Today, aging and disease are linked like birthdays and cake. In fact, the greatest risk factor for all the big killers is the number of candles on that cake. But imagine living to 85 or 90, never worrying about getting cancer, diabetes, or Alzheimer's disease. It's not possible now but it could be.
Scientists who study the biology of aging -- the basic mechanisms of how our cells and tissues change with age -- believe the aging process is modifiable. It cannot be stopped, but it can be slowed. Even better, scores of peer-reviewed studies have proven that decelerating the aging process in lab animals also offers huge health benefits, dramatically delaying and lowering their incidence of chronic disease.
If we could achieve the same exciting results in humans, we could transform the lives of older people and achieve what aging researchers call a longer healthspan. As University of Michigan gerontologist Dr. Richard Miller has said, "the goal isn't to prolong the survival of someone who is old and sick, but to postpone the period of being old and sick."
So what's stopping us? Our scientific understanding of the aging process and how it affects our health is still a work in progress. With America's 65-plus population set to double in the next 20 years, and age-related health care costs threatening to bankrupt federal and state governments, it's time to change our approach to research on the biology of aging. Putting a man on the moon was a defining national goal in the 20th century; in the 21st century, it should be decoding the biology of aging to find the fountain of health.
Interventions proven to slow the aging process include genetic manipulation, diet, and drugs. For instance, certain genes found in both animals and humans are known to modulate the rate of aging, including the CETP gene variant (the so-called "longevity gene"), which increases "good cholesterol" and may protect against Alzheimer's disease. Other approaches include caloric restriction (feeding lab animals a nutritious but much lower-calorie diet); use of rapamycin, usually given as an immunosuppressant after organ transplant; and a compound called resveratrol, a derivative of grape skins now being tested as a diabetes treatment.
It is also important to study the molecular processes that go wrong in old age, including the body's response to inflammation, which appears to be an important contributor to bad health events in older adults. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying inflammation could help defeat or prevent cancer, Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, anemia, and even cognitive decline after 70.
All these discoveries have one thing in common: we know they work, but we don't understand enough about why or how. As Roger McCarter, professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State and president of the American Federation for Aging Research, points out, "knowing how they work is important because each has potential downsides. For example, caloric restriction can cause decreased wound healing, feeling cold all the time, and greater susceptibility to infectious disease. These concerns need to be addressed before such techniques can be applied to humans."
Unfortunately, this potentially transformative work is a poor stepchild in the biomedical research enterprise. Older Americans tend to develop multiple chronic diseases (accounting for 95 percent of Medicare and Medicaid spending). But most research funding gets siloed into grants that study individual diseases, produce therapies that treat only one aspect of a patient's complex condition, and may add few, if any, very expensive months to life.
Aging research has far greater potential to repay the public's investment than disease-centric research, because the best defense is a good offense. Getting at the root cause of a range of diseases can ultimately help us keep millions of people from developing those conditions in the first place.
Although the National Institutes of Health budget exceeds $31 billion annually, the vast majority of those funds are allocated to research on specific diseases rather than the basic biology of aging, despite its potential to provide many preventive and curative strategies.
This funding disincentive creates a troubling "brain drain" of promising scientists studying aging who go into other fields. The problem and the missed opportunity will only get worse if the Republicans' proposed across-the-board budget cuts are allowed to gut the NIH just when we need medical and scientific innovation more than ever.
The anthropologist Ashley Montagu said it well, "the idea is to die young, as late as possible." Aging research can show the way. All we need is the political will to try.
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.: Biomedical Research: Renewing Our Commitment To The Right Kinds
Let's allow for more research on humans (with informed consent) rather than on nonhumans who cannot consent.
Do not smoke, burn wood, or do your outdoor exercise run near a roadway. Why not exercise indoors, protected by your HEPA air filter.
Free radicals in the bloodstream can be diminished by consumption of antioxidants such as vitamin C.
Is it worth considering that maybe nothing is "going wrong" -- that aging and death are parts of the natural cycle of life? From an evolutionary standpoint, Nature has no use for us after we have reproduced and raised our children; on the other hand, there obviously is positive evolutionary value in having those who have gotten beyond their child-bearing and child-rearing stage pass on and stop consuming resources.
And before I get accused of ageism, let me state that I am close to 65.
www.24HourTurnaround.com
Jay Williams, PhD.
NIH devoted $ 24 000 000 [ petty cash but very prescious dollars ] to research about Transcendental meditation (TM) specifically Maharishi's TM discovery
[ Robert Schneider MD FACC mum.edu et al ]
the Maharishi speaking with scientists in 1980 delineated the causeof aging from the perspective of Ayur Veda [[[ Charaka samhita , Sushruta samhita etc ]]] its a 2 hour presentation but one phrase sums it up : aging is caused by ignorance. ignorance not in the sense of lack of education etc but ignorance of one's own true nature as pure unbounded consciousness : SatChitAnanda
the purpose of TM and maharishi ayur veda is " prakriti sthapan "
600 studies with TM [and some ayur veda rasayanas ] show that TM reverses aging . peopel practicing TM 2x daily 20 minutes for 5 years have a biological age 12 years younger than their chronological age
to understand the mechanism one needs to understand Dr John Hagelin's unified field hypothesis : E8XE8 heterotic superstring field theory
and also the charts at mum.edu about unified field of chemistry and unified field of physiology
here this is mostly the domain of Huffpost Living section
in a global press conference Maharishi said " TM is a panacea "
Animals do not suffer from chronic diseases. They eat properly, open their bowels properly, and, reproduce properly. No chronic diseases. Animal models are not a reliable form of "reproducing" chronic Western diseases. The NIH should save its money.
Organophosphate Pesticides (OPs), Organochlorine Pesticides (OCs), Lead, Mercury, Arsenic, Cadmium, Chlorinated dioxins & furans, Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Phthalates, Volatile and semivolatile organic compounds (VOCs and SVOCs), Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), Brominated Fire Retardants, Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Perfluorochemicals (PFCs), Halogenated benzenes, Substituted benzenes, Brominated dioxins & furans, Chromium compounds, Bisphenol A, Phenols, and Perchlorate
For more info, see:
http://www.ewg.org/chemindex/chemicalsfoundinpeople
These toxins are inhaled, absorbed, and swallowed by a majority of the population on a daily basis. In many instances, we have no way to determine total body burden, are unable even to detect their presence, and have not established safe concentrations. We also are relatively clueless as to the role of these toxins in chronic illnesses. Blood tests may be useless because certain toxins are swept from the blood into the cells. Worst of all, we have not performed much research on how to remove these toxins from the body in a safe manner.
A discussion and references on nature’s approach to a long healthspan can be found in “The Wellness Project.”
Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com
A research organization
Also- the ability to monitor and detect these compounds is relatively new. That's the problem* with science- you an take a guess at what you think might happen... but until you actually see the results, you can't actually know what will happen. So give it 30-50 years. When people who are exposed to these compounds on a regular basis get old, we'll have a better understanding of how these compounds affect chronic illness, aging, etc...
Not to worry, I don't do that often and am usually pretty good at keeping to protein, fruit and vegetables.
The effects of no high-density carbs or sugar on our bodies are also immediate and palpable.