due to ageing and overstimulation is a major cause of deafness, affecting 10% of the worldwide population. The cell loss is irreversible because the cells have a limited capacity to regenerate. However, a new study suggests that the ependymal layer of the lateral ventricle of the brain contains stem cells which share characteristics with inner ear hair cells and which have the potential to reproduce. According to the scientists, these cells could potentially be transplanted from a person's brain into their ear, where they would undergo a functional switch to enable them to replace the damaged ones. The authors concluded that transplanted cells could alter their functions to work as inner ear hair cells and thus restore hearing. They suggested their findings on the flexible function of certain cells could also be extended to offer treatment for other problems affecting the nervous system."

Hourglass VI (December 09 2008)
http://ouroboros.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/hourglass-vi-a-carnival-of-biogerontology/
The sixth edition of the Hourglass blog carnival on aging and longevity science is up at Ouroboros. One of the linked posts is a series of thoughts on the way in which we humans cut ourselves short by discounting the
future: "The best example of human’s irrational dealing with the future is what is called hyperbolic discounting (also called: temporal discounting, or future discounting). Hyperbolic discounting is the human preference for small immediate reward over larger future payoffs. The further the time in the future of the reward the greater the discounting. Humans are generally bad at delaying rewards and hence we too easily take the immediate smaller reward rather than delaying our immediate gratification for a greater reward in the future. I propose here that unless humans soon become better at thinking about the future - and not discounting it so much - we might not be able to make the changes we need for a better world and society. The same could be said about longevity research - if we can not imagine ourselves living longer and healthier lives - and not imagine it as only happening to a 'stranger' we [are] unlikely as a society to invest in this imagined future."

Newsweek on Mainstream Longevity Science (December 08 2008) http://www.newsweek.com/id/172561/output/print
Newsweek has a general interest article up online on the topic of mainstream longevity science: projects aimed at the hard target of metabolic manipulation to slow aging. "Since the days of Ponce de Leon, if not before, people have been seeking the elusive Fountain of Youth. Until recently, such pursuits were the realm of quacks and charlatans. And there are still plenty of snake-oil salesmen out there on the Internet and in so-called anti-aging clinics, hawking everything from longevity-bestowing Ecuadoran waters (which are probably harmless) to growth hormones (which could be downright dangerous for adults). But serious scientists are now bringing respectability to the field, unraveling the secrets of aging on a cellular level and looking for ways to slow it down. And while the science is still young (so to speak), legitimate longevity-boosting treatments could be available in 10 to 15 years - although the gains would be [modest]. Some critics of the scientific quest for longevity say it's God's will that we should die when our time comes. But in the past century, a clean water supply, antibiotics, vaccines and improved medical care have boosted life expectancy at birth by roughly 50 percent in the United States - from 48 for men and 51 for women in 1900 to 75 for men and 80 for women today. No one seems to object to that."

A Viral Cause for Alzheimer's? (December 08 2008) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081207134109.htmThis release via EurekAlert! is very compelling - but how does it fit in with the good evidence that Alzheimer's is a form of diabetes? "The virus behind cold sores is a major cause of the insoluble protein plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease [AD] sufferers. [researchers] investigated the role of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) in AD. Most people are infected with this virus, which then remains life-long in the peripheral nervous system. HSV1 DNA is located very specifically in amyloid plaques: 90% of plaques in Alzheimer's disease sufferers' brains contain HSV1 DNA, and most of the viral DNA is located within amyloid plaques. The team had previously shown that HSV1 infection of nerve-type cells induces deposition of the main component, beta amyloid, of amyloid plaques. Together, these findings strongly implicate HSV1 as a major factor in the formation of amyloid deposits and plaques, abnormalities thought by many in the field to be major contributors to Alzheimer's disease."

Artificial General Intelligence

I wish you could have been with me Wednesday evening. I was treated to a personal demonstration of a technology that could change the world in ways we can’t even imagine. One of the changes that will affect you could lock in full age reversal and open-ended youth and health ahead of even my ambitious schedule.

The technology I’m describing is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

AGI is a new kind of computer application. This technology will allow computers to learn, think and respond like humans. They will exhibit REAL intelligence. Such intelligent systems do not exist yet – however, the required knowledge to build them does, and it has already led to an embryonic prototype. That’s what I experienced Wednesday.

AGI makes up one part of the MaxLife plan to accelerate extreme life extension capabilities. Research aims to create this broad human-like intelligence, rather than narrowly "smart" systems that can operate only as tools for human operators in well-defined domains such as tracking inventory or landing airplanes.

Imagine machine intelligence with the ability to think and learn on its own as well as humans do. That’s in our future. For example, if it gets an education equivalent to a biotech researcher, it could do the research. The developers estimate a sophisticated working system could take less than 10 years to complete. Two years later, we could potentially have a fully-trained PhD-equivalent AGI doing research.

Imagine a PhD lab assistant which would have total recall and tirelessly work around the clock. It would be able to download all the data it needs from the Internet almost instantaneously. It could collaborate with humans and other AGI. And then, it could be quickly copied as many times as necessary.

Imagine unleashing 100,000 AGI researchers. Imagine how much faster they would develop real anti-aging therapies.

So keep posted and hang on for a long ride Methuselah.
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$1 BILLION ALREADY INVESTED IN SOMETHING YOU CAN DO FOR FREE

"Two pilot studies were undertaken to examine the effects of alternate day fasting and calorie restriction on indicators of health and longevity in humans. In this study, we used sera collected from those studies to culture human cells and assessed the effects on growth, stress resistance and gene expression. Cells cultured in serum collected at the end of the dieting period were compared to cells cultured in serum collected at baseline (before the dieting period). This resulted in increased stress resistance and an up-regulation of genes proposed to be indicators of increased longevity."

