Perhaps A Longer Lifespan, Certainly A Longer 'Healthspan'

[Guest guest]

Encouraging to me because all I expect from CRON is a longer " healthspan " , a

longer lifespan would be wonderful a surprising result!

Perhaps A Longer Lifespan, Certainly A Longer 'Healthspan'

16 Apr 2010

Organisms from yeast to rodents to humans all benefit from cutting calories. In

less complex organisms, restricting calories can double or even triple lifespan.

It's not yet clear just how much longer calorie restriction might help humans

live, but those who practice the strict diet hope to survive past 100 years old.

In a review article in the April 16 edition of Science, nutrition and longevity

researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, University

College in London and the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of

Southern California, report that calorie restriction influences the same handful

of molecular pathways related to aging in all the animals that have been

studied.

Aware of the profound influence of calorie restriction on animals, some people

have cut their calorie intake by 25 percent or more in hopes of lengthening

lifespan. But first author Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD, is less interested in calorie

restriction for longer life than in its ability to promote good health

throughout life.

" The focus of my research is not really to extend lifespan to 120 or 130 years, "

says Fontana, research associate professor of medicine at Washington University

and an investigator at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome, Italy. " Right

now, the average lifespan in Western countries is about 80, but there are too

many people who are only healthy until about age 50. We want to use the

discoveries about calorie restriction and other related genetic or

pharmacological interventions to close that 30-year gap between lifespan and

'healthspan.' However, by extending healthy lifespan, average lifespan also

could increase up to 100 years of age. "

Fontana and his co-authors write about how cutting calorie intake between 10

percent and 50 percent decreases the activity of pathways involving insulin-like

growth factor (IGF-1), glucose and TOR (target of rapamycin), and considerably

increases lifespan in animals.Genetic mutations involved in those pathways have

the same effect. Those animals have far fewer problems with diseases related to

aging, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and cognitive problems.

" About 30 percent of the animals on calorie restriction die at an advanced age

without any diseases normally related to aging, " Fontana says. " In contrast,

among animals on a standard diet, the great majority (94 percent) develop and

die of one or more chronic diseases such as cancer or heart disease. In 30

percent to 50 percent of the animals on calorie restriction, or with genetic

mutations in these aging-related pathways, healthspan is equal to lifespan. They

eventually die, but they don't get sick. "

Unfortunately, many humans are moving in the opposite direction. As obesity

reaches epidemic rates in Western countries, Fontana says rather than closing

the 30-year gap between healthspan and lifespan, the gap is likely to grow. It's

even possible lifespan may decrease as people develop preventable diseases such

as atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes and certain forms of cancer.

Those growing rates of obesity are a reason some scientists think calorie

restriction will never catch on, regardless of its potential benefits. But,

Fontana says, if researchers who study nutrition and aging can understand how

calorie restriction lengthens life and makes people healthier, it may be

possible to develop less drastic interventions or medicines that influence

pathways affected by calorie restriction and help keep people healthy as they

get older.

Among people now practicing calorie restriction, he says side effects include

reduced libido because calorie restriction reduces testosterone levels. They

also tend to become cold more quickly because their thermal regulation changes

as their metabolism slows and their core body temperature drops.

Fontana says as calorie restriction research advances on many fronts, it's

becoming clear that dietary advice once based on epidemiological data now makes

sense from a molecular point of view. In the past, dietitians might recommend

more fruits and vegetables or less meat and more whole grains. They based that

advice on studies showing people who ate more vegetables or fewer animal

products tended to have less cardiovascular disease.

" Now we have moved from epidemiology to molecular biology, " he says. " We know

that certain nutrients, as well as lower calorie intake, can influence IGF-1 and

other pathways. Soon we hope to be able to use that knowledge to help people

live longer and healthier lives.

Fontana L, Partridge L, Longo VD. Extending healthy life span from yeast to

humans, Science, vol. 328 (5976) April 16, 2010. Manuscript Number:

Science.1172539

Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty

physicians also are the medical staff of -Jewish and St. Louis Children's

hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research,

teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked third in

the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with

-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is

linked to BJC HealthCare.

Source: Washington University in St. Louis

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/185631.php

[Guest guest]

Hi folks:

On this topic, the following may - or maybe may not - make sense.

When I look at the deaths announcements for my contemporaries at school and

university, I think I may see a pattern emerging. Of course this is thoroughly

unscientific but perhaps with time it may be shown to be about accurate .....

or otherwise.

The people I knew who I now see dying early seem to be predominantly, although

not exclusively, those who, at around age 20, were unusually slim, or unusually

large. Interestingly, even the slim ones who were strong and athletic seem to

be dying early. And also even those who were large but very strong and muscular

also seem to be over-represented in the data. So it seems it is not just

non-athletic overweight people or weak anaemic-looking people who are dying

early. In my very small unscientic sample, smallness or largeness in any

manifestation seems to have been a problem.

Of particular interest to me are a couple of cases of people who were big, very

strong and athletic 'achievers'. In one case in particular I was very familiar

with his eating habits. I know they were very similar to mine at the time, as

we often ate meals together. At every meal we would eat huge amounts of food -

I will not bother you with the details, although I very well remember them. My

guess is that he did not change his eating habits when he was no longer involved

in extensive athletic training. Fortunately, I did.

