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Longevity

News & Research:

• Researchers May Have Found a Way to Slow Human Aging - Time, 2/9/23 - "For decades, researchers have studied calorie restriction as a potential method of extending lifespan. Numerous promising trials, some dating back almost a century, have been conducted in animals—but the new study, published Feb. 9 in Nature Aging, is significant because it demonstrates that calorie restriction may also slow aging in humans ... The third model was meant to find the rate at which someone is aging, rather than their current biological age. Under that framework, the researchers found that two years of calorie restriction led to a 2% to 3% slower pace of aging. That may not sound like much, but, according to the study’s authors, previous research suggests a similar slow-down in biological aging could reduce someone’s risk of death by up to 15%—roughly the same longevity benefit associated with quitting a smoking habit."
• Lithium treatment extends human lifespan: findings from the UK Biobank - "therapeutic supplementation of lithium linked to decreased mortality (p = 0.0017) of individuals diagnosed with affective disorders. Subsequent multivariate survival analyses reveal lithium to be the strongest factor in regards to increased survival effects (hazard ratio = 0.274 [0.119-0.634 CI 95%, p = 0.0023]), corresponding to 3.641 times lower (95% CI 1.577-8.407) chances of dying at a given age for lithium users compared to users of other anti-psychotic drugs. While these results may further support the use of lithium as a geroprotective supplement, it should be noted that doses applied within the UK Biobank/NHS setting require close supervision by qualified medical professionals" - See lithium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Poor Hydration May Be Linked to Early Aging and Chronic Disease, a 25-Year Study Finds - NBC, 1/2/23 - "The researchers looked at levels of sodium in the participants' blood as a proxy for hydration, because higher concentrations are a sign that they most likely weren't consuming enough fluids. The researchers found that the participants with high blood-sodium levels aged faster physiologically than those with lower levels, which was reflected in health markers associated with aging, like high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar ... The study participants all had blood-sodium concentrations considered to be within the normal range: 135 to 146 millimoles per liter. But the findings suggested that people with levels at the higher end of that normal range — above 144 millimoles per liter — were 50% more likely to show signs of physical aging beyond what would be expected for their years compared to people with lower blood-sodium levels. They also had a roughly 20% increased risk of premature death"
• Early or late-life treatment with acarbose or rapamycin improves physical performance and affects cardiac structure in aging mice - J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 2022 Nov 7 - "Pharmacological treatments can extend lifespan in mice. For optimal translation in humans, treatments should improve health during aging, and demonstrate efficacy when started later in life. Acarbose (ACA) and Rapamycin (RAP) extend lifespan in mice when treatment is started early or later in life. Both drugs can also improve some indices of healthy aging, although there has been little systematic study of whether health benefits accrue differently depending on the age at which treatment is started. Here we compare the effects of early (4 month) versus late (16 month) onset ACA or RAP treatment on physical function and cardiac structure in genetically heterogeneous aged mice. ACA or RAP treatment improve rotarod acceleration and endurance capacity compared to controls, with effects that are largely similar in mice starting treatment from early or late in life. Compared to controls, cardiac hypertrophy is reduced by ACA or RAP in both sexes regardless of age treatment onset. ACA has a greater effect on the cardiac lipidome than RAP, and effects of early life treatment are recapitulated by late life treatment. These results indicate that late life treatment with these drugs provide at least some of the benefits of life long treatment, although some of the benefits occur only in males, which could lead to sex differences in health outcomes later in life" - See Siromus (rapamycin) at ReliableRXPharmacy.
  • Comparison of Glucose Lowering Effect of Metformin and Acarbose in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Meta-Analysis - PLoS One. 2015 - "The glucose lowering effects of metformin monotherapy and acarbose monotherapy are the same by direct comparison, while metformin is a little better by indirect comparison. This implies that the effect of metformin is at least as good as acarbose's"
• Ginsenoside Rg1 Reduces Oxidative Stress Via Nrf2 Activation to Regulate Age-Related Mesenchymal Stem Cells Fate Switch Between Osteoblasts and Adipocytes - Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2022 Oct 11 - "An important feature of aging cells is the gradual loss of physiological integrity. As aging progresses, MSCs change preferring to differentiate toward adipocytes rather than osteoblasts. Oxidative stress accumulation is an important factor in age-related bone loss. Many experiments have demonstrated the good therapeutic effect of Ginsenoside (Rg1) on oxidative stress injury. In this study, we investigated the effect of Rg1 on the osteogenic-adipogenic differentiation balance of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSC) ... We have uncovered a novel function for Rg1 that involves attenuating bone loss via Nrf2 antioxidant signaling, which in turn may potentially be utilized as a therapeutic agent for improving osteogenic differentiation in aging BMMSCs" - See ginseng at Amazon.com.
• Every 2,000 steps a day could help keep premature death at bay - Washington Post, 10/4/22 - "For every 2,000 steps you take each day, your risk for premature death may fall by 8 to 11 percent, according to research published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine"
• Hawthorn fruit extract ameliorates H2O2-induced oxidative damage in neuronal PC12 cells and prolongs the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans via the IIS signaling pathway - Food Funct 2022 Sep 29 - "Hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida) fruit has a long history of use as traditional Chinese medicine and is shown to have many health benefits including antioxidant and anti-aging. In this study, the anti-aging mechanism of hawthorn fruit extract (HFE) is predicted by network pharmacology and further verified in H2O2-induced PC12 cells and Caenorhabditis elegans ... HFE significantly improved cell viability, increased superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activity, decreased lactate dehydrogenase release, the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and malondialdehyde content in H2O2-induced PC12 cells (p < 0.05). HFE significantly increased the mean lifespan of C. elegans by 28.43% (100 μg mL-1) and enhanced the stress resistance to H2O2, paraquat, juglone, ultraviolet radiation, and heat shock. HFE also suppressed the accumulation of aging pigments, improved the body bending ability, increased antioxidant enzyme activities, and reduced the contents of ROS and malondialdehyde. In addition, relevant gene expression, lifespan experiments with mutant strains, and molecular docking studies supported the results that HFE might extend lifespan through the IIS signal pathway" - See hawthorn betty extract at Amazon.com.
• US life expectancy is in freefall — we can’t keep blaming COVID - Hill, 9/10/22 - "Life expectancy varies by more than 20 years across counties in the United States, with the least healthy counties experiencing life expectancies comparable with some of the poorest countries globally. There is an almost eight- to nine-fold difference between the least and most healthy counties in the United States for life expectancy, cardiovascular mortality, diabetes incidence and the prevalence of opioid use, and much of this variation is explained by social, economic and local contextual factors ... The United States is the only high-income nation to be experiencing a persistent decline in life expectancy for over a decade, now accelerated by the COVID pandemic. Confronting this adverse trend will require the acknowledgment of the systemic fault lines that favor narrow biomedical approaches over social determinants of health; prioritizing chronic noncommunicable diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and mental health and a new alignment of approaches, priorities and investments to address the complex role of biological and societal factors on health in a balanced manner." - Note: More people need to get of their lounge chairs and go to the gym.
• Effect of 12-Week Intake of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide on Sleep Quality, Fatigue, and Physical Performance in Older Japanese Adults: A Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study - Nutrients 2022 Feb 11 - "Deteriorating sleep quality and physical or mental fatigue in older adults leads to decreased quality of life and increased mortality rates. This study investigated the effects of the time-dependent intake of nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) on sleep quality, fatigue, and physical performance in older adults ... NMN (250 mg) or placebo was administered once a day for 12 weeks. Sleep quality was evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Fatigue was evaluated using the "Jikaku-sho shirabe" questionnaire. Grip strength, 5-times sit-to-stand (5-STS), timed up and go, and 5-m habitual walk were evaluated to assess the physical performance. Significant interactions were observed between 5-STS and drowsiness. 5-STS of all groups on post-intervention and drowsiness of the NMN_PM and Placebo_PM groups on mid- and post-intervention showed significant improvement compared with those in pre-intervention. The NMN_PM group demonstrated the largest effect size for 5-STS (d = 0.72) and drowsiness (d = 0.64). Overall, NMN intake in the afternoon effectively improved lower limb function and reduced drowsiness in older adults. These findings suggest the potential of NMN in preventing loss of physical performance and improving fatigue in older adults" - See NMN at Amazon.com.
  • NMN vs NR – 1 Huge Difference | Dr David Sinclair & Dr Andrew Huberman Interview Clips - YouTube - Dr. Sinclair, who had done significant research on NMN, claims MNM is better than the much more expensive NR. Dr. Sinclair makes sense. He confirms a lot of what I've read yet look how few views he gets compared to bullshit artists like Dr. Eric Berg or Dr. John Campbell. For some reason, whether it's politics or health, people prefer lies.
• Metformin mitigates stress-induced premature senescence by upregulating AMPKα at Ser485 phosphorylation induced SIRT3 expression and inactivating mitochondrial oxidants - Mech Ageing Dev 2022 Jul 18 - "The senescence of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) is an important cause of cardiovascular disease such as atherosclerosis and hypertension. These senescence may be triggered by many factors, such as oxidative stress, inflammation, DNA damage, and senescence-associated secretory phenotypes (SASPs). Mitochondrial oxidative stress induces cellular senescence, but the mechanisms by which mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) regulates cellular senescence are still largely unknown ... This study provides mechanistic evidence that metformin acts as an anti-aging agent and alleviates VSMC senescence by upregulating mitochondrial antioxidant induced p-AMPK (Ser485)-dependent SIRT3 expression, which suggests metformin has therapeutic potential for the treatment of age-associated vascular disease" - See metformin at ReliableRX.
• Chili pepper extends lifespan in a concentration-dependent manner and confers cold resistance on Drosophila melanogaster cohorts by influencing specific metabolic pathways - Food Funct 2022 Jul 17 - "Recent prospective cohort studies showed that the regular use of chili pepper improves healthspan in humans. Indeed, chili pepper fruits contain phenolic substances which are structurally similar to those that show anti-aging properties ... Chili powder added to food in concentrations of 0.04%-0.12% significantly extended median lifespan in fruit fly cohorts of both genders by 9% to 13%. However, food supplemented with 3% chili powder shortened lifespan of male cohorts by 9%. Lifespan extension was accompanied by a decrease in age-independent mortality (i.e., death in early ages). The metabolic changes caused by consumption of chili-supplemented food had a pronounced dependence on gender. A characteristic of both fruit fly sexes that ate chili-supplemented food was an increased resistance to cold shock. Flies of both sexes had lower levels of hemolymph glucose when they ate food supplemented with low concentrations of chili powder, as compared with controls. However, males fed on food with 3% chili had lower levels of storage lipids and pyruvate reducing activity of lactate dehydrogenase compared with controls. Females fed on this food showed lower activities of hexokinase and pyruvate kinase, as well as lower ADP/O ratios, compared with control flies" - See capsicum at Amazon.com.
• Human age reversal: Fact or fiction? - Aging Cell 2022 Jul 2 - "Although chronological age correlates with various age-related diseases and conditions, it does not adequately reflect an individual's functional capacity, well-being, or mortality risk. In contrast, biological age provides information about overall health and indicates how rapidly or slowly a person is aging. Estimates of biological age are thought to be provided by aging clocks, which are computational models (e.g., elastic net) that use a set of inputs (e.g., DNA methylation sites) to make a prediction. In the past decade, aging clock studies have shown that several age-related diseases, social variables, and mental health conditions associate with an increase in predicted biological age relative to chronological age. This phenomenon of age acceleration is linked to a higher risk of premature mortality. More recent research has demonstrated that predicted biological age is sensitive to specific interventions. Human trials have reported that caloric restriction, a plant-based diet, lifestyle changes involving exercise, a drug regime including metformin, and vitamin D3 supplementation are all capable of slowing down or reversing an aging clock. Non-interventional studies have connected high-quality sleep, physical activity, a healthy diet, and other factors to age deceleration. Specific molecules have been associated with the reduction or reversal of predicted biological age, such as the antihypertensive drug doxazosin or the metabolite alpha-ketoglutarate. Although rigorous clinical trials are needed to validate these initial findings, existing data suggest that aging clocks are malleable in humans" - See metformin at ReliableRX, vitamin D at Amazon.com and alpha ketoglutarate at Amazon.com.
