Annual Survey of CRONies??

[Guest guest]

Hi Guys:

I am unsure if I have alluded to this previously or not. If I have I

apologize for cluttering the chat. I know I have not mentioned it in

as much detail as I will now:

One of the interesting aspects of the recent " Demography of Dietary

Restriction and Death in Drosophila " article in SCIENCE that I

referred to here a few weeks ago is that, at least in the case of the

fruit flies they studied, it is not necessary to wait until all

participants have died to determine how well it is working. They

found that whether CRON is working or not can be determined

relatively quickly if a sizeable group of practitioners is surveyed.

My suggestion/question here is whether it might be a good idea, if we

can find a large enough sample of CRONies willing to participate, to

do an annual survey of the same kind the study investigators did

daily with their fruit flies. The purpose being to assess the extent

to which CRON is working in our group. (Perhaps this is already

being done somewhere?)

The study found that within two days of instituting CRON in fruit

flies (starting at pretty much any age) the mortality rate of the

practitioners dropped by ~80%. Two days in fruit flies is about the

equivalent of four years in humans.

In other words, if CRON is working as well for us here as it does for

fruit flies, then four years after initiation of CRON each of us

individually should have a dramatically reduced (age adjusted)

probability of death compared with the overall population. And,

since the downward shift in death rates in fruit flies is so large,

the shift within this group should be readily observable among those

who have been on CRON for long enough.

If we know, or can find, the death rates by gender and age of the

overall population (shouldn't be difficult, especially if an actuary

is lurking here); can find enough members willing to take part; can

find someone willing to assume the annual survey workload; can locate

someone able, and willing, to do the data analysis (I would be happy

to volunteer for that if no actuary is present); then in a couple of

years we should easily be able to see much lower mortality within the

group than among the general population of equivalent age. Among

other things that would provide us with extra motivation to continue

with CRON.

'Participation in the survey' would mean providing: gender and date

of birth; an approximate date of initiation of CRON; primary and

secondary email addresses to which surveys would be sent; a

telephone number to use in the event there is no response to an

annual survey request; and a name, address, phone number and email

address of a next of kin, with whom a check can be made if all other

contact attempts are unsuccessful.

The key survey question would simply be: " Are you still alive? " !!!

Any answer will be taken to be a 'YES' ; ^ ) There may be other

survey questions that would be helpful also.

Just a thought.

Rodney.