Now this leads to some possible conclusions. If I had continued to eat as much

as I felt like eating - with no restraint - after stopping athletic activities I

might logically have experienced a lifespan somewhat similar to his. He died

aged 65. I have measured how much I currently would like to eat, without

restraint. And I know how many calories I do eat - which is about 42% less than

that.

So, if I make the conclusion that I also would have died at age 65 if I had

continued to eat whatever I liked, and if I am actually eating 42% less than

that, then, POSSIBLY, my lifespan might be 65 x 1.42, which equals about 92

years. And, in line with the post to which this is a reply, remaining healthy

perhaps up to age 90?

One thing that may be significant about this is that, based on this logic, I do

NOT come up with numbers over 100 based on 42% CR.

FWIW WMNBM

Rodney.

>

> Encouraging to me because all I expect from CRON is a longer " healthspan " , a

longer lifespan would be wonderful a surprising result!

>

>

> Perhaps A Longer Lifespan, Certainly A Longer 'Healthspan'

> 16 Apr 2010

>

> Organisms from yeast to rodents to humans all benefit from cutting calories.

In less complex organisms, restricting calories can double or even triple

lifespan. It's not yet clear just how much longer calorie restriction might help

humans live, but those who practice the strict diet hope to survive past 100

years old.

>

> In a review article in the April 16 edition of Science, nutrition and

longevity researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis,

University College in London and the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University

of Southern California, report that calorie restriction influences the same

handful of molecular pathways related to aging in all the animals that have been

studied.

>

> Aware of the profound influence of calorie restriction on animals, some people

have cut their calorie intake by 25 percent or more in hopes of lengthening

lifespan. But first author Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD, is less interested in calorie

restriction for longer life than in its ability to promote good health

throughout life.

>

> " The focus of my research is not really to extend lifespan to 120 or 130

years, " says Fontana, research associate professor of medicine at Washington

University and an investigator at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome,

Italy. " Right now, the average lifespan in Western countries is about 80, but

there are too many people who are only healthy until about age 50. We want to

use the discoveries about calorie restriction and other related genetic or

pharmacological interventions to close that 30-year gap between lifespan and

'healthspan.' However, by extending healthy lifespan, average lifespan also

could increase up to 100 years of age. "

>

> Fontana and his co-authors write about how cutting calorie intake between 10

percent and 50 percent decreases the activity of pathways involving insulin-like

growth factor (IGF-1), glucose and TOR (target of rapamycin), and considerably

increases lifespan in animals.Genetic mutations involved in those pathways have

the same effect. Those animals have far fewer problems with diseases related to

aging, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and cognitive problems.

>

> " About 30 percent of the animals on calorie restriction die at an advanced age

without any diseases normally related to aging, " Fontana says. " In contrast,

among animals on a standard diet, the great majority (94 percent) develop and

die of one or more chronic diseases such as cancer or heart disease. In 30

percent to 50 percent of the animals on calorie restriction, or with genetic

mutations in these aging-related pathways, healthspan is equal to lifespan. They

eventually die, but they don't get sick. "

>

> Unfortunately, many humans are moving in the opposite direction. As obesity

reaches epidemic rates in Western countries, Fontana says rather than closing

the 30-year gap between healthspan and lifespan, the gap is likely to grow. It's

even possible lifespan may decrease as people develop preventable diseases such

as atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes and certain forms of cancer.

>

> Those growing rates of obesity are a reason some scientists think calorie

restriction will never catch on, regardless of its potential benefits. But,

Fontana says, if researchers who study nutrition and aging can understand how

calorie restriction lengthens life and makes people healthier, it may be

possible to develop less drastic interventions or medicines that influence

pathways affected by calorie restriction and help keep people healthy as they

get older.

>

> Among people now practicing calorie restriction, he says side effects include

reduced libido because calorie restriction reduces testosterone levels. They

also tend to become cold more quickly because their thermal regulation changes

as their metabolism slows and their core body temperature drops.

>

> Fontana says as calorie restriction research advances on many fronts, it's

becoming clear that dietary advice once based on epidemiological data now makes

sense from a molecular point of view. In the past, dietitians might recommend

more fruits and vegetables or less meat and more whole grains. They based that

advice on studies showing people who ate more vegetables or fewer animal

products tended to have less cardiovascular disease.

>

> " Now we have moved from epidemiology to molecular biology, " he says. " We know

that certain nutrients, as well as lower calorie intake, can influence IGF-1 and

other pathways. Soon we hope to be able to use that knowledge to help people

live longer and healthier lives.

>

> Fontana L, Partridge L, Longo VD. Extending healthy life span from yeast to

humans, Science, vol. 328 (5976) April 16, 2010. Manuscript Number:

Science.1172539

>

> Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer

faculty physicians also are the medical staff of -Jewish and St. Louis

Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical

research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked

third in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with

-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is

linked to BJC HealthCare.

>

> Source: Washington University in St. Louis

>

> Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/185631.php

>