• Nicotinamide mononucleotide supplementation protects the intestinal function in aging mice and D-galactose induced senescent cells - Food Funct 2022 Jun 9 - "The nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) level shows a temporal decrease during the aging process, which has been deemed as an aging hallmark. Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), a key NAD+ precursor, shows the potential to retard the age-associated functional decline in organs ... The above data demonstrated the potential of NMN in ameliorating the structural and functional decline in the intestine during aging" - See nicotinamide mononucleotide at Amazon.com.
• Coffee Drinkers, Even Those With a Sweet Tooth, Live Longer - WebMD, 5/31/22 - "coffee drinkers were significantly less likely to die from any cause, heart disease, or cancer than those who didn't drink coffee at all ... This benefit was seen across types of coffee, including ground, instant, and decaffeinated. The protective effects of coffee were greatest in people who drank about two to four cups a day, among whom death was about 30% less likely, regardless of whether they added sugar to their coffee ... People who drank coffee with artificial sweeteners did not live significantly longer than those who drank no coffee at all"
• Can Fecal Transplants Help Reverse Aging? - Medscape, 5/12/22 - "Transplanting fecal microbiota from young mice into older mice can reverse signs of aging in the gut, brain, and eyes, a team of scientists from the United Kingdom has found. Conversely, transplanting microbiota from old mice to young mice has the opposite effect ... Age-related changes in diversity, composition, and function of the gut microbiota are associated with low-grade systemic inflammation, declining tissue function, and increased susceptibility to age-related chronic diseases ... Targeting the gut-brain axis in aging, by modification of microbial composition to modulate immune and metabolic pathways, may therefore be a potential avenue for therapeutic approaches to age-associated inflammatory and functional decline" - See probiotic supplements at Amazon.com.
• CD38 inhibitor 78c increases mice lifespan and healthspan in a model of chronological aging - Aging Cell 2022 Mar 8 - "Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) levels decline during aging, contributing to physical and metabolic dysfunction. The NADase CD38 plays a key role in age-related NAD decline. Whether the inhibition of CD38 increases lifespan is not known. Here, we show that the CD38 inhibitor 78c increases lifespan and healthspan of naturally aged mice. In addition to a 10% increase in median survival, 78c improved exercise performance, endurance, and metabolic function in mice. The effects of 78c were different between sexes. Our study is the first to investigate the effect of CD38 inhibition in naturally aged animals" - See nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide at Amazon.com.
• Metformin induces S-adenosylmethionine restriction to extend the Caenorhabditis elegans healthspan through H3K4me3 modifiers - Aging Cell 2022 Feb 11 - "Metformin, a widely prescribed first-line drug for the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus, has been shown to extend lifespan and delay the onset of age-related diseases. The precisely mechanisms by which these effects are realized remain elusive ... Through genetic screening of C. elegans, we find that metformin promotes the healthspan through an H3K4 methyltransferase/demethylase complex to downregulate the targets, including mTOR and S6 kinase. Thus, our studies provide molecular links between meformin, SAM limitation, histone methylation, and healthspan and elucidate the mode action of metformin-regulated healthspan extension will boost its therapeutic application in the treatment of human aging and age-related diseases" - See metformin at ReliableRX.
• More Olive Oil May Bring Longer Life - WebMD, 1/11/22 - "Olive oil is rich in healthful antioxidants, polyphenols and vitamins, and is a good source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. "One may speculate that mechanisms related to the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of olive oil may have played a role in these findings," .. When compared with people who never consumed olive oil, those who consumed more than 1/2 a tablespoon a day had a 19% lower risk of dying from heart disease, a 17% lower risk of dying from cancer, a 29% lower risk of dying from a neurodegenerative disease, and an 18% lower risk of dying from lung disease"
• Rejuvant®, a potential life-extending compound formulation with alpha-ketoglutarate and vitamins, conferred an average 8 year reduction in biological aging, after an average of 7 months of use, in the TruAge DNA methylation test - Aging (Albany NY) 2021 Nov 30 - "The search continues for possible interventions that delay and/or reverse biological aging, resulting in extended healthspan and lifespan. Interventions delaying aging in animal models are well established; however, most lack validation in humans. The length of human lifespan makes it impractical to perform survival analysis. Instead, aging biomarkers, such as DNA methylation (DNAm) clocks, have been developed to monitor biological age. Herein we report a retrospective analysis of DNA methylation age in 42 individuals taking Rejuvant®, an alpha-ketoglutarate based formulation, for an average period of 7 months. DNAm testing was performed at baseline and by the end of treatment with Rejuvant® supplementation. Remarkably, individuals showed an average decrease in biological aging of 8 years (p-value=6.538x10-12). Furthermore, the supplementation with Rejuvant® is robust to individual differences, as indicated by the fact that a large majority of participants decreased their biological age. Moreover, we found that Rejuvant® is of additional benefit to chronologically and biologically older individuals. While continued testing, particularly in a placebo-controlled design, is required, the nearly 8-year reversal in the biological age of individuals taking Rejuvant® for 4 to 10 months is noteworthy, making the natural product cocktail an intriguing candidate to affect human aging" - [Nutra USA] - See calcium alpha-ketoglutarate at Amazon.com.
• The effect of lactoferrin in aging: role and potential - Food Funct 2021 Dec 20 - "Aging is frequently accompanied by various types of physiological deterioration, which increases the risk of human pathologies. Global public health efforts to increase human lifespan have increasingly focused on lowering the risk of aging-related diseases, such as diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular disease, and cancers. Dietary intervention is a promising approach to maintaining human health during aging. Lactoferrin (LF) is known for its physiologically pleiotropic properties. Anti-aging interventions of LF have proven to be safe and effective for various pharmacological activities, such as anti-oxidation, anti-cellular senescence, anti-inflammation, and anti-carcinogenic. Moreover, LF has a pivotal role in modulating the major signaling pathways that influence the longevity of organisms. Thus, LF is expected to be able to attenuate the process of aging and greatly ameliorate its effects" - See lactoferrin at Amazon.com.
• Alpha-Ketoglutarate, an Endogenous Metabolite, Extends Lifespan and Compresses Morbidity in Aging Mice - Cell Metab 2020 Sep 1 - "We find that CaAKG promotes a longer, healthier life associated with a decrease in levels of systemic inflammatory cytokines. We propose that induction of IL-10 by dietary AKG suppresses chronic inflammation, leading to health benefits. By simultaneously reducing frailty and enhancing longevity, AKG, at least in the murine model, results in a compression of morbidity" - See alpha ketoglutarate at Amazon.com.
• Anti-aging ‘superfoods’ aren’t enough. Try one of these healthy overall eating plans - Washington Post, 12/17/21 - "At least one dark green leafy vegetable each day ... Berries at least twice a week ... At least 5 servings of nuts per week ... Beans or legumes at least every other day ... At least 3 servings of whole grains per day ... Poultry (not fried) at least twice a week ... Fish (not fried) at least once a week ... Limited consumption of cheese, fast foods and fried foods — less than once per week ... Less than one tablespoon a day of butter (use olive oil instead) ... Sweets or pastries less than 5 times per week ... Red meat no more than 3 meals per week ... Wine — no more than one glass daily, preferably red wine"
• Long Period of Daily Fasting Improves Metabolism, Lifespan in Mice - WebMD, 11/9/21 - "The mice that ate all their food in a single morning meal, whether calorie-restricted or not, had lower blood sugar, better use of fat stores for energy, less frailty as they aged, and longer lifespans ... In other words, these results in mice suggest that a prolonged daily fasting period offers similar benefits to calorie reduction"
• Want to add healthy years to your life? Here’s what new longevity research says - Washington Post, 10/11/21 - "Stress that’s good for longevity can be caused by nutrition. Ideally, our ancestors enjoyed protein-rich red meat for peak energy and performance. But when hunting expeditions failed, people resorted to eating hardy plants. Today, our bodies still infer a state of scarcity if we consume lots of vegetables, switching on the longevity genes. Indeed, such a diet is associated with longer lives, according to the Harvard study. Becoming a full-fledged vegetarian probably isn’t necessary, but, to maximize what longevity experts call “healthspan,” at least 50 percent of protein should come from vegetable sources, Longo said ... Another signal of scarcity that seems to switch on longevity genes is the restriction of all foods, which has been shown by decades of animal studies to lengthen life span. Although water-only fasting over several days can be dangerous, “fasting mimicking” diets — very low-calorie five-day eating plans that trick the body into thinking it’s fasting while allowing some foods and nutrients — have been shown to be safer. Longo believes such diets “will play a major part in maximizing longevity.”"
• Higher levels of omega-3 acids in the blood increases life expectancy by almost five years - Science Daily, 7/22/21 - "Having higher levels of these acids in the blood, as a result of regularly including oily fish in the diet, increases life expectancy by almost five years ... In contrast, "Being a regular smoker takes 4.7 years off your life expectancy, the same as you gain if you have high levels of omega-3 acids in your blood" - See omega-3 supplements at Amazon.com and iHerb.
• Exposure to pollutants, increased free-radical damage speeds up aging - Science Daily, 6/21/21 - "When we are exposed to a pollutant, such as radiation for cancer treatment, energy is transferred to the water in our body, breaking the water apart. This creates highly reactive molecules -- free radicals -- that will quickly interact with another molecule in order to gain electrons. When these free radicals interact with important biomolecules, such as a protein or DNA, it causes damage that can keep that biomolecule from working properly ... Some exposure to pollutants is unavoidable, but there are several lifestyle choices that increase exposure to pollution and thus increase free radicals in the body. Smoking, drinking and exposure to pesticides and other chemicals through occupational hazards all significantly increase free radicals"
• FISETIN Benefits vs Resveratrol | Powerful Age Reversal 2020 - 16 minute YouTube video.  See my flavonoid, resveratrol and pterostilbene pages.  See Fisetin at Amazon.com, resveratrol products at Amazon.com and pterostilbene at Amazon.com.
• Michio Kaku: How to Reverse Aging | Big Think
• What Anti Aging Supplements Should I Take? My Top 5 - 10 minute YouTube video.  He implies that he advises Elon Musk. I've already been taking all of them.
• Higher spermidine intake is linked to lower mortality: a prospective population-based study - Am J Clin Nutr 2018 Aug 1 - "The difference in mortality risk between the top and bottom third of spermidine intakes was similar to that associated with a 5.7-y (95% CI: 3.6, 8.1 y) younger age" - [Nutra USA] - See spermidine at Amazon.com.
• Three years younger in just eight weeks? A new study suggests yes! - Science Daily, 5/27/21 - "The study, released on April 12, utilized a randomized controlled clinical trial conducted among 43 healthy adult males between the ages of 50-72. The 8-week treatment program included diet, sleep, exercise and relaxation guidance, and supplemental probiotics and phytonutrients, resulting in a statistically significant reduction of biological age -- over three years younger, compared to controls"
• Amazon indigenous group's lifestyle may hold a key to slowing down aging - Science Daily, 5/26/21 - "the Tsimane have little or no access to health care but are extremely physically active and consume a high-fiber diet that includes vegetables, fish and lean meat ... the difference in brain volumes between middle age and old age is 70% smaller in Tsimane than in Western populations. This suggests that the Tsimane's brains likely experience far less brain atrophy than Westerners as they age; atrophy is correlated with risk of cognitive impairment, functional decline and dementia"
• Selenium supplementation protects against obesity and may extend lifespan - Science Daily, 3/30/21 - "One of the proven methods of increasing healthspan in many organisms, including non-human mammals, is to restrict dietary intake of an amino acid called methionine ... a research team from the Orentreich Foundation for the Advancement of Science (OFAS), Cold Spring, New York, US, aimed to develop an intervention that produces the same effects as methionine restriction, while also allowing an individual to eat a normal, unrestricted diet ... The team first studied whether selenium supplementation offered the same protection against obesity as methionine restriction. They fed young male and older female mice one of three high-fat diets: a control diet containing typical amounts of methionine, a methionine-restricted diet, and a diet containing typical amounts of methionine as well as a source of selenium. For both male and female mice of any age, the authors found that selenium supplementation completely protected against the dramatic weight gain and fat accumulation seen in mice fed the control diet, and to the same extent as restricting methionine ... heir results indicate that selenium supplementation produces most, if not all, of the hallmarks of methionine restriction, which suggests that this intervention may have a similar positive effect on healthspan ... yeast grown under selenium-supplemented conditions had a 62% longer chronological lifespan (from 13 days to 21 days) and a replicative lifespan extended by nine generations as compared with controls" - See Se-methyl l-selenocysteine at Amazon.com.