As of late 2008, I'd guesstimate that something in the order of one to two billion dollars have been invested into developing drugs that will produce some fraction of the effects of calorie restriction on mammalian biochemistry - such as increasing the expression of Sirt1. They aren't done yet, and years of trials and further development lie ahead. Most people can get these benefits today and for free, however, by simply eating a less calorie-packed diet. You should look into it: calorie restriction isn't anywhere near as hard as those who have never tried it make it out to be. You can find an introduction at the Longevity Meme website:

http://www.longevitymeme.org/topics/calorie_restriction.cfm

TRY NOT TO STAB YOURSELF REPEATEDLY

Words of wisdom:

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/001572.php

"On March 19, 2008 a Symposium on Pathophysiology of Aging and Age-Related diseases was held in Palermo, Italy. Here, the lecture of V. Nicita-Mauro on Smoking, health and ageing is summarized. Smoking represents an important ageing accelerator, both directly by triggering inflammatory responses, and indirectly by favoring the occurrence of several diseases where smoking is a recognized risk factor. Hence, non-smokers can delay the appearance of diseases and of ageing process, so attaining longevity.

"Forms of slow self-destruction are many and varied amongst us humans: Smoking, not practicing calorie restriction, failing to keep up a good relationship with a physician, piling on the visceral fat, failing to exercise, and so forth. The vast majority of people are quite comfortable engaging in habits that cause great harm to the old person they will one day be - cutting off years or even decades of health. This is all a good example of time preference at work: we are hardwired to deeply discount the value of the future, even when it's our own future. What we don't value, we squander - you can see that maxim in action everywhere."
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LATEST HEALTHY LIFE EXTENSION HEADLINES

Lurking Behind the TOR Gene (September 19 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-09/uouh-lca091808.php
Researchers have known for a few years that the TOR gene is important in calorie restriction and other related ways of extending healthy life. Recent research follows the chain of biochemical cause and effect beyond TOR: "In C. elegans, the tiny roundworm that our lab studies, as well as some other animals, a loss of TOR has been shown to slow aging. Our work with C. elegans reveals that TOR depends on a second gene called pha4/FoxA to control the aging process. When there's lots of food, TOR gets active, which decreases the action of pha4/FoxA down the line, and that in turn shortens the lifespan of C. elegans. When there's little food, there'slittle TOR and more pha4/FoxA, and that results in a longer lifespan. Many organisms have a TOR gene and a gene similar to pha4/FoxA, such as single-cell yeasts, roundworms, and mammals including humans. In mammals, FoxA controls cell metabolism and there is a lot of it in breast and prostate cancers. The findings of this research establish that animals use both genes to sense the amount of food that is available and control the length of lifespan. Further research will be required to establish whether a similar relationship between these factors can control metabolism, longevity or disease in humans."

Early Experiments in Cryonics (September 18 2008) http://www.depressedmetabolism.com/2008/09/15/early-total-body-washout-experiments-in-cryonics/
Depressed Metabolism takes another look at the early days of cryonics: "The question of whether cryonics 'works' or not is too general and hides the point that progressive breakthroughs can make the concept more plausible. During its existence as a research program, cryonics researchers have shown great interest in recovering animals from ultra-profound hypothermic temperatures (lower than 5 degrees Celsius). The ability to routinely lower the temperature of mammals to temperatures close to zero degrees Celsius and recover them without adverse effects to the brain does make the initial stages of cryonics reversible. Less known than those record setting experiments are earlier explorations in cryonics into whole body asanguineous hypothermia. The following document by cryonics researcher and Alcor patient Jerry Leaf documents a Trans Time experiment during the early days of total body washout experiments in cryonics. This account was published in the November/December 1977 issue of Long Life Magazine."

Struggling to Break Out of the Old Paradigm (September 17 2008) http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1558015/listening_to_resveratrol/
From RedOrbit, an example of someone caught halfway between paradigms: learning about the potential of longevity science, but having trouble envisaging the changes it will herald for institutions of insurance, development, and regulation. "Currently our drug development and approval systems aim at disease-specific treatments. Indeed, the Food and Drug Administration approves medications only for specific indications, and 'mortality,' a universal condition, would seem unlikely to qualify under the current system. Further, if senescence begins in one's 30s but the outcome (that is, death) can be measured only in one's 70s or 80s, how will researchers be able to perform timely clinical trials in humans? Health insurance is based on the principle of risk pooling. Because nobody can be certain that they will remain healthy, the disease-free are willing to share the cost burden with the sick. But if resveratrol-like drugs are recommended for everybody over 30 at risk for mortality (a universal condition), there would be no risk pooling." When you catch yourself asking"how will this ever fit?" then the answer is usually "it won't fit, and will never fit in the present structure, because things will change in the future so as to accommodate it."

Learning from AIDS (September 17 2008) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080916143900.htm
There are similarities between the progression of AIDS and what happens (more slowly) to our immune systems with aging. Forced overactivation and exhaustion of resources are the focus here. AIDS researchers are making steps towards understanding mechanisms that would allow the immune system to be tuned down for specific threats, to prevent it grinding itself into oblivion. "During both HIV infection in humans and SIV infection in macaques, the host immune system becomes highly activated, experiences increased destruction and decreased production of key immune effector cellsand progressively fails as a result. In contrast, natural hosts for SIV infection, like sooty mangabeys, do not exhibit aberrant immune activation and do not develop AIDS despite high levels of ongoing SIV replication. Sooty mangabeys, dendritic cells produce much less interferon alpha - an alarm signal to the rest of the immune system - in response to SIV. As a result, the dendritic cells are not activated during the initial or chronic stages of SIV infection, and mangabeys fail to mount a significant immune response to the virus." It seems reasonable to expect this knowledge to be applicable to the long-term response to CMV in humans, an important contributor to age-related immune system failure.

