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Life Keeps Getting Longer, but at a Cost
by
findingDulcinea Staff
New techniques and research promise ever greater longevity; but there are dangers, not the least of which is that a protracted life becomes what one scientist calls “a living death.”
30-Second Summary
In the 20th century, the average lifespan in the developing world doubled.
Life expectancy continues to rise today, at a rate of 2.2 years per decade, and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku recently hypothesized that “ultimately, the ageing process itself could be slowed down or even halted.”
One path to the fountain of youth pursued by a number of Americans at present is the reduced-calorie diet, which slashes the calorific intake by as much as a third.
Although these austere diets have been shown to work for animals, there have been no conclusive trials on human subjects. Nonetheless, if the news reports are to be believed, calorie restriction is increasingly popular.
But sometimes it takes a scientist to point out the obvious. A postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley suggests, extrapolating from work done on rats, that near-starvation could lead to depression.
It may soon be possible to mimic the effects of calorie-restriction with substances such as reservatrol. But even if life is extended by relatively painless means, those in search of immortality should be careful what they wish for, argues British scientist Dr. Guy Brown.
Brown writes that the increase in lifespan seen in the modern era “has not been matched by an extension of healthy life. The additional years we gain are mostly spent with disability, disease and dementia.”
If Brown is right in his assertion that “the aged should be able to choose how to die,” then the last word on this issue was penned by Irish satirist Jonathan Swift back in the 18th century.
In Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travel” the hero encounters the immortal Struldbrugs, who are condemned to drawn-out infirmity: “They had not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men, but many more which arose from the dreadful prospect of never dying.”
Life expectancy continues to rise today, at a rate of 2.2 years per decade, and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku recently hypothesized that “ultimately, the ageing process itself could be slowed down or even halted.”
One path to the fountain of youth pursued by a number of Americans at present is the reduced-calorie diet, which slashes the calorific intake by as much as a third.
Although these austere diets have been shown to work for animals, there have been no conclusive trials on human subjects. Nonetheless, if the news reports are to be believed, calorie restriction is increasingly popular.
But sometimes it takes a scientist to point out the obvious. A postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley suggests, extrapolating from work done on rats, that near-starvation could lead to depression.
It may soon be possible to mimic the effects of calorie-restriction with substances such as reservatrol. But even if life is extended by relatively painless means, those in search of immortality should be careful what they wish for, argues British scientist Dr. Guy Brown.
Brown writes that the increase in lifespan seen in the modern era “has not been matched by an extension of healthy life. The additional years we gain are mostly spent with disability, disease and dementia.”
If Brown is right in his assertion that “the aged should be able to choose how to die,” then the last word on this issue was penned by Irish satirist Jonathan Swift back in the 18th century.
In Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travel” the hero encounters the immortal Struldbrugs, who are condemned to drawn-out infirmity: “They had not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men, but many more which arose from the dreadful prospect of never dying.”
Headline Links: Extended life, a potentially unwelcome gift
British newspaper The Observer reports the pros and cons of life extension, a field of science in which “sober scientists, untouched by the Californian sun, now dream anything is possible.”
Source: The Observer
“No long-term human studies have tested [calorie restriction’s] impact on longevity,” writes MSNBC, “but there is considerable evidence it reduces several risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”
Source: MSNBC
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Background: Calorie-restriction and reservatrol
Calorie-restriction diets
In April 2007, scientists experimenting on roundworms isolated a gene that extends life expectancy in response to a restricted diet, opening a path to the development of longevity drugs.
Source: findingDulcinea
Although calorie-restriction diets have been shown to extend the life span of certain animals, scientists have yet to decide whether they will do the same for humans. Nonetheless, these special diets are one of a number of strategies adopted by people committed to life-extension. The Mayo Clinic discusses the dangers involved in reducing calorie intake by 20 to 25 percent of the recommended daily amount.
Source: The Mayo Clinic
The average U.S. male consumes about 2,745 calories a day, and the average female 1,833. According to this site, a calorie-restricted dieter will cut those figures by about a third. Care must be taken to ensure that calories are reduced while maintaining proper nutrition levels.
Source: MedicineNet.com
Julian Dibbell is surely not the first person to question whether a long life on a calorie-restriction diet is worth living. Dibbell tried out this abstemious lifestyle for two months and reported on his findings for New York Magazine.
Source: New York Magazine
Kate Taylor, a New York Sun journalist and the author of a book on eating disorders, interviewed a number of calorie-restriction practitioners, or CRonies, and concluded that the psychological mechanisms driving them differed little from those that motivate anorexics.
Source: Slate
The author on the Ouroboros blog, a postdoctoral research scientist at the University of California San Francisco Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, examines two studies that link restricted calorie consumption to feelings of depression.
Source: Ouroboros
Resveratrol and red wine
According to The Wall Street Journal, the effectiveness of calorie-restriction diets in animals has been understood since the 1930s: “but only steely ascetics could hack its hunger pangs.” In October 2006, the Journal looked at the early stages of research into resveratrol, a substance that occurs naturally in red wine and which may reproduce those life-extending effects without starving the subject.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
In November 2006, an article in Scientific American covered the early success of animal trials of reservatrol, which was shown to prolong the lives and reduce the weight of obese mice.
