7/23/2004:
Must
We Grow Old? - Redux, Part 2
This second section in a series for "Gift
of Fire" deals with trans (partially hydrogenated) fats.
A major
6/16/2004: An
expanded
version of the "Must We Grow Old - Redux?" article for "Gift
of Fire".is available here
(in html format). This, and the original
print-formatted version of the article (requires Microsoft Word), appearing in the June, 2004,
issue of "Gift of Fire", gives an introductory overview of caloric-restriction.
6/12/2004: Metabolic
Rates and Aging
This brief discussion reports on a study
that shows, to everyone's surprise, that among a given species of mice, the mice
with the highest metabolic rates lived the longest. One would normally
expect the exact opposite: that the mice that 'lived slowest" would age
slowest.
The original paper, Uncoupled
and surviving: individual mice with high metabolism have greater mitochondrial
uncoupling and live longer, appears in a June, 2004, issue of Nature.
A similar result has been observed with fruitflies, for which
no correlation was found between lifespan and metabolic rate.
6/1/2004: One
View of the State-of-the-Art in the Retardation and Reversal of Aging
This disquisition reviews a paper
published in February, 2004, in the Journal Physiological Genomics and
Physiology that compares the gene-chip profiles of semi-starving rats with
caloric-restricted rats and with rats fed only glucose. This 61-page paper
identifies 261 out of 20,000 liver genes that change when mice are forced to
fast for 24 hours and for 48 hours (which is a long time between meals for a
mouse). The paper also examines the roles of some of these genes in various
metabolic cycles within the liver cells.
5/23/2004: Does
Mother Nature Have Some Rejuvenation Tricks Up Her Sleeve?
This "editorial" argues that we may not need a full
scientific understanding of aging in order to find ways of circumventing it...
basically, the engineering argument made by Aubrey
de Grey. It also suggests that, because changes in such parameters as blood
lipid profiles, fasting blood sugar levels, fasting insulin levels, etc., change
rapidly when someone loses weight and goes on caloric-restriction, it should be
feasible and important to run studies to:
(1) measure the rates of change of these "health indices" as a
function of time, of weight, and of age; and
(2) measure the rates of change of
these "health indices" using metformin with and without
caloric-restriction.
Since the costs of basic tests of these serum profiles are
minimal, it might be possible to get volunteers to foot the bills for 3 or 4
SMAs.
A principal question might be the willingness of subjects'
private physicians to monitor the metformin administration. Also, if they have
to prescribe metformin to these non-diabetic volunteers, that could be a
problem.
Alternatively, pre-diabetic subjects might be chosen.
5/17/2004: How
Reversible Are Caloric-Restriction "Rejuvenations"?
This deals with the surprising fact that the age-reversal
gene changes observed with caloric restriction disappear when caloric
restriction is eliminated. One of the questions is: what would happen if
subjects went back on a semi-ad-lib diet, but maintained their reduced weights?
Also, do structural changes such as the 40% diminution of the carotid atrtery
intima walls in the Washington University study tend to remain after caloric
restriction ends?
4/28/2004: I had posed several questions in Yesterday's
Chart Re-examined. One of them was: how much does a 20% weight loss reduce
the calories required to maintain that lower weight? Here's the answer.
4/24/2004: Yesterday's
Chart Re-examined
4/21/2004: I
don't know to what extent this will be of general interest, but here
it is.
4/19/2004: Interesting
News
4/18/2004: Peep!
4/11/2004: Rejuvenation
Update - III
4/9/2004:
Rejuvenation
Update - II
4/8/2004:
Rejuvenation
Update - I
4/3/2004:
Meanwhile,
in an Adjoining Theater...
4/2/2004:
More
on Rejuvenation
4/1/2004:
Subtracting
15 Years From Your Age?
3/31/2004: Adding
Decades to Your Life Span?
3/30/2004: Antioxidants
- To Supplement Or Not To Supplement?
3/29/2004: Does
Caloric Restriction Reverse Aging (As Opposed to Merely Slowing It)?
3/28/2004: The
Effects of Nutritional Supplements Upon the Life Spans of Mice
3/24/2004:
Mocrosoft
and Resveratrol
3/13/2004:
Here's
a second installment of A
Prolongevity Update - 2
3/11/2004: A
Prolongevity Update
3/9/2004: Chirp,
Chirp!
3/8/2004: Chirp!
3/4/2004: More
Notes from Your Canary
3/3/2004:
News
Commentaries
2/29/2004:
Your
Health and Your Lifespan - 3
2/28/2004:
Your
Health and Your Lifespan - 2
2/27/2004:
Your
Health and Your Lifespan
2/18/2004: I
had promised to post my bloodwork as soon as I got it so that it could be
compared with Tommie's. The question is whether or not our diets, supplements,
etc., have delivered noticeable benefits. So
here are the results
2/16/2004: Another
Chirp or Two from Your Canary
2/4/2004:
Another
Lilting Aria from Your Canary
12/26/2003: What
It's Like to be on a Caloric-Restricted Diet
12/15/2003: Your
Canary Chirps Again.