A Better Lifestyle Means More Telomerase? (September 16 2008) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/16/MNEL12UBJ5.DTL
The San Francisco Chronicle reports on an intriguing, if small, study: researchers "studied the levels of an enzyme called telomerase in the prostate tissue of the 30 cancer patients who had volunteered to follow a low-fat diet, exercise moderately and reduce their stress. After only three months, 24 patients showed a highly significant increase in their telomerase levels - an indication that the cell-protecting telomeres in their cells were being restored. The long telomere proteins protect the ends of chromosomes in the body, but they shorten naturally and ultimately die unless the telomerase enzyme acts to repair them and increase their length. Even with only 30 patients [the] association between their extremely healthy habits and the increased amount of telomerase proved highly [statistically] significant." Telomerase is apparently also involved in reducing age-related damage to mitochondria, which in turn slows the rate at which failing mitochondria cause telomeres to shorten.

Mitochondrial Function and Aging (September 16 2008) http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/09/15/power_outage/?page=fullThose of you familiar with the mitochondrial free radical theory of aging -damage to mitochondrial DNA leads to loss of function and a spreading chainof biochemical dysfunctions - will notice a subtle disconnect between this research and the popular science view of mitochondrial function and aging, as outlined in this Boston Globe article. The popular view is very much concerned with contribution to particular diseases, and in finding drugs that improve mitochondrial function as a way of slowing that contribution -without necessarily understanding why those drugs work. We know enough to do much better than that - repairing mitochondrial damage completely, for example, and thus totally removing its contribution to aging. But until thepublic at large realizes this, funding will continue to move towards the established old-school drug discovery programs. These programs focus on treating specific diseases of aging by patching over or slowing down root causes - as opposed than aiming to repair them fully

Your perfect cure is prevention

Dear Future Centenarian,

A very close friend of mine’s father seems to have lost his will to live. Here is an aging former soldier of fortune who once had a zest for life experienced by few. Now, he lost interest in eating, in seeing a doctor and seemingly everything else, including his will to live.

This bothers me for a couple of reasons. First, someone close to me may lose her dad. And on a larger scale, didn’t I say most people go to the ends of the earth to hang on to life towards the end? Well, apparently not all. Why is this?

Several months ago, I had a relevant conversation with another close friend about how some people cling to life at the end no matter how much suffering and pain they endure, while others simply throw in the towel. We concluded it may have something to do with declining hormone levels. So I gave my anti-aging physician a call a few days ago to discuss this possibility. His response was that yes, declining hormone levels lead to depression, which usually translates to loss of appetite, and of course, a diminished will to live. He routinely reverses this phenomena with closely monitored hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Could declining hormone levels be evolution’s way to nudge us into going quietly into the night? Could savvy docs reverse deteriorating attitudes and improve and extend millions of lives with simple HRT?

I think the answer is a resounding YES!

Saturday, I enjoyed a wonderful lunch get together with one of the most esteemed psychologists and authors in history. In fact, he has been one of my personal heroes for about 40 years. He’s now experiencing moments of forgetfulness which he calls his “senior moments”. The difference between him and my friend’s father is he is attacking his challenge head on, while maintaining his witty sense of humor. He’s getting sophisticated diagnostics, will undergo cutting edge treatment and is determined to reverse it.

And reverse it he will, according to a medical consultant who specializes in neurodegenerative conditions.

The moral to this story is, don’t wait until you see serious decline to see an anti-aging specialist. In fact, see one before you experience any decline – period. After all, once you see signs of a condition or disease, it may be too late. Heart disease and cancer are two good examples. They eat away at you for years before you show symptoms. And one symptom from heart disease is often sudden death.

Your perfect cure is prevention.
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THREE DECADES FROM NOW

Under the present weight of regulation, it looks to take about 30 years for a new medical technology to progress from first proof of concept through to widespread and cost-effective availability - for those that aren't buried young by the cost of red tape, that is. Compare that with something more like 20 years in less regulated industries. That difference adds up. But what can we expect to see in the 2030s, based on what has taken place in laboratories and trials in the past few years?

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/001537.php

"Replacement organs will be grown to order from your own cells.
Stem cells will be created, manipulated, and transplanted to direct extraordinary regeneration.
Age-damaged immune systems will be wiped clean and replaced afresh.
Gene therapy will be a mature technology, and genetic disorders curable.
Everyone will know their DNA sequence, and have access to a vast database of knowledge that describes risks, therapies, and best practices.
Cancer will be detected early, and even late-stage metastasis cured with few side-effects by nanoparticle-based, viral, or other therapies.
The important mitochondrial DNA will be replaced when damaged by disease or age.
Many of the biochemical processes underlying the benefits of exercise, calorie restriction, and known human longevity-associated genes will be reproduced by cheap drugs.”

ON STEM CELLS AND AGING

While perusing PubMed Central, Reason discovered a good overview of present thinking on stem cells, stem cell niches, and their role in aging:

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/001536.php

"If many adult tissues and organs are continuously replenished by cells derived from stem cells, then why do they show signs of aging? One possibility is that stem cells themselves age and senesce, resulting in a decreased ability to replace worn-out progeny and/or the fact that they pass on aged phenotypes to their progeny.

NOTE: Pending modest funding, a stem cell company will soon be launched that could solve this problem within a couple of years.