• How dietary choice influences lifespan in fruit flies - Science  Daily, 1/19/21 - "It has been recognised for nearly a century that diet modulates aging ... Lyu and colleagues began by giving fruit flies either a diet of brewer's yeast and sugar mixed together, or a choice of the two nutrients separately. They found that having the choice between foods changed the flies' behaviour and metabolism, and shortened their lifespan, independent of how much they ate"
• Drug reverses age-related mental decline within days, mouse study shows - Science Daily, 12/1/20 - "Just a few doses of an experimental drug can reverse age-related declines in memory and mental flexibility in mice ... The drug, called ISRIB, has already been shown in laboratory studies to restore memory function months after traumatic brain injury (TBI), reverse cognitive impairments in Down Syndrome, prevent noise-related hearing loss, fight certain types of prostate cancer, and even enhance cognition in healthy animals ... researchers showed rapid restoration of youthful cognitive abilities in aged mice, accompanied by a rejuvenation of brain and immune cells that could help explain improvements in brain function ... The data suggest that the aged brain has not permanently lost essential cognitive capacities, as was commonly assumed, but rather that these cognitive resources are still there but have been somehow blocked, trapped by a vicious cycle of cellular stress ... animals who received small daily doses of ISRIB during the three-day training process were able to accomplish the task as well as youthful mice, much better than animals of the same age who didn't receive the drug ... common signatures of neuronal aging disappeared literally overnight: neurons' electrical activity became more sprightly and responsive to stimulation, and cells showed more robust connectivity with cells around them while also showing an ability to form stable connections with one another usually only seen in younger mice ... ISRIB also alters the function of the immune system's T cells, which also are prone to age-related dysfunction ... aging has a profound and persistent effect on T cells and that these changes can affect brain function in the hippocampus ... One might think that interfering with the ISR, a critical cellular safety mechanism, would be sure to have serious side effects, but so far in all their studies, the researchers have observed none"-  Note:  It's too early for me to try it but I see several places like this selling it but the way I read it, it's $119 per pill and has to be stored at -20 degrees Celsius or -4 degrees Fahrenheit: https://www.apexbt.com/isrib-trans-isomer.html
• Nutrition Can Help DNA Repair in the Case of Aging - Nutrients 2020 Nov 1 - "Micronutrients such as vitamins and trace elements are crucial for maintaining the health of all organisms. Micronutrients are involved in every cellular/biochemical process. They play roles in proper heart and brain functioning, influence immunological responses, and antioxidant defense systems. Therefore, prolonged deficiency in one or more micronutrients leads to cardiovascular or neurodegenerative disorders. Keeping micronutrients at adequate levels is especially important for seniors. They are prone to deficiencies due to age-associated functional decline and often to a diet poor in nutrients. Moreover, lack of micronutrients has an indirect impact on the genome. Their low levels reduce the activity of antioxidant enzymes, and therefore inhibit the efficiency of defense against free radicals which can lead to the formation of DNA lesions. The more DNA damage in the genetic material, the faster aging at the cellular level and a higher risk of pathological processes (e.g., carcinogenesis). Supplementation of crucial antioxidative micronutrients such as selenium, zinc, vitamin C, and vitamin E seems to have the potential to positively influence the condition of an aging organism, including minimizing inflammation, enhancing antioxidative defense, and limiting the formation of DNA lesions. In consequence, it may lead to lowering the risk and incidence of age-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and malnutrition. In this article, we attempt to present the synergistic action of selected antioxidant micronutrients (vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and zinc) for inhibiting oxidative stress and DNA damage, which may impede the process of healthy aging" - See multivitamins at Amazon.com.
• Blood iron levels could be key to slowing aging, gene study shows - Science Daily, 7/16/20 - "The international study using genetic data from more than a million people suggests that maintaining healthy levels of iron in the blood could be a key to ageing better and living longer." - See iron supplements at Amazon.com and iHerb.
• Scientists may have found one path to a longer life - Science Daily, 7/10/20 - "feeding mifepristone to the fruit flies that have mated blocks the effects of sex peptide, reducing inflammation and keeping the female flies healthier, leading to longer lifespans than their counterparts who did not receive the drug"
• DNA Damage Is Inversely Associated to Blood Levels of DHA and EPA Fatty Acids in Brazilian Children and Adolescents - Food Funct 2020 May 20 - "This study aimed to investigate the association between DNA damage and blood levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), retinol, beta-carotene and riboflavin in Brazilian children and adolescents. Subjects (n = 140) were healthy boys and girls aged 9 to 13 years in Ribeirão Preto (SP, Brazil). Data collection included anthropometry, assessment of energy intake and blood sampling ... Principal component analysis (PCA) ... PCA explained 69.4% of the inverse relationships between DNA damage and blood levels of DHA, EPA, retinol, and beta-carotene. Results were confirmed by ANCOVA and multiple regression analyses for DHA and EPA. In conclusion, omega-3-fatty acids were inversely associated with DNA damage in Brazilian children and adolescents and may be a protective factor against the development of future diseases" - [Nutra USA] - See omega-3 supplements at Amazon.com and iHerb.
• Effects of metformin on lifespan, cognitive ability and inflammatory response in a short-lived fish - J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2020 May 3 - "Metformin, an oral antidiabetic drug, prolongs the lifespan in nematode, silkworm and other transgenic rodents, but its effects on longevity and aging-related cognitive ability using natural aging vertebrate models remain poorly understood ... Total of 145 fish, 72 fish were fed with metformin in the concentration of 2mg/gram food and 73 fish without metformin from 16 weeks of age until the end of their lives. The chronic feeding with metformin prolonged the lifespan of the fish and delayed aging with retarded accumulation of lipofuscin in liver, senescence-associated beta-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) activity in skin and serum levels of cholesterol and triglyceride significantly in the fish at 10-month-old. Furthermore, metformin improved motor, learning and memory skills by behavior tests accompanying with reduction of SA-β-gal activity and neurofibrillary degeneration and inhibition of inflammatory response including down-regulated NF-κB and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-8, TNF-α and IL-1β expression and enhanced anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 level in brain. These findings demonstrate that metformin prolongs the lifespan and exerts neuroprotective and anti-inflammation function to improve cognitive ability in annual fish. It might be an effective strategy by using metformin to raise the possibility of promoting healthy aging of old population in aging process" - See metformin at ReliableRxPharmacy.
• Mediterranean diet ingredient may extend life - Science Daily, 2/21/20 - "a team of researchers who discovered that olive oil in the Mediterranean diet may hold the key to improving lifespan and mitigating aging-related diseases ... According to Mashek, merely consuming olive oil is not enough to elicit all of the health benefits. His team's studies suggest that when coupled with fasting, limiting caloric intake and exercising, the effects of consuming olive oil will be most pronounced ... the way this fat works is it first has to get stored in microscopic things called lipid droplets, which is how our cells store fat. And then, when the fat is broken down during exercising or fasting, for example, is when the signaling and beneficial effects are realized"
• Intermittent fasting: Live 'fast,' live longer? - Science Daily, 12/26/19 - "Intermittent fasting diets, he says, fall generally into two categories: daily time-restricted feeding, which narrows eating times to 6-8 hours per day, and so-called 5:2 intermittent fasting, in which people limit themselves to one moderate-sized meal two days each week ... An array of animal and some human studies have shown that alternating between times of fasting and eating supports cellular health, probably by triggering an age-old adaptation to periods of food scarcity called metabolic switching. Such a switch occurs when cells use up their stores of rapidly accessible, sugar-based fuel, and begin converting fat into energy in a slower metabolic process ... studies have shown that this switch improves blood sugar regulation, increases resistance to stress and suppresses inflammation. Because most Americans eat three meals plus snacks each day, they do not experience the switch, or the suggested benefits ... four studies in both animals and people found intermittent fasting also decreased blood pressure, blood lipid levels and resting heart rates ... intermittent fasting could benefit brain health too. A multicenter clinical trial at the University of Toronto in April found that 220 healthy, nonobese adults who maintained a calorie restricted diet for two years showed signs of improved memory in a battery of cognitive tests"
• Diabetes drug has unexpected, broad implications for healthy aging - Science Daily, 12/4/19 - "The results revealed that metformin turns on unexpected kinases and pathways, many independent of AMPK. Two of the activated kinases are called Protein Kinase D and MAPKAPK2. These kinases are poorly understood, but are known to have some relation to cellular stress, which could connect them to the health-span- and life-span-extending effects observed in other studies. In fact, metformin is currently being tested in multiple large-scale clinical trials as a health-span- and life-span-extending drug, but the mechanism for how metformin could affect health and aging has not been clear. The current study indicates that Protein Kinase D and MAPKAPK2 may be two players in providing these therapeutic effects, and identifies new targets and cellular processes regulated by AMPK that may also be critical to metformin's beneficial effects."
• Alpha-ketoglutarate, an endogenous metabolite, extends lifespan and compresses morbidity in aging mice - bioRxiv, 10/2019 - "Here we show that alpha-ketoglutarate (delivered in the form of a Calcium salt, CaAKG), a key metabolite in tricarboxylic (TCA) cycle that is reported to extend lifespan in worms, can significantly extend lifespan and healthspan in mice. AKG is involved in various fundamental processes including collagen synthesis and epigenetic changes. Due to its broad roles in multiple biological processes, AKG has been a subject of interest for researchers in various fields. AKG also influences several age-related processes, including stem cell proliferation and osteoporosis. To determine its role in mammalian aging, we administered CaAKG in 18 months old mice and determined its effect on the onset of frailty and survival, discovering that the metabolite promotes longer, healthier life associated with a decrease in levels of inflammatory factors. Interestingly the reduction in frailty was more dramatic than the increase in lifespan, leading us to propose that CaAKG compresses morbidity" - [Nutra USA]  - See alpha ketoglutarate at Amazon.com.
• Treatment of metabolic dysfunction could be a potential therapy for Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 10/17/19 - "metabolic defects occur well before any significant increase in the amount of amyloid-beta protein could be detected. The research used a tiny worm called Caenorhabditis elegans to identify these changes because it shares many similarities at the molecular level with human cells. A further breakthrough came when the team found that treatment of the worms with a common anti-diabetes drug called Metformin reversed these metabolic defects and normalised the worms' healthspan and lifespan"
• Dog ownership associated with longer life, especially among heart attack and stroke survivors - Science Daily, 10/8/19 - "Prior studies have shown that dog ownership alleviates social isolation, improves physical activity and even lowers blood pressure -- leading researchers to believe dog owners could potentially have better cardiovascular outcomes compared to non-owners ... Compared to people who did not own a dog, researchers found that for dog owners: The risk of death for heart attack patients living alone after hospitalization was 33% lower, and 15% lower for those living with a partner or child ... The risk of death for stroke patients living alone after hospitalization was 27% lower and 12 ... The lower risk of death associated with dog ownership could be explained by an increase in physical activity and the decreased depression and loneliness, both of which have been connected to dog ownership in previous studies."
