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Can the Human Lifespan
be Extended?
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Based on new understandings about the molecular mechanisms of aging,
it appears that the lust for longer life has become a scientific reality.
More than 60% of Americans regularly ingest some sort of dietary supplement.
Even conventional medicine is recognizing the logic of taking steps today
to prevent degenerative disease in the future. The media has publicized
the results of large human clinical trials showing that consuming the
right supplements in the proper potencies will reduce one's risk of contracting
cancer, cataract, cardiovascular, Alzheimer's, and numerous other diseases
associated with aging.
The question is, are the 60% of Americans now taking supplements going
to live longer than those who don't? An analysis of the scientific literature
indicates probably not. The reason is that few Americans are taking enough
of the proper nutrients to duplicate the clinical studies showing that
the diseases of aging may be preventable.
Twenty-two years ago, the Life Extension Foundation began a systematic
review of published scientific findings relating to the prevention of
degenerative disease and aging. The results of this painstaking investigation
provided convincing evidence that the killer diseases of aging could be
largely prevented by the proper intake of nutrients, hormones, certain
drugs, and lifestyle changes.
The phenomenon known as aging is a result of a number of pathological
changes that are somewhat controllable using existing technologies. By
prolonging our healthy lifespan, we put ourselves in a position to take
advantage of future medical breakthroughs that could result in dramatic
extensions of human lifespan. Here are some of the underlying controllable
causes of the diseases of aging we know of today:
1. Chronic inflammation. Aging people suffer
an epidemic of outward inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, but chronic
inflammation also damages brain cells, arterial walls, heart valves and
other structures in the body. Heart attack, stroke, heart valve failure,
and Alzheimer’s senility have been linked to the chronic inflammatory
cascade so often seen in aging humans.
2. Glycosylation. It is well known that
diabetics age prematurely, but even non-diabetics suffer from a devastating
chemical reaction called glycosylation, where protein molecules bind to
glucose molecules in the body to form nonfunctioning structures. Glycosylation
is most evident in senile dementia, stiffening of the arterial system,
and degenerative diseases of the eye.
3. Methylation Deficit. Cellular DNA requires
constant enzymatic actions (re-methylation) for maintenance and repair.
Aging cripples youthful methylation metabolism causing DNA damage that
can manifest as cancer, liver damage, and brain cell degeneration.
4. Mitochondrial Energy Depletion. The cell's
energy powerhouse (the mitochondria) requires a complex series of chemicals
to be present in order to maintain critical functions such as transporting
nutrients through the cell membrane and purging the cell of toxic debris.
Mitochondrial energy depletion can result in congestive heart failure,
muscle weakness, fatigue, and neurological disease.
5. Hormone Imbalance. The trillions of cells in the human body
are delicately synchronized to function by chemical signals called hormones.
Aging creates a severe hormone imbalance that is often a contributing
cause to many diseases associated with aging including depression, osteoporosis,
coronary artery disease, and loss of libido.
6. Excess calcification. Calcium ions are transported into and
out of cells through calcium channels in the cell membrane. Aging disrupts
calcium transport, and the result is excess calcium infiltration into
cells of the brain, heart valves, and middle arterial wall (causing arteriosclerosis).
7. Fatty acid Imbalance. The body requires
essential fatty acids to maintain cell energy output. Aging causes alterations
in enzymes required to convert dietary fats into the specific essential
fatty acids the body requires to sustain life. The effects of a fatty
acid imbalance may manifest as an irregular heart beat, joint degeneration,
low energy, hypercoagulation, dry skin, or a host of other common ailments
associated with normal aging.
8. DNA Mutation. Numerous synthetic and
natural compounds mutate cellular DNA and cause cancer cells to form.
Aging cells lose their DNA gene repair mechanisms and the result is that
DNA genetic damage can cause cells to proliferate out of control, i.e.,
turn into cancer cells.
9. Immune Dysfunction. For a variety of
reasons, the aging immune system loses its ability to attack bacteria,
viruses, and cancer cells. In aging humans, excessive levels of dangerous
cytokines are produced that cause the immune system to turn on its host
and create autoimmune diseases associated with aging such as rheumatoid
syndrome.
10. Non-Digestive Enzyme Imbalance. Internal
cellular functions depend on multiple enzymatic reactions occurring with
precise timing. Aging causes enzyme imbalances primarily in the brain
and liver, which results in severe neurological diseases such as Parkinson's
or the persistent memory loss aging people so often complain about. Impaired
liver function results in toxic damage to every cell in the body.
11. Digestive Enzyme Deficit. The aging
pancreas often fails to secrete enough digestive enzymes, while the aging
liver does not secrete enough bile acids. The result is chronic indigestion
people complain about as they age.
12. Excitotoxicity. The aging brain loses
control of its release of neuro-transmitters such as glutamate and dopamine,
and this results in devastating brain cell damage and destruction
13. Circulatory Deficit. Microcapillary perfusion of blood to the
brain, eye, and skin is impaired as a part of normal aging. The result
is that disorders of the eye (such as cataract, macular degeneration,
glaucoma) are the number one aging-related degenerative disease. Major
and mini-strokes are common problems associated with circulatory deficit
to the brain and the skin of all aged people show the effects of lack
of nutrient-rich blood to the upper layers.
14. Oxidative stress. Free radicals are
unstable molecules that have been implicated in most diseases associated
with aging. Antioxidants have become popular supplements to protect against
free radical-induced cell damage, but few people take the proper combination
of antioxidant supplements to adequately compensate for age-induced loss
of endogenous antioxidants such as SOD and catalase.
Notice that oxidative stress is listed as number 14 on the above list
of controllable factors that cause aging-related diseases. While suppressing
the free radicals that cause oxidative stress protects against many disorders,
there is clearly much more that can be done to stave off aging than merely
taking antioxidant supplements.
Children can benefit by taking vitamin supplements, but it is aging humans
whose body's are depleted of the endogenous antioxidants, hormones, enzymatic
repair systems, and other biological chemicals needed to sustain life.
What is optional in childhood becomes mandatory as humans enter middle-age
and become vulnerable to the plethora of degenerative diseases that await
them if they do not adequately protect themselves.
The Life Extension Foundation has designed a scientific program to counteract
ALL the known biochemical processes proposed (by gerontologists) as primary
causes of aging. The Directory of Life Extension Technologies provides
recommendations on nutrients, drugs, and hormones to neutralize the known
causes of premature aging.
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