X-Message-Number: 12757
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 08:31:06 -0800 (PST)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: general talk about "aging"

The following is an excerpt from a talk I had with a gerontologist.
Thought it might be interesting for some on this list:
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<snip>
  "It is results like this that have made me drop talk about "anti-aging".
This is too unscientific a term, and carries too many assumptions for it
to be a useful concept. Instead I prefer to talk directly about various
age associated processes - like the slow development of lymphoma, or
reduced mitochondria function, atherosclerosis in humans and so on.
There is good evidence that various interventions can completely block
some of these age-related decrements. Atherosclerosis (arginine), reduced
mitochondria function (ALCAR/lipoic acid), lymphoma (dibenzoylmethane),
etc, etc. There is lots of very interesting data in the medical
literature! A lot of this is missed if one focuses too narrowly on aging
itself.
  From a human standpoint for example, interventions to block lymphoma
would have virtually no effect on human mortality, since virtually
no humans die of this rather obscure disease. Reduced mitochondria
function does look to be a factor in human aging, but is still not a major
cause of mortality, though it looks like it may affect the quality of life
at advanced ages. 
  In humans atherosclerosis is the main cause of death,
and the importance of this process increases with age, till it is not only
the largest single cause of death, but is larger than all other causes of
death added together. Hence the surprising benefit of arginine-rich
peanuts on human mortality rates.
  When one breaks down the types of age-related dysfunction, I find one
can become rather more optimistic about the prospects for practical life
extension. IMHO, just saying humans age, hides what it is they are aging
of, and confuses matters needlessly. Science has progressed to the point,
where generalizations about generic aging need no longer be made. It is
time to get more specific."

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