• Fruit flies live longer with combination drug treatment - Science Daily, 9/30/19 - "lithium as a mood stabiliser, trametinib as a cancer treatment and rapamycin as an immune system regulator ... The three drugs in question act on different proteins of this network to slow the ageing process and delay the onset of age-related death ... Each drug individually extended lifespan by an average of 11%, while pairing two drugs extended lifespan by roughly 30%. When the three drugs were combined, the fruit flies lived 48% longer than flies in a control group that were not given the treatment ... Previous studies in fruit flies have achieved lifespan extensions of about 5-20%, so we found it was quite remarkable that this drug combination enabled them to live 48% longer ... Rapamycin has undesirable effects on fat metabolism, which can be similar to insulin resistance in people, but lithium appeared to cancel out this effect when the two drugs were given together" - See lithium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Low Vitamin D Levels, Shorter Life? - WebMD, 9/20/29 - "Those with low vitamin D levels in their blood were nearly three times more likely to die during the study period than those with adequate levels ... When it came to the cause of death, vitamin D levels were most clearly linked to deaths from diabetes complications ... In fact, a recent study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, yielded disappointing results: Researchers found that vitamin D supplements did not help prevent type 2 diabetes in people at high risk of the disease ... But that may be in part because supplements later in life might not be enough to prevent a disease ... In general, vitamin D concentrations of 50 nmol/L or higher are considered to be high enough for overall health" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• The Week That Wasn't: Reverse Aging, Lyme Test, Apple Health Studies - Medscape, 9/13/19 - "After a year of taking the recombinant human growth hormone dehydroepiandrosterone and metformin, men in a small clinical trial showed a decrease in scores of epigenetic age based on DNA methylation ... his is to our knowledge the first report of an increase, based on an epigenetic age estimator, in predicted human lifespan by means of a currently accessible aging intervention" - See Pure Encapulations 7-Keto DHEA at Amazon.com.
• The mitophagy activator urolithin A is safe and induces a molecular signature of improved mitochondrial and cellular health in humans - Nature Metabolism volume 1, pages595–603 (2019) - "Urolithin A (UA) is a natural dietary, microflora-derived metabolite shown to stimulate mitophagy and improve muscle health in old animals and in preclinical models of aging1. Here, we report the results of a first-in-human clinical trial in which we administered UA, either as a single dose or as multiple doses over a 4-week period, to healthy, sedentary elderly individuals. We show that UA has a favourable safety profile (primary outcome). UA was bioavailable in plasma at all doses tested, and 4 weeks of treatment with UA at doses of 500 mg and 1,000 mg modulated plasma acylcarnitines and skeletal muscle mitochondrial gene expression in elderly individuals (secondary outcomes). These observed effects on mitochondrial biomarkers show that UA induces a molecular signature of improved mitochondrial and cellular health following regular oral consumption in humans" - [Nutra USA] - See pomegranate extract at Amazon.com.
• Study links sleep-disordered breathing to age acceleration - Science Daily, 6/7/19 - "Results show that each standard deviation increase in the apnea-hypopnea index, a measure of sleep-disordered breathing severity, was associated with the equivalent of 215 days of biological age acceleration. Similarly, each standard deviation increase in the arousal index, a measure of sleep disruption, was associated with the equivalent of 321 days of age acceleration ... Sleep-disordered breathing, such as obstructive sleep apnea, is characterized by abnormalities of respiration during sleep. Episodes often result in reductions in blood oxygen saturation and are usually terminated by brief arousals from sleep. Nearly 30 million adults in the U.S. have obstructive sleep apnea. Common warning signs include snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness"
• Could boosting the gut microbiome be the secret to healthier older age? - Science Daily, 6/4/19 - "Co-housing young and aged mice (mice naturally like to sample the faecal pellets of other mice!) or more directly performing faecal transfer from young to aged mice boosted the gut immune system in the aged mice, partly correcting the age-related decline ... To our surprise, co-housing rescued the reduced gut immune response in aged mice. Looking at the numbers of the immune cells involved, the aged mice possessed gut immune responses that were almost indistinguishable from those of the younger mice ... The results show that the poor gut immune response is not irreversible and that the response can be strengthened by challenging with appropriate stimuli, essentially turning back the clock on the gut immune system to more closely resemble the situation in a young mouse ... By demonstrating the effectiveness of interventions that have a positive impact on the composition of the gut microbiome, this research suggests that faecal transplants, probiotics, co-habitation and diet might all prove to be ways to facilitate healthy ageing" - Note the word "probiotics".  See probiotic products at Amazon.com.
• Pomegranate juice and extract extended lifespan and reduced intestinal fat deposition in Caenorhabditis elegans - Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2017 May;87(3-4) - "Pomegranate juice with a high content of polyphenols, pomegranate extract, ellagic acid, and urolithin A, have anti-oxidant and anti-obesity effects in humans. Pomegranate juice extends lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster. Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) (n = 6) compared to the control group in each treatment, lifespan was increased by pomegranate juice in wild type (N2, 56 %, P < 0.001) and daf-16 mutant (daf-16(mgDf50)I) (18 %, P = 0.00012), by pomegranate extract in N2 (28 %, P = 0.00004) and in daf-16(mgDf50)I (10 %, P < 0.05), or by ellagic acid (11 %, P < 0.05). Pomegranate juice reduced intestinal fat deposition (IFD) in C. elegans" - See pomegranate extract at Amazon.com.
• As Sense of Smell Fades, Does Death Come Closer? - WebMD, 4/29/19 - "Participants took a brief smell identification test as part of a battery of health examinations. They then were tracked for about 17 years, to see what illnesses might affect them ... We found that compared to people with a good sense of smell, those with a poor sense of smell had about a 48% higher risk for death at year 10 and a 30% higher risk at year 13"
• Mid-life resting heart rate of 75 plus beats/minute linked to doubling in early death risk - Science Daily, 4/16/19 - "But a resting heart rate of 75+ bpm in 1993 was nevertheless associated with around a twofold higher risk of death from any cause, from cardiovascular disease, and from coronary heart disease, compared with a resting heart rate of 55 or below ... every additional beat increase in rate was associated with a 3 per cent higher risk of death from any cause, a 1 per cent higher risk of cardiovascular disease, and a 2 per cent higher risk of coronary heart disease"
• Poor Diets Are Linked to 20% of All Deaths Worldwide, Study Says. But These Foods Could Help - Time, 4/3/19 - "Eating too much sodium — which is linked to high blood pressure and heart conditions — was the largest cause of diet-related death globally, the researchers found. But on the whole, “the main problem we see is the low intake of healthy food,” rather than high intake of unhealthy food, Afshin says. Aside from over-eating sodium and trans fats, most of the top dietary risk factors were related to not eating enough nutritious foods, including whole grains, nuts and seeds, fruits, vegetables, polyunsaturated fats and legumes, Afshin says."
• Better Late Than Never: Exercising Helps You Live Longer No Matter When You Start, Study Says - Time, 3/8/19 - "they asked more than 315,000 U.S. adults — between ages 50 and 71 — about their leisure-time activity at four different points in their lives: when they were 15-18 years, 19-29 years, 35-39 years and 40-61 years ... People who said they exercised anywhere from two to eight hours a week at each time period had a 29% to 36% lower risk of dying from any cause during the study’s 20-year period, compared to people who rarely or never exercised. They also lowered their risk of dying from heart disease by up to 42% and cancer by up to 14% compared to inactive people. The more people exercised, the greater their risk reductions"
• Lifelong Exercise Halts Markers of Aging, Immune System Decline - Medscape, 2/1/19 - "Researchers found that muscle fiber type and composition, size, and mitochondrial protein content showed no association with age. However, they did find that in males, type 1 fibers and capillary density were significantly associated with training volume, maximum oxygen uptake, oxygen uptake kinetics, and ventilatory threshold; whereas in females, capillary density was associated with training volume. Male subjects also failed to increase body fat and cholesterol levels with age and experienced no declines in testosterone levels. Moreover, the thymus glands of the subjects made T cells at the same rate as young people, a marker of immune system competency"
• Phys Ed: Is Aerobic Exercise the Key to Successful Aging? - NYT, 12/11/18 - "Aerobic activities like jogging and interval training can make our cells biologically younger; weight training did not have the same effect." - Note:  I'm always been an aerobic person and never bought off on the anaerobic craze.  You can only do so much and I already spend an hour and a half on aerobics per day.
• Prolonging healthy aging: Longevity vitamins and proteins - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Oct 23 - "Impairment of the function of longevity proteins results in an insidious acceleration of the risk of diseases associated with aging. I also propose that nutrients required for the function of longevity proteins constitute a class of vitamins that are here named "longevity vitamins." I suggest that many such nutrients play a dual role for both survival and longevity. The evidence for classifying taurine as a conditional vitamin, and the following 10 compounds as putative longevity vitamins, is reviewed: the fungal antioxidant ergothioneine; the bacterial metabolites pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) and queuine; and the plant antioxidant carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin, lycopene, α- and β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, and the marine carotenoid astaxanthin. Because nutrient deficiencies are highly prevalent in the United States (and elsewhere), appropriate supplementation and/or an improved diet could reduce much of the consequent risk of chronic disease and premature aging" - [Nutra USA]
• Researchers have discovered how to slow aging - Science Daily, 10/2/18 - "They now have shown that treatment of aged mice with the natural product Fisetin, found in many fruits and vegetables, also has significant positive effects on health and lifespan ... Robbins and fellow researchers found a natural product, called Fisetin, reduces the level of these damaged cells in the body. They found this by treating mice towards the end of life with this compound and see improvement in health and lifespan ... These results suggest that we can extend the period of health, termed healthspan, even towards the end of life" - See fisetin at Amazon.com.
  • Fisetin: A Dietary Antioxidant for Health Promotion - Antioxid Redox Signal. 2013 Jul 10; 19(2): 151–162 - "The highest concentration of fisetin was found in strawberries (160 μg/g) followed by apple (26.9 μg/g) and persimmon (10.5 μg/g) (33)"
• 'Right' Amount of Carbs May Help You Live Longer - WebMD, 8/17/18 - "Researchers followed more than 15,000 people in the United States for a median of 25 years and found that low-carb diets (fewer than 40 percent of calories from carbohydrates) and high-carb diets (more than 70 percent of calories) were associated with an increased risk of premature death ... Moderate consumption of carbohydrates (50 to 55 percent of calories) was associated with the lowest risk of early death ... The researchers estimated that from age 50, people eating a moderate-carb diet would live another 33 years, four years longer than those with very low carb consumption, and one year longer than those with high carb consumption ... all low-carb diets may not be equal. Eating more animal-based proteins and fats from foods like beef, lamb, pork, chicken and cheese instead of carbohydrates was associated with a greater risk of early death, while eating more plant-based proteins and fats from foods such as vegetables, legumes, and nuts lowered the risk"
• How to Increase Your Chances of Having a Long, Healthy Life - NYT, 6/4/18 - "Dr. Murray said that medical practice also needs some serious tweaking. “Primary care providers are too focused on diagnosing disease and treating it,” he said. “They need to focus on the big contributors to risk, like high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which are easy to detect and easy to treat. Patients should demand it and, if they do, doctors will provide it.”"
• The Surprising Secrets to Living Longer — And Better - Time, 2/19/18 - “It really is an issue of moderation,” says Peter Martin, a professor of human development and family studies at Iowa State University, who runs an ongoing study of centenarians. Martin notes that while most centenarians eat different but generally healthy diets, one consistent thing he has picked up from work with his 100-plus crowd is breakfast. “They rarely skip breakfast,” he says. “It’s often at a very specific time, and the routine is important.”
• FDA-approved high blood pressure drug extends life span in roundworms - Science Daily, 12/20/17 - "This is the first report of hydralazine treatment activating the NRF2/SKN-1 signaling pathway. We found the drug extends the life span of worms as well as or better than other potential anti-aging compounds such as curcumin and metformin"
  • Hydralazine - wikipedia.org - "Common side effects include headache and fast heart rate.[1] It is not recommended in people with coronary artery disease or in those with rheumatic heart disease that affects the mitral valve.[1] In those with kidney disease a low dose is recommended ... It was patented in 1949 ... The wholesale cost in the developing world is about 2.78 to 9.11 USD per month ... Hydralazine is not used as a primary drug for treating hypertension because it elicits a reflex sympathetic stimulation of the heart (the baroreceptor reflex).[8] The sympathetic stimulation may increase heart rate and cardiac output, and in people with coronary artery disease may cause angina pectoris or myocardial infarction.[9] Hydralazine may also increase plasma renin concentration, resulting in fluid retention ... Prolonged treatment may cause a syndrome similar to lupus which can become fatal if the symptoms are not noticed and drug treatment stopped"
• Towards natural mimetics of metformin and rapamycin - Aging (Albany NY). 2017 Nov 15 - "The analysis revealed many novel candidate metformin and rapamycin mimetics, including allantoin and ginsenoside (metformin), epigallocatechin gallate and isoliquiritigenin (rapamycin), and withaferin A (both)" - [Nutra USA] - See ginseng at Amazon.com and ashwagandha at Amazon.com.  See metformin at the Antiaging Store.
