Lifespan Exrension

[Guest guest]

Hi folks:

A few days ago, Francesca asked me how many years a human's life

might be extended, if the example of Dr. Spindler's mice turns out to

be extrapolatable to humans. I said 'for a number, twelve years'.

When I said that, I had forgotten that Warren had already mentioned

sixteen years when he originally drew the attention of all of us to

the Spindler study.

Which number one chooses depends on what you take for the human/mouse

lifespan ratio. I now see that Warren had taken a ratio of about

39.5 from the assumption of the Spindler study that a 62.5 year old

human was about equivalent to a 19 month old mouse (62.5 x 12 / 19 =

39.5).

My twelve years number came from my observation that, in normal

circumstances, not many of this strain of mice live to over 40

months, while not many humans live to over 100 years. This gives a

ratio of 30 (100 x 12 / 40 = 30).

The CR mice lived five months longer than the control mice. So five

months times 39.5 = 16.4 years. While five months x 30 = 12.5 years.

Either way the increase in lifespan is considerable. But since I

don't know much about the lifespan of mice, it is likely better to

take Warren's number : ^ )))

Rodney.