Somewhere at the end of this road of investigation lies the means to keep stem cell populations vital while not exaggerating the risk of cancer due to runaway failure in a stem cell - the most likely reason we have evolved mechanisms that diminish stem cell activity in response to age-related biochemical damage. At some point, the large and well-funded field of regenerative medicine is going to turn its attention to repairing the damage of aging. Many major lines of research presently address age-related disease, and it is becoming clear that the effectiveness of therapies is hindered by age-related damage in stem cells and their niches. We should encourage research in this direction.
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LATEST HEALTHY LIFE EXTENSION HEADLINES

Towards Long Life and Happiness (August 01 2008) http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=924ef76b-5103-4aad-a596-13278777f8eb
From Canada.com: "Aging - and more specifically, the aspiration to slow human aging - is the most important neglected issue of our time. There are many things that could kill the world's current 6.5 billion plus people, but the vast majority of those currently alive today, especially in the developed world, will die from age-related causes. The diseases of aging could be the real scourge of the 21st century. That is, unless we do something to remedy the biological vulnerabilities we have inherited from our evolutionary history. The current approach to medical research is to tackle individual diseases, one at a time. So we spend large amounts of public funding on basic research into cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, etc. But we invest very little in understanding the biology of aging and how it impacts our health prospects. Supplementing the current medical approach with one that also tackles aging would help us take a more inclusive approach to health extension. Even if we find a cure for one of the diseases of aging - like cancer - it would only extend life by a few years, as most people will likely be afflicted by one of the other diseases of aging. But if we could modify the biological mechanisms underlying aging, we may be able to significantly increase the number of disease-free years humans can expect to live. This would reap enormous individual and societal benefits."

Exercise in a Pill? (July 31 2008)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/si-eia072808.php
If researchers could reproduce the biochemical basis for the health and longevity-enhancing results of exercise, the resulting drug would no doubt be as popular as calorie restriction mimetics. Exercise and calorie restriction are the two gold-standard items for health: little else even comes close yet. From EurekAlert!, news of small steps on this path: Researchers "identified two signaling pathways that are activated in response to exercise and converge to dramatically increase endurance. Previous work with genetically engineered mice [had] revealed that permanently activating a genetic switch known as PPAR delta turned mice into indefatigable marathon runners. In addition to their super-endurance, the altered mice were resistant to weight gain, even when fed a high-fat diet that caused obesity in ordinary mice. On top of their lean and mean physique, their response to insulin improved, lowering levels of circulating glucose. We wanted to know whether a drug specific for PPAR delta would have the same beneficial effects."

Short Telomeres and Accelerated Aging (July 31 2008) http://newswire.rockefeller.edu/?page=engine&id=791
All of the rare accelerated aging conditions appear to be caused by one aspect of "normal" aging exaggerated and run wild to cause great biochemical damage. Researchers now think they understand what underlies another of these conditions: "Sufferers of the disease, called dyskeratosis congentia, tend to have problems in tissues in which cells multiply rapidly - skin, hair, nails, tongue, gut and bone marrow - and usually die between the ages of 16 and 50 from bone marrow failure, or the inability to replenish their blood cells. Each time a cell divides, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes shorten - and when these caps are gone, so are we. Now, by using an unconventional strategy to shorten telomeres in mice, [researchers] have not only created the first faithful mouse model for studying [dyskeratosis congentia], but they have revealed the molecular defect behind the disease. These results suggest that in patients suffering from dyskeratosis congenita, the enzyme telomerase can't elongate telomeres as fast as the nucleases chew them away. Clearly, the next step is to understand how telomeres are degraded in human cells. We need to identify the nucleases at work and find out how they are regulated."

Reduced Protein Intake and Immune Response (July 30 2008) http://pmid.us/18656703
Scientists here demonstrate the connection between reduced dietary protein and a better immune response, already known from the practice of calorie
restriction: "Manipulation of dietary variables is one the most described events to retard the aging process and maintain immune function. The present study deals with the effect of variable dietary protein-carbohydrate ratios (without caloric restriction) on the alteration of immune response of male albino rats. These results thus suggest that diets with variable dietary protein-carbohydrate ratios act as an exogenous modulator of immune response with age and [a low protein] diet may be beneficial to slow down/reduce the impairment of immune response in aged individuals." For comparison, you might also look at studies of methionine restriction without overall calorie restriction. Greater control of diet over the years adds up, and every extra year of health gained can make a big difference when the pace of medical development is rapid.

The Tithonus Error (July 29 2008)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1038717/MAX-HASTINGS-Growing-old-Britain-happy-experience-The-longer-live-worse-quality-life-becomes.html
So many, many people still believe that the result of longevity science will be that you are older and ever more frail for more years, with no hope of death. This is absolutely false: the goals are in fact rejuvenation of the old, repair of the biochemical damage of aging, and the extension of healthy, youthful life. But still people have the fate of Tithonus in mind, sunk into the collective consciousness through a hundred similar cautionary tales. So you'll see this sort of doleful op-ed from the Daily Mail: "To some of us, [longevity] seems a ghastly prospect. I am 62, and find life terrific. I get more work done than ever before, because my children have long ago left home and I remain fit. I take pills to keep my blood pressure down and waterworks functioning. It seems to some of us terrifying to imagine that we might survive to 100. Surely, the drear misery and loneliness that accompanies such age is not worth it for a birthday party, telegram from the Queen and maybe a paragraph in the local newspaper. Once mobility is gone, once the simplest actions of daily life become dependent upon others, it is hard to sustain self-respect. If science indeed continues to lengthen our lives, I believe that we shall have to be given a choice about opting out." The work of advocacy and education must continue - this is a sign that much remains to be done.

Futurist Musings on the Leap Ahead (July 29 2008) http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=fa35f402-d10e-4c1e-a8c9-cc3f1cc12f92
From Canada.com: "Genetic science, stem-cell research and extreme caloric restriction are all part of a burgeoning 'immortality industry' that could soon point the way to a fountain of youth with the potential to stretch the human life span to 125 or 150 years, says a sociologist and consultant on future studies. Advances such as nanotechnology - the emerging ability to manipulate extremely small structures - could ultimately make it possible to regenerate every cell in the body. At that point, we can throw out every idea we have about longevity and even mortality itself. The effects of human life-extension will be far-reaching, [potentially] spawning second or third careers in people's extra decades and a society of lifelong students using the gift of more time to continually reinvent themselves with new education. The extension of human life will also depend on people's lifestyle [and] the current obesity epidemic, smoking habits and other unhealthy behaviors indicate they don't always make beneficial choices. People can be 'seduced' by breakthroughs they believe will save them from themselves. I think there is going to be a tremendous chasm between average life expectancy and life potential."