  • Withaferin A - wikipedia.org - "Withaferin A is a steroidal lactone, derived from Acnistus arborescens,[1] Withania somnifera[2] (Indian Winter cherry or Ashwagandha in Sanskrit) and other members of Solanaceae family"
• An Hour of Running May Add 7 Hours to Your Life - NYT, 4/12/17 - "In concrete terms, an hour of running statistically lengthens life expectancy by seven hours"
• Astaxanthin compound found to switch on the FOX03 'Longevity Gene' in mice - Science Daily, 3/28/17 -"The Astaxanthin compound CDX-085 (developed by Cardax) showed the ability to significantly increase the expression of the FOXO3 gene, which plays a proven role in longevity ... We found a nearly 90% increase in the activation of the FOXO3 "Longevity Gene" in the mice fed the higher dose of the Astaxanthin compound CDX-085" - See BioAstin at Amazon.com
• Anti-Aging Effect of Riboflavin Via Endogenous Antioxidant in Fruit fly Drosophila Melanogaster - J Nutr Health Aging. 2017;21(3):314-31 - "Riboflavin prolonged the lifespan and increased the reproduction of fruit flies through anti-oxidative stress pathway involving enhancing the activity of SOD1 and CAT and inhibiting LF accumulation. Riboflavin deserves more attention for slowing human aging" - See riboflavin at Amazon.com.
• High-sugar diet programs a short lifespan in flies - Science Daily, 1/11/17 - "Flies with a history of eating a high sugar diet live shorter lives, even after their diet improves. This is because the unhealthy diet drives long-term reprogramming of gene expression ... The FOXO gene is important for longevity in a wide variety of species, including yeast, flies, worms and humans, so the team say the findings may have broad implications"
• Natural compound reduces signs of aging in healthy mice - Science Daily, 10/27/16 - "With age, the body loses its capacity to make a key element of energy production called NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) ... Past research also has shown that NAD is not effective when given directly to mice so the researchers sought an indirect method to boost its levels. To do so, they only had to look one step earlier in the NAD supply chain to a compound called NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) ... NMN can be given safely to mice and is found naturally in a number of foods, including broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, edamame and avocado. The new study shows that when NMN is dissolved in drinking water and given to mice, it appears in the bloodstream in less than three minutes. Importantly, the researchers also found that NMN in the blood is quickly converted to NAD in multiple tissues ... The researchers found a variety of beneficial effects of NMN supplementation, including in skeletal muscle, liver function, bone density, eye function, insulin sensitivity, immune function, body weight and physical activity levels" - See NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) at Amazon.com.
• Activation of the AMPK/Sirt1 pathway by a leucine-metformin combination increases insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle, and stimulates glucose and lipid metabolism and increases life span in Caenorhabditis elegans - Metabolism. 2016 Jul 9 - "We have previously shown leucine (Leu) to activate Sirt1 by lowering its KM for NAD+, thereby amplifying the effects of other sirtuin activators and improving insulin sensitivity. Metformin (Met) converges on this pathway both indirectly (via AMPK) and by direct activation of Sirt1 ... Leu and Met synergize to enable Sirt1 activation at low NAD+ concentrations (typical of energy replete states). Sirt1 and AMPK activations are required for Met-Leu's full action, which result in improvements in energy metabolism and insulin sensitivity" - See BulkSupplements Pure L-Leucine Powder (1 Kilogram) and metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Pomegranate finally reveals its powerful anti-aging secret - Science Daily, 7/11/16 - "The team started out by testing their hypothesis on the usual suspect: the nematode C. elegans. It's a favorite test subject among aging experts, because after just 8-10 days it's already considered elderly. The lifespan of worms exposed to urolithin A increased by more than 45% compared with the control group ... These initial encouraging results led the team to test the molecule on animals that have more in common with humans. In the rodent studies, like with C. elegans, a significant reduction in the number of mitochondria was observed, indicating that a robust cellular recycling process was taking place. Older mice, around two years of age, showed 42% better endurance while running than equally old mice in the control group" - See pomegranate extract at Amazon.com.
• Chlorogenic Acid Extends the Lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans via Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling Pathway - J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2016 Jul 4 - "Coffee and tea, two of the most popular drinks around the world, share many in common from chemical components to beneficial effects on human health. One of their shared components, the polyphenols, most notably chlorogenic acid (CGA), was supposed to account for many of the beneficial effects on ameliorating diseases occurred accompanying people aging, such as the antioxidant effect and against diabetes and cardiovascular disease ... We found that CGA could extend the lifespan of C. elegans by up to 20.1%, delay the age-related decline of body movement, and improve stress resistance" - See chlorogenic acid at Amazon.com.
• Fountain of youth? Dietary supplement may prevent and reverse severe damage to aging brain, research suggests - Science Daily, 6/2/16 - "contains common ingredients such as vitamins B, C and D, folic acid, green tea extract, cod liver oil and other nutraceuticals ... The mice used in this study had widespread loss of more than half of their brain cells, severely impacting multiple regions of the brain by one year of age, the human equivalent of severe Alzheimer's disease ... they also discovered that the mice on the supplements experienced enhancement in vision and most remarkably in the sense of smell -- the loss of which is often associated with neurological disease -- improved balance and motor activity" - See Garden of Life Vitamin Code 50 & Wiser Men's Multi, 240 Capsules and Garden of Life Vitamin Code 50 & Wiser Women's Multi, 240 Capsules.
• Vitamin stops the aging process of organs - Science Daily, 4/28/16 - "As mice, like all mammals, age, the regenerative capacity of certain organs (such as the liver and kidneys) and muscles (including the heart) diminishes. Their ability to repair them following an injury is also affected. This leads to many of the disorders typical of aging ... We gave nicotinamide riboside to 2-year-old mice, which is an advanced age for them ... This substance, which is close to vitamin B3, is a precursor of NAD+, a molecule that plays a key role in mitochondrial activity. And our results are extremely promising: muscular regeneration is much better in mice that received NR, and they lived longer than the mice that didn't get it ... Parallel studies have revealed a comparable effect on stem cells of the brain and skin ... So far, no negative side effects have been observed following the use of NR, even at high doses" - See nicotinamide riboside at Amazon.com.
• Lithium study helps scientists unlock ageing puzzle - BBC News, 4/7/16 - "fruit flies lived 16% longer than average when given low doses of lithium ... At high doses, lithium reduced their lifespan ... We found low doses not only prolong life but also shield the body from stress and block fat production for flies on a high sugar diet" - See lithium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Scientific secrets for successful aging? - Science Daily, 3/29/16 - "Now that these age-related metabolites have been identified, the decline in antioxidants and muscle strength suggest that it is important for individuals to consume foods high in antioxidants and to continue exercising, especially after the age of 65. This could help increase the levels of the related metabolites in the body and improve body conditions"
• Face cream ingredient found to mimic life-extending effects of a calorie restriction diet - Science Daily, 12/16/15 - "scientists have shown for the first time that allantoin, which is found in botanical extracts of the comfrey plant and is an ingredient of many anti-ageing creams, can mimic the effect of calorie restriction and increase lifespan in worms by more than 20% ... worms treated with allantoin, rapamycin, trichostatin A and LY-294002 not only lived longer, but also stayed healthier longer. Additionally, when the same compounds were tested in mutant worms they extended lifespan in a way expected from calorie restriction" - See allantoin products at Amazon.com.
• Bone drug protects stem cells from aging - Science Daily, 12/17/15 - "the drug zoledronate is able to extend the lifespan of mesenchymal stem cells by reducing DNA damage ... DNA damage is one of the most important mechanisms of aging where stem cells lose their ability to maintain and repair the tissues in which they live and keep it working correctly"
• Oleanolic acid activates daf-16 to increase lifespan in C.elegans - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2015 Nov 16 - "We investigate here whether OA has an impact on longevity in vivo, and more specifically, we have examined effects of OA on the lifespan and stress tolerance in Caenorhabditis elegans (C.elegans). Our results showed that OA could extend the lifespan, increase its stress resistance and reduce the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in wild-type worms. Moreover, we have found that OA-induced longevity may not be associated with the calorie restriction (CR) mechanism" - See oleanolic acid at Amazon.com.
  • Oleanolic acid - wikipedia.org - "Oleanolic acid can be found in olive oil, Phytolacca americana (American pokeweed), and Syzygium spp, garlic, etc."
• Folic acid supplementation at lower doses increases oxidative stress resistance and longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans - Age (Dordr). 2015 Dec;37(6):113 - "Here, we show for first time that FA extends organism life span and causes a delay in aging. We observed that FA inhibits mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) and insulin/insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signaling pathways to control both oxidative stress levels and life span. The expression levels of stress- and life span-relevant gerontogenes, viz. daf-16, skn-1, and sir. 2.1, and oxidative enzymes, such as glutathione S-transferase 4 (GST-4) and superoxide dismutase 3 (SOD-3), were also found to be highly enhanced to attenuate the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) damage and to delay the aging process. Our study promotes the use of FA to mitigate abiotic stresses and other aging-related ailments" - See folic acid products at Amazon.com.
• Nutraceutical intervention reverses the negative effects of blood from aged rats on stem cells - Age (Dordr). 2015 Oct - "Aging is associated with a decline in function in many of the stem cell niches of the body. An emerging body of literature suggests that one of the reasons for this decline in function is due to cell non-autonomous influences on the niche from the body ... We examined if we could reverse this effect of aged serum on stem cell proliferation by treating aged rats with NT-020, a dietary supplement containing blueberry, green tea, vitamin D3, and carnosine that has been shown to increase neurogenesis in aged rats. Young and aged rats were administered either control NIH-31 diet or one supplemented with NT-020 for 28 days, and serum was collected upon euthanasia ... Serum from aged rats significantly reduced cell proliferation as measured by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) assays in both NPCs and MSCs. Serum from aged rats treated with NT-020 was not different from serum from young rats. Therefore, NT-020 rescued the effect of serum from aged rats to reduce stem cell proliferation"
• Are You Aging Faster Than Everyone Else? - NBC News, 7/7/15 - "as early as age 38, some people are biologically much older. In fact, some look like they're in their 60s, while others still look like 20-somethings ... Some of the people in our cohort had aged physiologically not at all between 26 and 38 ... At the other end of the extreme there were folks aging two to three times as much ... Their scores on the tests looked like people who are in their 50s and 60s ... The study members who appeared to be aging faster in their physiologies were also doing less well on the physical function ... We saw that already by age 38, study members whose physiologies were aging faster were showing signs of cognitive decline ... Perhaps most stunning, the aging-related changes showed up in people's faces"
• Metformin improves putative longevity effectors in peripheral mononuclear cells from subjects with prediabetes. A randomized controlled trial - Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2015 Mar 24 - "Compared to baseline, metformin significantly improved metabolic parameters and insulin sensitivity, increased SIRT1 gene/protein expression and SIRT1 promoter chromatin accessibility, elevated mTOR gene expression with concomitant reduction in p70S6K phosphorylation in subjects' PBMCs, and modified the plasma N-glycan profile. Compared to placebo, metformin increased SIRT1 protein expression and reduced p70S6K phosphorylation (a proxy of mTOR activity). Plasma N-glycans were also favourably modified by metformin compared to placebo" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Hormone replacement therapy and longevity - Andrologia. 2015 Apr 19 - "It was found that testosterone replacement therapy of men suffering from late onset hypogonadism increased survival rate by 9-10% in 5 years, similar to that of eugonadal, non-LOH men with normal endogenous testosterone secretion. Oestrogen replacement therapy resulted in increased survival by 2.6% in 5 years. It is concluded that hormone replacement therapy increases longevity"
• Impacts of metformin and aspirin on life history features and longevity of crickets: trade-offs versus cost-free life extension? - Age (Dordr). 2015 Apr;37(2):9769 - "Both drugs significantly increased survivorship and maximal life span. Maximal longevity was 136 days for controls, 188 days (138 % of controls) for metformin, and 194 days (143 % of controls) for aspirin. Metformin and aspirin in combination extended longevity to a lesser degree (163 days, 120 % of controls)" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• New class of drugs dramatically increases healthy lifespan, mouse study suggests - Science Daily, 3/9/15 - "like cancer cells, senescent cells have increased expression of "pro-survival networks" that help them resist apoptosis or programmed cell death. This finding provided key criteria to search for potential drug candidates ... Using these criteria, the team homed in on two available compounds -- the cancer drug dasatinib (sold under the trade name Sprycel®) and quercetin, a natural compound sold as a supplement that acts as an antihistamine and anti-inflammatory ... The two compounds had different strong points. Dasatinib eliminated senescent human fat cell progenitors, while quercetin was more effective against senescent human endothelial cells and mouse bone marrow stem cells. A combination of the two was most effective overall ... In animal models, the compounds improved cardiovascular function and exercise endurance, reduced osteoporosis and frailty, and extended healthspan" - See quercetin at Amazon.com.
