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: _______________________________________________________________ <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." Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12757