Michael West at Aging 2008 (July 28 2008)
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/people-blog/?p=2338
Another Aging 2008 transcript from Future Current: "I have been entranced by the immortality of the species and how it's accomplished. A simple way of putting it: we are made of cells, trillions of them, that have been proliferating backward in time all the way through hundreds of millions of years to the beginning of life on the planet, leaving no dead ancestors in their wake ever - or we would not be here. It is our somatic cells that are destined to die. All the cells in our body have this immortal legacy going backward in time millions of years and will face death for the first time ever in our lifetime. What can we learn about the immortality of the species to transport those observations and discoveries of modern technologies into something that will really do something about human aging? How could these cells be used in the next ten years? There are numerous examples I could give you, but one hopeful one - macular degeneration. This is the leading cause of blindness, due to the aging of our retina. These cells have now been made in a form that is appropriate to begin human clinical trials. When they become lost or dysfunctional in the back of the retina, they cause this cascade of pathology that is a leading cause of blindness in the elderly. It is at least one of the top targets for how we hope these cells will eventually be used in medicine."

Cryonics as an Elective Medical Procedure (July 28 2008) http://www.depressedmetabolism.com/2008/07/24/cryonics-as-an-elective-medical-procedure/
From Depressed Metabolism: "The limitation that cryonics procedures can only be started after pronouncement of legal death reflects the unfortunate fact that the current medical establishment does not recognize cryonics as a credible form of advanced critical care. As a result, cryonics is currently practiced as a form of emergency medicine in which conventional resuscitation technologies such as chest compressions and ventilations are used to avoid the kinds of injury that follow after cardiac arrest. Although there will always be a place for cryonics as a form of emergency medicine to treat cases of trauma and sudden circulatory arrest, most patients who currently present for human cryopreservation would benefit from more hospital cooperation in choosing cryonics as an elective medical procedure. Although current cryonics organizations such as Alcor try to make the best of a bad situation by employing standby teams that allow rapid intervention after cardiac arrest to reduce brain injury, much improved quality of care of cryonics patients would be possible if cryonics procedures would start at a point where medical professionals (with informed consent of the patient and/or family) would determine that further treatment of the patient with contemporary technologies would be futile, or even counter-productive."
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DISCLAIMER: News summaries are reported by third parties, and there is no guarantee of accuracy. This newsletter is not meant to substitute for your personal due diligence and is not to be taken as medical advice. For originating report, please see www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/.

If you would like to be removed from my list, I will stop sending you Longevity News Digest if you simply reply to this email with Unsubscribe in the subject line.

Biological Evolution

Dear Future Centenarian,
We’ve come a long way in our lifetimes. In fact, we have accomplished as much then as we did in all of recorded history. At least technologically. As a race, we really didn’t seem to have learned many lessons. Oh sure, maybe our justice systems are a little more fair (and maybe not), we may have developed a little more tolerance and compassion, and maybe we’re not quite as barbaric. All in all though, we react to intrusions about the same as prehistoric man.
We still settle disputes and differences about the same way. We either initiate or answer with violence for the most part. But instead of clubbing each other senseless and confining our rage, jealousies, pettiness and intolerances to an area roughly equivalent to our immediate reach and to one enemy or victim at a time, we now have these wonders of science at our disposal, capable of inflicting widespread death and destruction.
Then, we had clubs and primitive minds. Now we have nukes, biological and chemical weapons, potentially devastating nanotechnology capabilities… and primitive minds.
While we have evolved in some ways at light speed, our ability to solve social problems and disputes and our tendency to hate hasn’t changed since caveman days. Look, we’re on the cusp of breaking through to indefinite lifespans and solutions for health problems, poverty and pollution. But what good does it do us when emotionally unstable individuals have abilities to wipe out millions with no more effort or forethought than swinging a club?
Fortunately, the human race is extremely resilient and resourceful. We often respond to challenges in creative and unexpected ways. A relatively new foundation recognizes this challenge and is taking it on as part of its agenda. See more information at www.InnerSpaceFoundation.org.
They recognize that biological evolution is a somewhat haphazard and non-optimizing process that has produced many undesirable artifacts. Among a large number and wide variety of such artifacts, two stand out as the underlying causes of the most pervasive and extreme human suffering: mental and lifespan limitations. Mental inabilities, including the failure to resolve conflicts non-violently, are universal. They must ultimately serve to explain our ongoing failures to end human warfare, crime, poverty, and famine, and to completely cure diseases, disabilities, aging and death. Therefore, these inabilities are fundamentally even more harmful to humanity than the categories of biomedical dysfunction we currently labor to cure.
This belief forms the core of the Bioprogressive philosophy. The overall goal of the InnerSpace Foundation (IF) is to accelerate developing biomedical technologies for transcending these limitations. IF is taking specific steps toward enhancing memory, learning and cognition. These near-term goals should ultimately help us to eliminate or transcend other unwanted artifacts of Darwinian evolution.
IF, among others, have longer-term goals aimed at preserving memories. So hang on. We have some interesting times ahead.
____________________________________
CANCER AND IMMUNE SYSTEM PROFICIENCY

Are some immune systems much better than others at destroying cancer in its earliest stages? It seems that this is the case. Can we copy that proficiency and use it as a therapy? The prospects look promising:

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/001525.php

"First, we had cancer-resistant mice and asked, 'What can we learn from it?' The reason it's resistant is because it has very different white cells. So then that immediately prompted the concept of therapy, because you can easily transfer white cells. You can extract them as a therapeutic agent and give them to another mouse. It's a therapy. It's much better than to find the gene. If you find the gene, then you have to understand the mechanism, and you have to find a way to put the gene into the cell, into all the cells you want to, and that would not work very easily. The technology as we speak right now is not really mature for that area. You might have to wait another 10, 20 years before that technology catches up with the concept. However, what we found is a cell as a therapeutic agent, so why not go ahead and see how it works. It worked really well in mice, so the next question, very obviously, is can we find a similar cancer resistance for humans as a donor for a therapeutic agent. And the answer is yes, we did find quite a few of them ".