• Ibuprofen Extends Life In Lab Species, Study Finds (Humans, Too?) - NBC News.com, 12/18/14 - "The ibuprofen administered to test subjects was comparable to recommended amounts for humans ... The treatments gave the organisms roughly 15 percent more life — equal to about 12 human years" - [Abstract] - See ibuprofen at Amazon.com.
• Sugared soda consumption, cell aging associated in new study - Science Daily, 10/16/14 - "Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened sodas might influence disease development, not only by straining the body's metabolic control of sugars, but also through accelerated cellular aging of tissues ... Based on the way telomere length shortens on average with chronological age, the UCSF researchers calculated that daily consumption of a 20-ounce soda was associated with 4.6 years of additional biological aging. This effect on telomere length is comparable to the effect of smoking, or to the effect of regular exercise in the opposite, anti-aging direction"
• Sense of Smell May Predict Longevity - NYTimes.com, 10/1/14 - "people who could not detect the odors were more than three times as likely to die within five years as those who could. The lower their scores on the odor test, the more likely they were to die. Only severe liver damage was a better predictor of death ... The researchers believe that the decline in the ability to smell is an indicator of some other age-related degeneration, and is not itself a cause of death"
• Curcumin enhances parental reproductive lifespan and progeny viability in Drosophila melanogaster - Age (Dordr). 2014 Oct;36(5):9702 - "We have used the well-established model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, and ascertained the consequence of diet supplementation with curcumin. Flies reared on curcumin-supplemented diet had significantly higher lifespan. The progeny of flies reared on curcumin had a higher viability. The activity of a key mitochondrial enzyme-aconitase was significantly higher in flies reared on curcumin-supplemented diet. The results suggest that curcumin can not only correct a key step in the citric acid cycle and help in the release of additional energy but also permanently correct developmental and morphogenetic processes" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin D: A Key to a Longer Life? - WebMD, 6/17/14 - "The researchers examined eight studies from Europe and the United States that together tracked more than 26,000 nonsmoking men and women ... Those with the lowest levels of vitamin D were about 1.5 times more likely than those with the highest levels to die from any cause and from heart disease during the periods of the studies. Those with low levels of vitamin D and a history of cancer were 1.7 times more likely to die of the disease ... It's not clear how vitamin D could help people live longer, but it might have something to do with the way it acts like a hormone" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Anti-diabetic drug slows aging and lengthens lifespan, animal study suggests - Science Daily, 6/2/14 - "Metformin causes a slight increase in the number of harmful oxygen molecules. We found that this makes cells stronger and extends their healthy lifespan ... Other studies in humans have shown that metformin suppresses some cancers and heart disease. Metformin could even be an effective drug for counteracting the general effects of aging, say the researchers" - [Abstract] - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• New tool to measure the speed of aging: Your handshake - Science Daily, 5/8/14 - "hand grip corresponds to other markers of aging such as people's future mortality, disability, cognitive decline and ability to recover from hospital stays"
• Top 3 Foods for a Longer Life - ABC News, 4/21/14 - "resveratrol increases the activity of specific genes called sirtuins that protect against diseases of aging by revving up the mitochondria, the little batteries inside our cells ... mice fed the bacterial strain Bifidobacterium animalis lactis lived longer and were healthier than mice that did not receive the probiotic ... people who consume 650 mg a day of polyphenols live longer than those who get less then that" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com and Garden of Life, Radical Fruits Antioxidant Complex at Amazon.com.
• Older adults: Build muscle and you'll live longer - Science Daily, 3/14/14 - "The researchers analyzed data collected by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III, conducted between 1988 and 1994. They focused on a group of 3,659 individuals that included men who were 55 or older and women who were 65 or older at the time of the survey. The authors then determined how many of those individuals had died from natural causes based on a follow-up survey done in 2004 ... They found that all-cause mortality was significantly lower in the fourth quartile of muscle mass index compared with the first quartile"
• Supplement added to standard diet improves health, prolongs life in mice - Science Daily, 2/27/14 - "Activating a protein called sirtuin 1 extends lifespan, delays the onset of age-related metabolic diseases, and improves general health in mice ... tested the effects of a small molecule that activates SIRT1, called SIRT1720, on the health and lifespan of mice. The animals were fed a standard diet supplemented with 100 mg/kg SRT1720 beginning at 6 months of age for the remainder of their lives ... SRT1720 significantly extended the average lifespan of mice by 8.8%. Supplementation also reduced body weight and body fat percentage, and it improved muscle function and motor coordination throughout the animals' lives"
  • SRT1720 - Wikipedia - "SRT1720 is a drug developed by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals intended as a small-molecule activator of the sirtuin subtype SIRT1. It has similar activity in the body to the known SIRT1 activator resveratrol, but is 1000x more potent"
• High Dietary Intake of Polyphenols Are Associated With Longevity - Science Daily, 10/9/13 - "the first to evaluate the total dietary polyphenol intake by using a nutritional biomarker and not only a food frequency questionnaire ... Polyphenols have antioxidant, antiinflammatory, anticarcinogenic, etc. effects ... based on a 12-year follow-up of a population sample composed by 807 men and women aged 65 or over from Greve and Bagno (Tuscany, Italy) ... the research proves that overall mortality was reduced by 30% in participants who had rich-polyphenol diets (>650 mg/day) in comparison with the participants who had low-polyphenol intakes (<500 mg/day)" - See Jarrow Formulas, OPCs + 95, 100 mg, 100 Capsules at iHerb.
• Pill linked to long life in mice - BBC News, 7/31/13 - "Scientists believe the drug, metformin, may mimic the effects of extreme calorie restriction ... Metformin is one of the most widely prescribed treatments for type-2 diabetes, which occurs mainly in people above the age of 40. It is also used to treat metabolic syndrome, a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity ... The scientists gave one of two different doses of metformin to middle-aged male mice and found that lower doses increased lifespan by about 5%, and also delayed the onset of age-associated diseases" - Note:  I've been taking it in low doses for years to help combat aging.  See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Rate of aging may be determined in the womb and linked to birthweight, study reveals - Science Daily, 7/9/13 - "a person's weight at the time of birth is an important determinant of health in middle and old age, and that people with low birth weight are more susceptible to age related diseases"
• A Decreased Micronucleus Frequency in Human Lymphocytes after Folate and Vitamin B12 Intervention: a Preliminary Study in a Yunnan Population - Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2012 Dec 1;82(6):374-382 - "Micronucleus (MN) is a validated biomarker for DNA damage in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and is a reflection of the changes of human nutritional status. Folate (FA) and vitamin B12 are one-carbon metabolism-related micronutrients, which play important roles in maintaining genomic stability ... Dietary supplement intake of FA and B12 based on MTHFR genotypes could protect the genome from damage and benefit genome health" - See folic acid products at Amazon.com and vitamin B12 at Amazon.com.
• High Concentrations of a Urinary Biomarker of Polyphenol Intake Are Associated with Decreased Mortality in Older Adults - J Nutr. 2013 Jun 26 - "Polyphenols might have a role in the prevention of several chronic diseases, but evaluating total dietary polyphenol (TDP) intake from self-reported questionnaires is inaccurate and unreliable. A promising alternative is to use total urinary polyphenol (TUP) concentration as a proxy measure of intake. The current study evaluated the relationship between TUPs and TDPs and all-cause mortality during a 12-y period among older adult participants ... In the multivariable Cox model, participants in the highest tertile of TUP at enrolment had a lower mortality rate than those in the lowest tertile [HR = 0.70 (95% CI: 0.49-0.99); P-trend = 0.045], whereas no significant associations were found between TDP and overall mortality. TUP is an independent risk factor for mortality among community-dwelling older adults, suggesting that high dietary intake of polyphenols may be associated with longevity" - See Jarrow Formulas, OPCs + 95, 100 mg, 100 Capsules.
• Herbal Extract Boosts Fruit Fly Lifespan by Nearly 25 Percent - Science Daily, 6/18/13 - "Rhodiola works in a manner completely unrelated to dietary restriction and affects different molecular pathways ... Rhodiola can act even in individuals who are already long-lived and healthy. This is quite unlike resveratrol, which appears to only act in overfed or unhealthy individuals ... Not only did Rhodiola improve lifespan an average of 24 percent in both sexes and multiple strains of flies, but it also delayed the loss of physical performance in flies as they aged and even extended the lives of old flies ... Rhodiola has already shown possible health benefits in humans, such as decreasing fatigue, anxiety and depression; boosting mood, memory and stamina; and preventing altitude sickness" - See Rhodiola rosea at Amazon.com.
• Calcium Supplements Linked to Longer Lifespans in Women - Science Daily, 5/22/13 - "Researchers analyzing data from the large-scale Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos) sought to clarify this issue and found moderate doses of calcium supplements had a beneficial effect in women ... The benefit was seen for women who took doses of up to 1,000 mg per day, regardless of whether the supplement contained vitamin D ... there was no statistical benefit for men ... the same benefits were seen when the calcium came from dairy foods, non-dairy foods or supplements"
• How diabetes drug delays aging in worms - Science Daily, 3/28/13 - "Following a calorie-restricted diet has been shown to improve health in later life and extend lifespan in a number of animals, ranging from the simple worm to rhesus monkeys. The type 2 diabetes drug metformin has been found to have similar effects in animals ... Overall, treatment with metformin adds up to 6 days of life for the worm which is equivalent to around a third of its normal lifespan. It seems to work by altering metabolism in the bacteria that live in the worm, which in turn limits the nutrients that are available to the worm host and has a similar effect to restricting the diet ... However, when they added an excess of sugar to the diet, the team found that the life-extending effects of metformin were cancelled out" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Anti-aging drug breakthrough - Science Daily, 3/8/13 - "Drugs that combat aging may be available within five years ... The target enzyme, SIRT1, is switched on naturally by calorie restriction and exercise, but it can also be enhanced through activators. The most common naturally-occurring activator is resveratrol, which is found in small quantities in red wine, but synthetic activators with much stronger activity are already being developed ... While any drug would be strictly prescribed for certain conditions, Professor Sinclair suggests that one day, they could be taken orally as a preventative ... overweight mice given synthetic resveratrol were able to run twice as far as slim mice and they lived 15 per cent longer" - Note:  They've been saying that five year thing ever since I've been reading health articles.  In the mean time, see resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Baby Boomers' Overall Health Worse Than Their Parents - Medscape, 2/4/13 - "Despite their longer life expectancy over previous generations, US baby boomers have higher rates of chronic disease, more disability, and lower self-rated health than members of the previous generation at the same age ... As to comparative disability, more than twice as many baby boomers used walking assist devices (6.9% vs 3.3%), more were limited in their work by disability (13.8% vs 10.1%), and 13.5% vs 8.8% were coping with some type of functional limitation ... In addition, more baby boomers are obese compared with the previous generation (38.7% vs 29.4%), and they reported exercising significantly less often (35.0% vs 49.9% exercised >12 times per month) ... Moderate drinking was more common among the boomers compared with the previous generation (67.3% vs 37.2%) ... Hypertension, too, was more common (43.0% vs 36.4%) ... the present study demonstrates a clear need for policies that expand efforts at prevention and healthy lifestyle promotion in the baby boomer generation"
• Hydrogen sulfide: The next anti-aging agent? - Science Daily, 1/29/13 - "Hydrogen sulfide* (H2S) may play a wide-ranging role in staving off aging ... Hydrogen sulfide is produced within the human body, and has a variety of important physiological effects. For example, it relaxes the vascular endothelium and smooth muscle cells, which is important to maintaining clean arteries as one ages ... It functions as an antioxidant. And it inhibits expression of pro-inflammatory factors, all of which "imply an important role in aging and age-associated diseases," ... Produced in the kidneys, it has direct angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibiting activity; that is, it's an ACE inhibitor, just like certain drugs that mitigate high blood pressure. Not surprisingly, plasma H2S declines with age, and is lower in spontaneously hypertensive rats than in those with normal blood pressure. More generally, a lack of H2S is implicated in cardiovascular disease"
• Healthy living adds fourteen years to your life, study suggests - Science Daily, 11/5/12 - "researchers pulled data from five different cohorts included in the Cardiovascular Lifetime Risk Pooling Project and looked at the participants' risk of all forms of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular disease from ages 45, 55 and 65 through 95 years of age ... Individuals with optimal risk factor profiles lived up to 14 years longer free of total CVD than individuals with at least two risk factors ... Men in middle age had lifetime risks of approximately 60 percent for developing cardiovascular disease ... Women in middle age had lifetime risks of approximately 56 percent for developing cardiovascular disease ... Lifetime risks for cardiovascular disease were strongly associated with risk factor burden in middle age"
• Acai counteracts oxidative stress, lengthens lifespan in fruit flies - Science Daily, 8/21/12 - "a commercially available acai berry product can lengthen the lives of fruit flies, when the flies' lives are made short through additional oxidative stress. Under certain conditions (a simple sugar diet) acai supplementation could triple flies' lifespans, from eight to 24 days. Acai could also counteract the neurotoxic effects of the herbicide paraquat on the flies ... Acai berries contain a variety of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, such as anthocyanins" - See acai berry products at Amazon.com.