11/17/2003: Your
canary reports from the mine shaft.
10/29/2003: Slowing
Your Rate of Aging? - Rewritten
Today's updates are in carmine.
2/26/2003: "The
Singularity" and Transhumanism-2
2/23/2003: "The
Singularity" and Transhumanism
2/1/2003:
A Prolongevity Article
1/5/2003: Ageing
process 'key' pinpointed
- BBC
12/26/2002: .Aging
and Cancer
12/23/2002: .The
Aging of Skin
12/21/2002: .There
is a discussion of
nutrition and a few degenerative diseases on the Life Extension Foundation
website
12/3/2002: Gerontocracies
- 2
12/2/2002: Gerontocracies
- 1
11/30/2002: Prolongevity
Again (Social Aspects)
11/25/2002:
A
Little More on Aging
11/24/2002: Aging
and the Environment
11/19/2002: More
News Items
11/8/2002:
Here is Part 2 of a
Presentation on Prolongevity
10/29/2002: An
Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Cure
10/23/2002:
Dropping
the Other Shoe
10/16/2002: Final
Comment
10/15/2002:
Does Preservation of Older
Members Affect Species Survival?
10/14/2002: ."When
the Cat's Away...."
10/13/2002: Telomerase and
Cancer, Take 3
10/10/2002:
Telomerase and Cancer, Take 2
10/9/2002: .Telomerase
and Cancer.
10/8/2002: "Neutriceuticals-3"
10/7/2002: "Neutriceuticals-2"
10/6/2002: "Neutriceuticals"
10/5/2002: And here's the article.
10/4/2002: Today was occupied with the preparation of an article
on aging interventions for "Gift of Fire"
In this regard, I might update my and Tommie's experiences
with "mind boosters" and nutritional supplements. I've upped our
dosages of alpha-lipoic acid to 100-to-400 mg. a day, and the acetyl-l-carnitine
to 500 mg. a day. Last spring, I'd been concerned that such doses might be
interfering with our sleeping patterns, but I don't see any evidence of that
now. Is it helping? I honestly can't say.
I bought a book entitled, "The Wrinkle Cure" by a
Yale School of Medicine dermatologist by the name of Nicholas Perricone, MD. In
it, he advocates the use of alpha-lipoic acid, vitamin-C esters (e. g., calcium
ascorbate), vitamin E (in the form of mixed tocotrienols), DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol),
and alpha-hydroxy and beta-hydroxy acids. Another useful ingredient is coenzyme
Q-10. He also recommends strawberries and blueberries.
I'm about to try adding my own ingredients to a cheap skin
lotion from Walmart. I'll let you know what happens. (I'm interested in
anti-aging technology, and the skin is an effective test-bed.)
I've also mentioned experimenting with a skin cream that's
supposed to be Dimericine in disguise, containing a DNA repair enzyme. I tried
it for two weeks on the back of my left hand and then quit for a while. If it
really repairs DNA, then it should require constant application. I decided to
wait for a couple of weeks before continuing to see what would happen. Has it
shown any improvement? The effects haven't been sufficiently dramatic that I can
say with confidence that it's having any effect. The creases where I bend my
left wrist are spread out over about two inches, whereas the creases on my right
hand are spread out over about an inch. That makes the two hands difficult to
compare.
Tonight, I took a close look at Tommie's facial skin.
It's a wonder to behold. Tommie has slight lines at the corners of her mouth,
but otherwise, looks very, very young. Tommie has always avoided the sun, and
has cared for her skin with moisturizers every night since girlhood.
10/3/2002: The BBC has an interesting article
today that a class of medications used to treat hypertension in diabetes may be
causing some degree of aging retardation. These medications are angiotensin
conversion enzymes (ACE's) used to lower blood pressure by reducing advanced
glycation end products. Advanced glycation end products are proteins that have
been "curdled", similar to the tanning of leather. Unlike other blood
pressure medications, ACE's seem to reduce the stiffening of the arteries, and
of other endothelial and epithelial tissues, including the skin.
Patrick Wahl
has raised an interesting question: Could living at high altitudes reduce the
rate of oxidation of tissues, and perhaps, even slow the metabolism in a manner
similar to caloric restriction? If so, we'd expect that people that live at high
altitudes would tend to live longer than us low-landers. And there's some
evidence to support that idea.
9/30/2002:
Here's a first cut at
some ideas for (let's hope) maximizing
your longevity (based upon my recent readings)
9/28/2002:
I'm beginning to get
ideas regarding longevity research. I have also found some excellent
links (The Owner's Manual
for the Human Body), together with information regarding some mechanisms
of aging, and what kinds of diets might minimize aging. I continued updating the
Prolongevity_Discussion
9/27/2002:
On the 15th of
this month, I found the Prolongevity_Discussion
at the top of the Google search list for "Prolongevity", so I spent
the day changing it to something that I thought was more suitable. Today, I
encountered it at the top of another engine's search list, and was appalled at
the pettiness and peevishness of what I'd written. So today, I rewrote it again.