From a broad assessment of cutting edge cancer research, it seems that we are well on the way to turning cancer into a controllable chronic illness. You'll have outbreaks, they'll be caught early, and the medicine of the 2020s will eliminate them. The question is whether this is good enough: is a comprehensive suite of low-risk, safe cancer cures enough to remove cancer as a threat while our lives are extended by other medical technologies?
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LATEST HEALTHY LIFE EXTENSION HEADLINES

The Broadening Search for Longevity Genes (July 17 2008)
http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=21092
The MIT Technology Review looks at continued attempts to understand the degree to which present healthy human longevity is influenced by genes: "An ambitious plan to sequence 100 genes in 1,000 healthy old people could shed light on genetic variations that insulate some people from the ailments of aging, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, allowing them to live a healthy life into their eighties and beyond. Rather than focusing on genetic variations that increase risk for disease, scientists plan to focus on genes that have previously been linked to health and longevity. Advances in genetic screening technologies have allowed scientists to start searching the genome for clues to healthy aging and a lengthy life span. That work has revealed that the genomes of healthy old people are not blemish free. These people have genetic susceptibility markers for many serious diseases [but] they don't get any of these diseases. What is the explanation? What might account for their insulation from these diseases?" Genes are not fate - evidence to date suggests that lifestyle choices have much more weight for all but the most genetically unlucky, and those choices are reflected in epigenetic variations, not genetic variations.

Self-Assembly in Tissue Engineering (July 16 2008) http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=21080
The MIT Technology Review looks at a promising strategy in tissue engineering: "Tissue engineers are ambitious. If they had their way, a dialysis patient could receive a new kidney made in the lab from his own cells, instead of waiting for a donor organ that his immune system might reject. Likewise, a diabetic could, with grafts of lab-made pancreatic tissue, be given the ability to make insulin again. But tissue engineering has stalled in part because bioengineers haven't been able to replicate the structural complexity of human tissues. Now researchers have taken an important first step toward building complex tissues from the bottom up by creating what they call living Legos. These building blocks, biofriendly gels of various shapes studded with cells, can self-assemble into complex structures resembling those found in tissues. This will be an effective way to put the cells where we want them to be. You can probably generate a tissue with a higher complexity [using] the new method than is possible with a scaffold that has to be seeded with cells." Compare and contrast with the use of whole-organ cell matrix templates, another recent development aimed at solving the same problem.

Stress, Cortisol, and Shortened Telomeres (July 16 2008) http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/uoc--usi071508.php
Chronic stress correlates with shorter telomeres, as well as with worse health. Via EurekAlert! researchers are proposing a mechanism by which telomere length is reduced by stress, leading to a worse immune response: "Short telomeres are linked to a range of human diseases, including HIV, osteoporosis, heart disease and aging. An enzyme [called telomerase] keeps immune cells young by preserving their telomere length and ability to continue dividing. The stress hormone cortisol suppresses immune cells' ability to activate their telomerase. This may explain why the cells of persons under chronic stress have shorter telomeres. When the body is under stress, it boosts production of cortisol to support a 'fight or flight' response. If the hormone remains elevated in the bloodstream for long periods of time, though, it wears down the immune system. We are testing therapeutic ways of enhancing telomerase levels to help the immune system ward off cortisol's effect. If we're successful, one day a pill may exist to strengthen the immune system's ability to weather chronic emotional stress."

Why Fight Aging? (July 15 2008)
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/people-blog/?p=2307
A Future Current transcript of one of Aubrey de Grey's presentations at Aging 2008: "Some people say, 'I don't want to live to a thousand.' I don't want to live to a thousand, necessarily. I don't even know if I want to live to a hundred. But I do know I want to make that choice when I am 99, rather than having it gradually removed from me by declining health. This is what it comes down to. The extension of lifespan by the defeat of aging is not the point - at least it is not the main point for me, and I do not think it is the main point for most people who are engaged in this crusade. The purpose is to alleviate the suffering that goes with getting decrepit, frail and dependent. Of course, this includes not just those who are suffering that, but the suffering of their loved ones. The extension of average lifespan is essentially a side benefit. It is something that will happen because the way that we are going to do this, using regenerative medicine, will also mean that you have only the same probability you did when you were a young adult of dying peacefully in your sleep without any of these diseases. In other words, a very low probability indeed. You will indeed on average live a great deal longer, and I don't think you’ll complain if you do. However, that is not the purpose. The purpose is to alleviate suffering."

On the Way to Longevity (July 14 2008)
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2008/jul/14/within-20-years-you-wont-have-grow-old/
The Daily Bruin talks to some of the folk who were at Aging 2008: "Defeating the effects of time by finding a cure for aging has become the focus of multiple areas of research, bringing the possibilities of achieving immortality from fantasy into the realm of science. The new possibilities offered by regenerative medicine illustrate how advancements in therapy on the molecular and cellular level may be able to extend the healthy human life span within the next 20 years. Finding a cure for aging is no longer a theoretical target or a fantasy, but on the way to becoming a practical target. Aging is the most universal degenerative condition and is now becoming the target of regenerative medicine. The body is a really complicated machine, but it's still a machine, so its healthy lifespan can be extended indefinitely by sufficiently comprehensive repair and maintenance, just like simple man-made machines. Aging is a complex phenomenon that affects many different systems. Understanding it and fixing the damage as it comes can potentially cure the harmful effects of aging and as a result, elongate the healthy human lifespan."
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DISCLAIMER: News summaries are reported by third parties, and there is no guarantee of accuracy. This newsletter is not meant to substitute for your personal due diligence and is not to be taken as medical advice. For originating report, please see www.longevitymeme.org/newsletter/.