• Regular jogging shows dramatic increase in life expectancy - Science Daily, 5/3/12 - "Results show that in the follow-up period involving a maximum of 35 years, 10,158 deaths were registered among the non-joggers and 122 deaths among the joggers. Analysis showed that risk of death was reduced by 44% for male joggers (age-adjusted hazard ratio 0.56) and 44% for female joggers (age-adjusted hazard ratio 0.56) ... Furthermore the data showed jogging produced an age adjusted survival benefit of 6.2 years in men and 5.6 years in women. Further analysis exploring the amounts of exercise undertaken by joggers in the study has revealed a U-shaped curve for the relationship between the time spent exercising and mortality. The investigators found that between one hour and two and a half hours a week, undertaken over two to three sessions, delivered the optimum benefits, especially when performed at a slow or average pace ... The ideal pace can be achieved by striving to feel a little breathless. "You should aim to feel a little breathless, but not very breathless," ... It improves oxygen uptake, increases insulin sensitivity, improves lipid profiles (raising HDL and lowering triglycerides), lowers blood pressure, reduces platelet aggregation, increases fibrinolytic activity, improves cardiac function, bone density, immune function, reduces inflammation markers, prevents obesity, and improves psychological function"
• Study resolves controversy on life-extending red wine ingredient, restores hope for anti-aging pill - Science Daily, 5/1/12 - "The new findings show for the first time that the metabolic benefits of the red wine ingredient known as resveratrol evaporate in mice that lack the famed longevity gene SIRT1 ... They show that resveratrol targets SIRT1 directly at moderate doses and hits other targets at higher ones. Importantly, SIRT1 is required for resveratrol's benefits irrespective of dose" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Tiny amounts of alcohol dramatically extend a worm's life, but why? - Science Daily, 1/20/12 - "How little ethanol is that? ... The concentrations correspond to a tablespoon of ethanol in a bathtub full of water or the alcohol in one beer diluted into a hundred gallons of water ... The scientists found that when they raised the ethanol level by a factor of 80, it did not increase the life span of the worms"
• Simple lifestyle changes can add a decade or more healthy years to the average lifespan, Canadian study shows - Science Daily, 10/22/11 - "Achieving these seven simple lifestyle factors gives people a 90 per cent chance of living to the age of 90 or 100, free of not only heart disease and stroke but from a number of other chronic illnesses including cancer ... 1. GET ACTIVE ... 2. KNOW AND CONTROL CHOLESTEROL LEVELS ... 3. FOLLOW A HEALTHY DIET ... 4. KNOW AND CONTROL BLOOD PRESSURE ... 5. ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN A HEALTHY WEIGHT ... 6. MANAGE DIABETES ... 7. BE TOBACCO FREE"
• Why muscles weaken with age and points to possible therapy - Science Daily, 8/2/11 - "As we grow older, our skeletal muscles tend to wither and weaken, a phenomenon known as sarcopenia. Sarcopenia, which begins to appear at around age 40 and accelerates after 75, is a major cause of disability in the elderly. Exercise can help counter the effects of age-related muscle loss ... Both the aging process and the genetic defect responsible for muscular dystrophy cause an increase in the production of oxygen free radicals, highly reactive and harmful molecules. "Our data suggest that this sets up a vicious cycle, in which the free radicals cause ryanodine receptors to leak calcium into the cell. The calcium poisons mitochondria -- organelles that power the cell -- leading to the release of even more free radicals. This, in turn, causes more calcium leakage. With less calcium available for contraction, the muscles get weaker," ... The study also points to a possible therapy for sarcopenia: an experimental drug called S107 ... "Most investigators in the field of aging have been saying that the way to improve muscle strength is to build muscle mass, using such therapies as testosterone, growth hormone, and insulin-like growth factor-1," says Dr. Marks. "But an increase in muscle mass is not necessarily accompanied by an increase in muscle function"
• U.S. Death Rate Hits Record Low - WebMD, 3/16/11 - "The 15 leading causes of death in 2009 and the decreases in associated death rates were reported as follows: ... 1.Heart disease: 3.7% ... 2.Cancer: 1.1% ... 3.Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 4.1% ... 4.Stroke: 4.2% ... 5.Accidents: 4.1% ..."
• Keys to long life? Not what you might expect - Science Daily, 3/12/11 - ""Don't work too hard, don't stress," doesn't work as advice for good health and long life. Subjects who were the most involved and committed to their jobs did the best. Continually productive men and women lived much longer than their more laid-back comrades ... "One of the findings that really astounds people, including us, is that the Longevity Project participants who were the most cheerful and had the best sense of humor as kids lived shorter lives, on average, than those who were less cheerful and joking. It was the most prudent and persistent individuals who stayed healthiest and lived the longest." ... Part of the explanation lies in health behaviors -- the cheerful, happy-go-lucky kids tended to take more risks with their health across the years, Friedman noted. While an optimistic approach can be helpful in a crisis, "we found that as a general life-orientation, too much of a sense that 'everything will be just fine' can be dangerous because it can lead one to be careless about things that are important to health and long life. Prudence and persistence, however, led to a lot of important benefits for many years"
• Can Exercise Keep You Young? - NYTimes.com, 3/2/11 - "in heartening new research published last week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, exercise reduced or eliminated almost every detrimental effect of aging in mice that had been genetically programmed to grow old at an accelerated pace ... mitochondria can accumulate small genetic mutations, which under normal circumstances are corrected by specialized repair systems within the cell. Over time, as we age, the number of mutations begins to outstrip the system’s ability to make repairs, and mitochondria start malfunctioning and dying ... Half of the mice were allowed to run on a wheel for 45 minutes three times a week, beginning at 3 months ... At 8 months, when their sedentary lab mates were bald, frail and dying, the running rats remained youthful. They had full pelts of dark fur, no salt-and-pepper shadings. They also had maintained almost all of their muscle mass and brain volume. Their gonads were normal, as were their hearts. They could balance on narrow rods, the showoffs ... But perhaps most remarkable, although they still harbored the mutation that should have affected mitochondrial repair, they had more mitochondria over all and far fewer with mutations than the sedentary mice had"
• Happiness improves health and lengthens life - Science Daily, 3/1/11 - "We reviewed eight different types of studies ... the general conclusion from each type of study is that your subjective well-being -- that is, feeling positive about your life, not stressed out, not depressed -- contributes to both longevity and better health among healthy populations ... Laboratory experiments on humans have found that positive moods reduce stress-related hormones, increase immune function and promote the speedy recovery of the heart after exertion. In other studies, marital conflicts and high hostility in married couples were associated with slow wound healing and a poorer immune response"
• Fountain of youth from the tap? Environmental lithium uptake promotes longevity, scientists demonstrate in worms - Science Daily, 2/18/11 - "A regular uptake of the trace element lithium can considerably promote longevity ... even a low concentration of lithium leads to an increased life expectancy in humans as well as in a model organism, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans ... the Jena scientists analyzed the mortality rate in 18 adjacent Japanese municipalities in relation to the amount of lithium contained in tap water from the respective regions. "We found that the mortality rate was considerably lower in those municipalities with more lithium in the drinking water," Ristow explains the key finding. In a second experiment, the Jena scientists examined exactly this range of concentration in the model organism C. elegans. The result was confirmed: "The average longevity of the worms is higher after they have been treated with lithium at this dosage," ... we know already that a higher uptake of lithium through drinking water is associated with an improvement of psychological well-being and with decreased suicide rates" - See lithium products at iHerb.
• Eat fiber, live longer - MSNBC, 2/14/11 - "Most Americans aren't getting enough roughage in their diets. The average American eats only about 15 grams of fiber each day, much less than the current daily recommendation of 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men, or 14 grams per 1,000 calories. For example, a slice of whole wheat bread contains 2 to 4 grams of fiber ... In the new study, the people who met the guidelines were less likely to die during a nine-year follow-up period ... The men and women who ate the highest amount of fiber were 22 percent less likely to die from any cause compared to those who ate the lowest amount"
• Relation Between High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Survival to Age 85 Years in Men (from the VA Normative Aging Study) - Am J Cardiol. 2011 Feb 4 - "We categorized initial HDL cholesterol into <40 mg/dl (reference group), 40 to 49 mg/dl, or ≥50 mg/dl ... Treating HDL cholesterol as a continuous predictor, we also determined the HR for each 10-mg/dl increment in HDL cholesterol. Fully adjusted HR (95% confidence interval) for survival to 85 years of age for participants with an initial HDL cholesterol level ≥50 mg/dl compared to the reference was 0.72 (0.53 to 0.98). Each 10-mg/dl increment in HDL cholesterol was associated with a 14% (HR 0.86, 0.78 to 0.96) decrease in risk of mortality before 85 years of age. In conclusion, after adjusting for other factors associated with longevity, higher HDL cholesterol levels were significantly associated with survival to 85 years of age" - See niacin at Amazon.com (niacin increases HDL).
• Smoking, obesity to blame for lag in U.S. lifespan - MSNBC/Associated Press, 1/25/11 - "The U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation yet has worse life expectancy than many — and a new report blames smoking and obesity ... That may sound surprising, considering that public smoking is being stamped out here while it's common in parts of Europe. And obesity is a growing problem around the world ... But the U.S. led those unhealthy trends, lighting up and fattening up a few decades ahead of other high-income countries. And the long-term consequences are life expectancy a few years shorter than parts of Europe and Japan"
• High alpha-carotene levels associated with longer life - Science Daily, 11/22/10 - "Oxygen-related damage to DNA, proteins and fats may play a role in the development of chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer ... Carotenoids -- including beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and lycopene -- are produced by plants and microorganisms and act as antioxidants, counteracting this damage ... Compared with individuals with blood alpha-carotene levels between 0 and 1 micrograms per deciliter, the risk of death during the study period was 23 percent lower among who had concentrations between 2 and 3 micrograms per deciliter, 27 percent lower with levels between 4 and 5 micrograms per deciliter, 34 percent lower with levels between 6 and 8 micrograms per deciliter and 39 percent lower with levels of 9 micrograms per deciliter or higher" - Note:  There are over 600 carotenoids and some claim that taking large amounts of just one of them can cause a deficiency of the others.  See Jarrow Formulas, CarotenALL, Mixed Carotenoid Complex at Amazon.com.