I hope I don't read it again come October 10th and decide that it's still pretty
terrible, but If that's what it takes, I'll rewrite it again then. .
9/16/2002:
Today's Prolongevity
Update
presents:
(1) a quotation of John Furber's remarks about the immortality of germ
cells.
(2) Alteon Pharmaceutical's cross-link breaker
(3) Paragraph mentioning deinococcus radiodurans
9/15/2002:
Today, I discovered that the "Prolongevity_Discussion"
page on this website has landed at the top the Google search list out of 21,000
entries. I have spent the afternoon updating it.
9/14/2002: Infamous
Quotations
9/2/2002:
Remarks on
Rejuvenation.
8/27/2002:
Longevity Research: Revisiting Ubiquity's
May, 2000, Interview with Dr. Michael West
8/13/2002: This
an update of the 8-9-15-2002_Editorials "published" a year age.
8-13-2002: Update
8-10-2002: On Living Another
Day
7-30-2002: Rejuvenation
and bonds
7-29-2002: Rejuvenation
7-3-2002: Life
Expectancies
May
22, 2002, Letter to Steve
4/14/2002: A
bit of gossip: My sister mentioned tonight that she's reading a book
written by a biogeneticist, who advises the reader that seeds and other
organisms are born young even though they're the products of somewhat-aged
cells. Somehow, Nature has a way of completely resetting their biological
clocks. I've been stating this, but without official confirmation that this
is truly the case. But I guess we've found it. Nature has revealed that
she totally and routinely rejuvenates organisms across the biological spectrum.
Now it's up to us to figure out how she does it.
4/9/2002:
One comment about longevity research. It seems to me to
be an unavoidable conclusion that nature has some way of cleaning up not
only the genome but the entire cell when biogenesis occurs. Otherwise, if
a baby were born 20 years old, and its child were born 40 years old, and
its grandchild were born 60 years old... you can see where this is going.
If it proves possible to replicate the enzymes and other biochemical agents
that must operate within an oocyte immediately after fertilization, and
to apply these to adult cells, all other longevity research would seem to
be overtaken by events.
Although I haven't seen discussions of research into these
phenomena in the first few search returns I've found, that might not necessarily
mean that it isn't taking place. With 1 in 3 people in the developed world
approaching retirement, and 1.2 billion people retired by 2050, hundreds
of billions of dollars a year could accrue to whatever corporation cuts
this Gordian knot first. You could see why involved organizations might
possibly choose caginess over candor.
Tonight's other topic concerns longevity research, or
"prolongevity". One excellent web page concerning this subject
is offered by John
Furber. . Following the leads listed on his page, I found that Bruce
Ames, et al, is finding that the gamma form of vitamin-E, gamma-tocopherol,
may play an important role in cancer prevention and age-retardation. There
are also discussions
of the fact that the alpha
lipoic acid + acetyl-l-carnitine that I've been touting requires
the R-enantiomer
of alpha-lipoic
acid rather than the usual over-the-counter form of the substance.
The recommended daily dosage levels for alpha lipoic acid
are in the 120 milligram to 1 gram range. I'm back to trying higher dosage
levels.
I believe that there may really be agents and protocols
that will already extend lifespan. I think they're already showing up in
our populations. (One in three people in the U. S. are projected to be retired
in the 2020-2030 time frame.)
Ageing
process 'key' pinpointed
- BBC
"Is
human aging still mysterious enough to be left only to scientists?"
Transcript
of the SENS I Roundtable
SENS
II
SENS
I
SENS
(Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence)
National
Cancer Institute Awards Contract to Test AGI's Dimericine in Renal Transplant
Patients to Reduce Skin Cancer
Dimericine
and DNA Repair
Can
We Prevent Aging?
Research:
Genetic Errors Cause Aging
How Realistic Is Total Rejuvenation?
Total
Rejuvenation
Acetyl-L-Carnitine
The
Limits of Human Life Span
Aging
Reversal
Reversal_of_Aging
Update
on "Viva Immortalis"
Can
Aging Be Reversed?
My
60-Year Assignation with Longevity Research
Are
We Ready for a "Manhattan Project" in Longevity?
Gene
Mutation Extends Lifespan In "I'm Not Dead Yet" Fruitflies
Total
Rejuvenation Wouldn't Be a Panacea
Aging Breakthrough- Cloning
Super-Juvenates Cells
On
Living Forever - Interview with Dr. Michael West
Reflections
on Rejevenation
Anti-Aging_Methuselah
Anti-Aging_in
Yeast
Target
for Repairing Damaged Cells Found In the Telomerase Enzyme
Deinococcus
Radiodurans
Ageing
process 'key' pinpointed
- BBC
5/21/2004: The
Cell, and Farrukh Saleem Quotes John Kerry