If you would like to be removed from my list, I will stop sending you Longevity News Digest if you simply reply to this email with Unsubscribe in the subject line.

David A. Kekich
Maximum Life Foundation
714-641-0700/Fax 714-464-4135
www.MaxLife.org

"Where Biotech, Infotech and Nanotech
Meet to Reverse Aging by 2029"

A Real Boost for Aging Research

Friday, June 27th I attended Aging 2008 - Aging: the Disease, the Cure, the Implications at UCLA. It was sponsored by Dr. Aubrey de Grey and the Methuselah Foundation. About 700 people attended a stimulating three hour session featuring an All-Star lineup of aging researchers, advocates and personalities.

Most of the attendees spent the next couple of hours networking at an outdoor dinner. In my opinion, some of the more important and interesting people in the world were there, including some movers and shakers who are launching exciting companies and research projects – projects that could have a big impact on your health and longevity.

Here is a list of the speakers:
Dr. Bruce Ames, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley
G. Steven Burrill, Chairman of Pharmasset and Chairman of Campaign for Medical Research
Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Chairman and CSO of Methuselah Foundation and author of Ending Aging
Dr. William Haseltine, Chairman of Haseltine Global Health
Daniel Perry, Executive Director of Alliance for Aging Research
Bernard Siegel, Executive Director of Genetics Policy Institute
Dr. Gregory Stock, Director of Program on Medicine, Technology & Society at UCLA School of Medicine
Dr. Michael West, CEO of BioTime and Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley
I also got a Methuselah Foundation T-shirt, one of the coolest T-shirts I ever saw.

Aging 2008 was the opening session for the technically focused Understanding Aging conference which took place Saturday and Sunday. Thirty four scientists presented over the weekend. I believe this was the most extensive scientific longevity conference ever held in the US. Hopefully, the Methuselah Foundation will offer videos.

Open-forum events like this enable scientists to bounce ideas of one another, to cross pollinate ideas and to open up various research programs to debate and scrutiny. As a result, it fast tracks longevity research. Congratulations to Aubrey de Grey and all the Methuselah Foundation volunteers who made it happen.

Then last week, I attended a presentation to an investment banker to fund two very progressive adult stem cell companies. He made a verbal commitment, and funding might take place as early as this month. Once these companies are launched, human therapies could be accelerated. That could translate to the first round of therapies becoming available by next year. Anti-aging science is ratcheted up one more notch.
All-in-all that was a very productive week for life extension. Let’s look forward to many more.

Is Curing Aging Just a Scientific Challenge? The Answer Below May Surprise You.

Dear Future Centenarian,

I wish you could have been with me last week. Please let me explain…

I attended a week-long conference for two reasons. First, my assistant went on his honeymoon then, and it was convenient for me to hole up and rest in a hotel for 5 days. Second, it gave me a good chance to spend some time with some friends who I hadn’t seen for a while. Oh and there was a third reason too… I figured I couldn’t help but pick up a nugget or two of valuable information.

Well, here’s what happened:

I didn’t get much rest. The conference started at 9 am each day and ran until almost 8 pm. And it was so captivating that I didn’t want to miss a word.
I hardly got to spend any time with my friends (See #1).
I picked up my nugget or two in the first 10 minutes. Five days and a whole tablet full of notes later, I looked back on the most insightful and valuable conference I ever attended.

Without going into detail, it was advertised as a business building and development conference. The organizer, Eben Pagan, walked nearly 200 attendees through the trials and tribulations he endured in building his business (and his incredible life) and how to shortcut them. Eben disclosed, step-by-step, how he built a business that triples every year. It already earns well over $2 million a month – and is still exploding. But there was more. Much more.

Why do I mention this in a life extension newsletter? Because solving the aging puzzle and delivering extreme life extension to you is as much a business and marketing challenge as a scientific one. Last week’s education is fast tracking that challenge for me. It could do the same for you, your project or your business.

If you’d like details, go to http://getaltitude.com.

Network Your Way to Immortality

Dear Future Centenarian,

Saturday evening, I enjoyed life extension and stem cell technology conversation and dinner at an incredible couple’s home. Their guests were incredible as well. Not only were they bright, well informed and enthusiastic about extreme life extension, but they were a mix of savvy and successful scientists and business people. The latter will have as much to do with your longevity as the former. Maybe more. You’ll see what I mean when you read the attached PowerPoint.

Since 2000, Maximum Life Foundation designed a scientific and financial roadmap to reverse the human aging process. The attachment illustrates an aggressive approach to solving aging in your lifetime. You’ll notice what a surprisingly small investment we think it will take. But we can back up our scientific and financial assumptions. Now it’s time to implement the plan.

AGE Breakers

Dear Future Centenarian,

Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) are a range of metabolic byproducts that gum up the works in your biochemistry, such as by sticking vital chemical compounds together so that they can't perform their role. The more AGEs in your system, the worse the damage they cause, directly contributing to age-related degeneration and disease:

A number of groups are at the stage of animal or early human trials with designed or discovered compounds, many focused on diabetes due to the increased level of AGEs associated with that condition, and the fact that regulatory agencies do not recognize aging as a disease - and thus will not approve a therapy designed to repair a cause of aging. For example, the AGE-breaker compound C36 has been evaluated on diabetic rats:

"Unfortunately, past evidence suggests that excitement over work in rodents should be muted at best - the history of ALT-711 or alagebrium demonstrates that different types of AGEs are important in shorter-lived mammals versus humans. So far, promising work in mice and rats has translated poorly into human therapies - in most cases, through trying to address the wrong AGEs."