Source: Scientific American
At present, Sitris Pharmaceuticals is in the early stage of human trials of a resveratrol pill. It those are successful, the drug will be marketed for the treatment of diabetes, but, according to the Technology Review, it “will undoubtedly be used to extend life span by many people without diabetes.”
Source: Technology Review
Opinion & Analysis: The life extension debate
Quackwatch is a non-profit organization, founded in 1969, dedicated to combating “health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies and misconduct.” Its Web site carries a “Positioning Statement on Human Aging,” written by three doctors who write for Quackwatch. The paper covers all the treatments for the ageing process that are championed at present. The doctors conclude, “Our language on this matter must be unambiguous: there are no lifestyle changes, surgical procedures, vitamins, antioxidants, hormones or techniques of genetic engineering available today that have been demonstrated to influence the processes of human aging.”
Source: Quackwatch
Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku’s presented a recent BBC documentary on life extension, a clip of which is available online.
Source: YouTube
“If scientists could create a pill that let you live twice as long while remaining free of infirmities, would you take it?” MSNBC reflects on the social and psychological implications of life extension.
Source: MSNBC
Dr. Aubrey de Grey
British research and Cambridge University geneticist, Dr. Aubrey de Grey is an advocate for life extension who, despite the apparent wildness of his claims, is part of the mainstream scientific debate on this issue.
British research and Cambridge University geneticist, Dr. Aubrey de Grey is an advocate for life extension who, despite the apparent wildness of his claims, is part of the mainstream scientific debate on this issue.
“We will inevitably be able to address aging just as effectively as we address many diseases today,” writes Dr. Aubrey de Grey. “I think the first person to live to 1,000 may be 60 already.” The BBC provided a platform for the longevity evangelist to air his views.
Source: The BBC
The Wall Street Journal carries a review of de Grey’s book “Ending Aging,” published in the United States in September 2007. Reviewer Paul Boutin writes, “Readers who make it through the book’s geeky midsection will come away with a workable understanding of Mr. de Grey’s provocative view: Old age may be only the consequence of lax biological housecleaning.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal
“The fact is that nothing in gerontology even comes close to fulfilling the promise of dramatically extended lifespan.” So says Professor S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who the BBC invited to respond to Aubrey de Grey’s claims.
Source: The BBC
Aubrey de Grey’s book “Ending Aging
” is available from the findingDulcinea bookstore.
” is available from the findingDulcinea bookstore.
Source: findingDulcinea bookstore
Dr. Guy Brown
“Making the end of life worth living”—rather than merely longer—“will be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century,” writes Dr. Guy Brown. In this Guardian newspaper article, the scientist summarizes the argument of his recent book “The Living End,” in which he argues that the real challenge for modern science is not extending life, but “to prevent ageing becoming a living death.”
Source: The Guardian
Guy Brown’s book “The Living End” is available from the findingDulcinea bookstore.
” is available from the findingDulcinea bookstore.
Source: findingDulcinea bookstore
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Reference Material
In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control reported findings that life expectancy for Americans had hit a record high, at an average of 77.6 years. “Mortality rates climbed, however, for Alzheimer’s disease, kidney disease, hypertension, and Parkinson’s disease, which entered the top 15 for the first time.”
Source: LifeScience.com
This online longevity game estimates the probable lifespan for players, utilizing statistics such as their body-mass index and diet. The game was created by a firm of financial risk managers.
Source: The Longevity Game
The Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, writing in the 18th century, addressed the issue of humanity’s unquenchable desire for longer life in his classic tale “Gulliver’s Travels.” In Part 3, Chapter 10, Gulliver encounters the immortal Struldbrugs, who though immortal are, like today’s geriatrics, condemned to a prolonged infirmity. “When they came to fourscore years, which is reckoned the extremity of living in this country, they had not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men, but many more which arose from the dreadful prospect of never dying. They were not only opinionative, peevish, covetous, morose, vain, talkative, but incapable of friendship, and dead to all natural affection, which never descended below grandchildren.”
Source: About.com
The American Aging Association (AGE) is a not-for-profit organization with the following aims: to increase the functional life span of humans; to inform the public of aging research and how to achieve a long healthy life; and to increase the knowledge of gerontology among medical professionals.
Source: The American Aging Association
The Immortality Institute
The Immortality Institute, based in California, is a non-profit organization that describes its mission as “to conquer the blight of involuntary death.”
The Immortality Institute, based in California, is a non-profit organization that describes its mission as “to conquer the blight of involuntary death.”
The institute’s Web site hosts an 105-minute movie about man’s quest to defeat death and the consequences of humanity’s increasing longevity. As narrated by the institute, the search for immortality begins with “Gilgamesh the King,” mankind’s first literary epic, the tale of a man in search of everlasting life.
Source: The Immortality Institute
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