Life is Everything. Death is Nothing

Dear Future Centenarian,

To seek to provide the choice of healthy longevity for all who want it is an aspect of the better side of human nature:

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/001254.php

"Helping to make life longer and better, one action at a time, is a core human ideal. There are no special cases, no magical transition point at which it's fine and dandy to write people off or justify their deaths.

Healthy life extension flows quite naturally from the same mindset that helps neighbors and appreciates modern medicine. We all recognize that which is unpleasant in commonplace life, and it's only natural to work to remove that unpleasantness. Seeking equality of opportunity by helping people to overcome the limitations of their own personal human condition is a worthy goal today, and will be just as much so in a future of far greater opportunity. The foundation of opportunity is life - is being alive, and possessed of the vigor to take advantage of that fact. Without that, there is nothing. So I think we really have to start there, with aging, a great injustice blindly inflicted upon humanity by chance, physics and evolution.

To not seek the cure for aging would be just as strange as to fail to seek a cure for cancer or Alzheimer's - it would be inhuman and unnatural for the species that helps its neighbors and appreciates the good things in life."

What is Your Life Worth… Really?

Dear Future Centenarian,

If you knew technologies over the next few decades could deliver to you a chance for an open-ended youthful lifespan, how much would you donate to the research?

Say you want to live a much longer, healthier life. Would you help to achieve that goal by donating 90% of your net worth in support of research? If so, when? When you are terminally ill when it would probably be too late? Years or decades down the road? How about now? If not, how much?

There are no right answers in consideration of personal economic choices, but these are question you might ask yourself. Wealth at any level is worthless to the dead, and being alive and healthy allows you to generate more wealth. Logically we should all be willing to devote most of our net worth to longevity research at the most effective time. If we can buy time with money - and we can begin to now in earnest, for the first time in history, by supporting the research that will lead to the first healthy life extension medicine - then we should all be in that market.

MaxLife believes the tiniest fraction of most wealthy individuals’ net worth or annual income could reverse aging in less than 30 years. It also believes most of the money could be invested… not donated… in for-profit enterprises. More on this topic in a week or two.

Who Doesn’t Want to Live Longer?

Dear Future Centenarian,

Casual deathists are everywhere. I'm sure you all know someone who responds to the concept of healthy life extension with "I can't see why anyone would want to live past 100." This is what they have been taught throughout their lives, implicit in the way their peers and parents plan, act and talk. Perhaps "learned deathism" is a better term. A longevity revolution is right around the corner, yet we structure our lives in the same way our grandparents did:

There's nothing wrong with choosing not to strive for more healthy life, but I believe it's our responsibility to at least point out the lazy assumptions and false information that forms the basis of most casual deathism. Kevin Perrott, organizer of the Edmonton Aging Symposium, recently did a sterling job of this in a letter to the Globe and Mail, reproduced in this Fight Aging! post:

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/001332.php

For Reversing Aging, SENS Makes Sense

Dear Future Centenarian,

Where has summer gone? For that matter, where have the past few years gone? Days, weeks, months and years fly by too quickly now. What did you do this past year to help insure your longevity? You most likely belong to the last generation to die “on time”, or you will be part of the first generation to escape death for aging. It’s partly your choice.

A few days ago, I started reading Aubrey de Grey’s new book, Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime. If you want an education on what causes aging damage and how to fix it, I suggest you get a copy. It is fascinating, and it could help you help yourself to extreme life extension.

Go to http://www.amazon.com/Ending-Aging-Rejuvenation-Breakthroughs-Lifetime/dp/0312367066.

With Friends Like This…

Dear Future Centenarian,

Admittedly, I’m a wild eyed optimist, especially regarding the prospects of indefinite youthful lifespans for you and me. But since I KNOW I’m an optimist, I try to take special efforts to see and understand pessimists’ points of view. Ten I try to balance the input and come to my own conclusions. In other words, I try to be objective about what our chances really are. I sent you my timeline and budgetary estimates several issues ago and stand by them.

So here’s an opinion from one who may be the most pessimistic of all well known gerontologists, followed by Reason’s commentary:

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/001354.php

"'We're all going to croak,' says Richard Sprott, the Ellison Medical Foundation's director, who expects that humans may eventually live as much as 30 years longer, but only in the distant future."

Read the full post; I find it incredible that anyone with Sprott's background can stand in the midst of the present outright revolution, of wild, foaming progress in bioscience, and say that things just aren't going to change all that much. It's an outlandish position - and an outlandish position held by someone who directs a fair amount of funding for aging research:

http://www.fightaging.org/archives/001331.php

It's a sad state of affairs we're in, wherein so much of the research establishment has declared defeat and stasis before even setting goals for aging science. How is it that we have an establishment community disbursing so much in the way of funds to exactly the people who are not going to make significant progress - those who say that progress is impossible or far distant in advance of any initiative?

The advance of science and technology is change itself, is the growth of opportunity and choice, and is the opening of new doors in the halls of the human condition. The hidebound and defeatist are not really contributing - if you want things done, if you want bold new progress, fund the people willing to set goals and shake trees.


NOTE: Sprott’s stance makes we want to toss my cookies. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. In his case though, I believe it will cost lives. Lots of lives. I say that not only because he may control more of the scarce “life extension” funding than almost all the administrators and researchers in the free market combined… but also because he is influential. With 100,000 people dying every day from aging, the last thing we need is anyone standing in the way of those who refuse to “go silently into the night”.

If someone were drowning and a lifeguard stood in the way of a would-be rescuer, what would you call the lifeguard? Multiply that by millions.