• Regular exercise reduces large number of health risks including dementia and some cancers, study finds - Science Daily, 11/15/10 - "Regular exercise can reduce around two dozen physical and mental health conditions and slow down how quickly the body ages ... Health conditions covered by the review include: cancer, heart disease, dementia, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, obesity and high blood pressure"
• US Hispanics Have Longer Life Expectancy Than White and Black Americans - ABC News, 10/14/10 - "long-term health has a lot to do with diet, and immigrants are far less likely to indulge in the types of fattening foods that have expanded the American waistline. Instead of fast food and processed products, immigrants tend to favor fruit, vegetables, rice and beans ... Experts add that Hispanic immigrants eat far less red meat, instead consuming less-expensive chicken ... Besides a healthy diet, Hispanic immigrants also have the strong social bonds with family and friends that longevity experts say promote a long and happy life -- including drinking and smoking less ... If you lose that family connectedness, then you tend to have more health problems ... The people across the board who live oldest and healthiest are people who are part of social networks" - Should they have added exercise to that? I’ve never seen any statistics but I think Hispanics might have on average more physically demanding jobs. I saw a study several years ago where postal workers that delivered mail door to door lived longer than postal workers in an office. I run or swim and hour and a half a day but when I take on a large project on my house I’m a lot sorer and start losing a pant size per week.
• Amino acid supplement makes mice live longer - Science Daily, 10/5/10 - "leucine, isoleucine, and valine extend the life span of single-celled yeast ... Animals that were given the extra amino acids over a period of months lived longer, with a median life span of 869 days compared to 774 days for untreated control animals, the researchers report. That's an increase of 12 percent ... The findings in older mice suggest that the supplementary mixture may be specifically beneficial for those who are elderly or ill" - See BCAA products at Amazon.com, it contains the three of these.
• Women's study finds longevity means getting just enough sleep - Science Daily, 9/30/10 - "the secret to a long life may come with just enough sleep. Less than five hours a night is probably not enough; eight hours is probably too much ... sleeping 6.5 to 7.5 hours per night was associated with best survival ... when sleep was measured objectively, the best survival was observed among women who slept 5 to 6.5 hours ... Women who slept less than five hours a night or more than 6.5 hours were less likely to be alive at the 14-year follow-up"
• Some interesting info on telomeres that someone sent:
  • Telomere Length Linked to Outcomes in Aplastic Anemia - nih.gov, 9/27/10 - "Aplastic anemia patients with shorter chromosome tips, or telomeres, have a lower survival rate and are much more likely to relapse after treatment than those with longer telomeres ... the blood cells of some patients with severe aplastic anemia disease have extremely short telomeres ... nearly 60% of the patients responded to immunosuppressive therapy. Of those who responded, the patients with the shortest telomeres were most likely to have a later relapse. The scientists found that the rate of relapse dropped as telomere lengths increased ... The group of patients with the shortest telomeres was also at greater risk for a conversion to bone marrow cancer (24%) than the other 3 groups (3% to 13%). Survival rates differed as well. Only 66% of patients with the shortest telomeres survived at least 6 years, compared to an 84% survival rate for the other 3 groups combined"
  • Happy Healthy Long Life: There's No Way Around It: If You Want to Live Longer You've Just Got to Do It! Get Out There & Exercise! - 2/6/08 - "by the time you're 65, well, there's just not that much left. Which is exactly why not too many of us make it past 80, 90 or 100. Not to get you even more depressed about your rapidly shrinking telomeres, but there have been a number of studies that have shown how stress, especially in caregiver's of chronically ill children and spouses of Alzheimer's patients have accelerated telomere shrinking. One study even suggested that you can accelerate your biological age by as much as 17 years if you're exposed to what you perceive as high psychological stress! ... it looks as if it's a safe bet to start lengthening your telomeres now, by EXERCISING!"
• Coffee may protect against DNA damage: Study - Nutra USA, 9/7/10 - "coffee is one of the richest sources of polyphenols in the Western diet, with one cup of the stuff providing 350 milligrams of phenolics. Of these, the most abundant compounds coffee are chlorogenic acids, making up to 12 per cent of the green coffee bean. The most abundant of these compounds is caffeic acid ... The subjects were assigned to drink either 800 ml coffee or water daily for five days. Various measures of DNA damage were used ... At the end of the study, a reduction in DNA damage, as measured by a reduction in the formation of oxidised purines of 12.3 percent was observed in the coffee drinkers" -  [Abstract]
• Impact of paper filtered coffee on oxidative DNA-damage: Results of a clinical trial - Mutat Res. 2010 Aug 13 - "consumed 800ml coffee or water daily over 5 days ... The extent of DNA-migration attributable to formation of oxidised purines (formamidopyrimidine glycosylase sensitive sites) was decreased after coffee intake by 12.3%"
• Resveratrol May Slow Aging in Humans - Medscape, 8/6/10 - "the popular plant extract has been shown to prolong life and reduce the rate of aging in roundworms, fruit flies, and yeast, apparently because resveratrol affects a gene associated with longevity ... resveratrol suppressed the generation of “free radicals” -- unstable molecules known to cause oxidative stress and release pro-inflammatory substances into the blood, resulting in damage to the blood vessel lining ... resveratrol also showed suppression of the inflammatory protein tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, and other compounds that increase blood vessel inflammation and interfere with insulin action, causing insulin resistance and the risk of developing diabetes" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

• Aging and longevity tied to specific brain region in mice - Science Daily, 7/28/10 - "mice with increased brain SIRT1 have internal mechanisms that make them use energy more efficiently, which helps them move around in search of food even after a long fast. This increased energy-efficiency could help delay aging and extend lifespan ... SIRT1 is at the center of a network that connects metabolism and aging" - Related articles on SIRT1:

  • Sirtuin1 may boost memory and learning ability; Discovery could lead to new drugs to fight Alzheimer's, other neurological diseases - Science Daily, 7/11/10 - "Resveratrol, found in wine, has been touted as a life-span enhancer because it activates a group of enzymes known as sirtuins, which have gained fame in recent years for their ability to slow the aging process. Now MIT researchers report that Sirtuin1 -- a protein that in humans is encoded by the SIRT1 gene -- also promotes memory and brain flexibility ... We have now found that SIRT1 activity also promotes plasticity and memory"
  • Slowing Aging: Anti-aging Pathway Enhances Cell Stress Response - Science Daily, 2/19/09 - "The researchers discovered a new molecular relationship critical to keeping cells healthy across a long span of time: a protein called SIRT1, important for caloric restriction and lifespan and activated by resveratrol, regulates heat shock factor 1 (HSF1), keeping it active. HSF1 in turn senses the presence of damaged proteins in the cell and elevates the expression of molecular chaperones to keep a cell's proteins in a folded, functional state. Regulation of this pathway has a direct beneficial effect to cells ... decrease in SIRT1 may help explain why protein misfolding diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and adult-onset diabetes, are diseases of aging"
  • Drug 'tricks body to lose weight' - BBC News, 11/5/08 - "The drug SRT1720 - a chemical cousin of red wine extract resveratrol - targets the protein SIRT1, which is thought to combat ageing ... The French team from the University Louis Pasteur became interested in the SIRT1 protein after earlier studies showing resveratrol countered some effects of a high-calorie diet via SIRT1" - See resveratrol at Amazon.com.
  • Wine Compound Spurs Diabetes Research - WebMD, 11/29/07 - "In October, Chinese researchers reported that resveratrol curbs insulin resistance in mice. Insulin is a hormone that controls blood sugar. Insulin resistance can lead to type 2 diabetes ... Like resveratrol, the lab-made chemicals activate a gene called SIRT1, making the diabetic mice more sensitive to insulin ... the newly developed chemicals are 1,000 times more potent than resveratrol"
  • Resveratrol regulates human adipocyte number and function in a Sirt1-dependent manner - Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 May 12 - "Taken together, our data suggest that resveratrol influences adipose tissue mass and function in a way that may positively interfere with the development of obesity-related comorbidities. Thus, our findings open up the new perspective that resveratrol-induced intracellular pathways could be a target for prevention or treatment of obesity-associated endocrine and metabolic adverse effects"
  • Resveratrol Modulates Tumor Cell Proliferation and Protein Translation via SIRT1-Dependent AMPK Activation - J Agric Food Chem. 2009 Nov 20 - "Similar to those effects associated with caloric restriction (CR), resveratrol has multiple beneficial activities, such as increased life span and delay in the onset of diseases associated with aging ... Here, we show that resveratrol activated AMPK in both ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancer cells ... Here, we show that resveratrol activated AMPK in both ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancer cells. Once activated, AMPK inhibited 4E-BP1 signaling and mRNA translation via mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Moreover, we also found that AMPK activity mediated by resveratrol in cancer cells was due to inducing the expression of Sirtuin type 1 (SIRT1) via elevation in the cellular NAD(+)/NADH in ER-positive cells. To our knowledge, we demonstrate here for the first time that resveratrol induces the expression of SIRT1 protein in human cancer cells. These observations raise the possibility that SIRT1 functions as a novel upstream regulator for AMPK signaling and may additionally modulate tumor cell proliferation. Targeting SIRT1/AMPK signaling by resveratrol may have potential therapeutic implications for cancer and age-related diseases"
  • Resveratrol inhibits the expression of SREBP1 in cell model of steatosis via Sirt1-FOXO1 signaling pathway - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2009 Mar 13;380(3):644-9 - "Our results suggest that resveratrol may attenuate fat deposition by inhibiting SREBP1 expression via Sirt1-FOXO1 pathway and thus may have application for the treatment of NAFLD"
  • Resveratrol protects cardiomyocytes from hypoxia-induced apoptosis through the SIRT1-FoxO1 pathway - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2008 Dec 3 - "Loss of cardiomyocytes through apoptosis has been proposed as a cause of ventricular remodeling and heart failure. Ischemia- and hypoxia-induced apoptosis of cardiomyocytes reportedly plays an important role in many cardiac pathologies. We investigated whether resveratrol (Res) has direct cytoprotective effects against ischemia/hypoxia for cardiomyocytes. Exposure of H9c2 embryonic rat heart-derived cells to hypoxia for 24h caused a significant increase in apoptosis, as evaluated by TUNEL and flow cytometry, while treatment with 20muM Res greatly decreased hypoxia-induced apoptosis in these cells. Exposure of the cells to Res (20muM) caused rapid activation of SIRT1, which had a dual effect on FoxO1 function: SIRT1 increased FoxO1's ability to induce cell cycle arrest, but inhibited FoxO1's ability to induce cell death. This effect could be reversed by SIRT1 inhibition. Results of our study indicate that Res inhibits hypoxia-induced apoptosis via the SIRT1-FoxO1 pathway in H9c2 cells. This polyphenol may have potential in preventing cardiovascular disease, especially in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients"
• Calorie restriction: what recent results suggest for the future of ageing research - Eur J Clin Invest. 2010 May;40(5):440-50 - "the search for substances that can reproduce the beneficial physiologic responses of CR without a requisite calorie intake reduction, termed CR mimetics (CRMs), has gained momentum. Material and methods Recent articles describing health and lifespan results of CR in nonhuman primates and short-term human studies are discussed. Additional consideration is given to the rapidly expanding search for CRMs. Results The first results from a long-term, randomized, controlled CR study in nonhuman primates showing statistically significant benefits on longevity have now been reported. Additionally, positive results from short-term, randomized, controlled CR studies in humans are suggestive of potential health and longevity gains, while test of proposed CRMs (including rapamycin, resveratrol, 2-deoxyglucose and metformin) have shown both positive and mixed results in rodents"
• Eat less, live longer? - New Scientist, 6/3/10 - "One piece of evidence for this idea comes from studies in fruit flies and rodents. If these animals are fed special diets with less amino acids - the building blocks of proteins - they can eat as many calories as they want and still live longer ... The protein theory is bad news for people on low-carbohydrate weight-loss plans like the Atkins diet. "I'd be wary of diets that put a heavy emphasis on protein," says Piper. "It's hard to see how that could be healthy." Fontana goes one step further, saying that high-protein diets could risk accelerated ageing and cancer ... There may be another reason for vegans to celebrate. Studies on flies and rodents suggest that cutting intake of one particular amino acid, called methionine, lengthens life to a similar degree as calorie restriction. Proteins in meat and other animal products have high levels of methionine, so a vegan diet would score well by that measure, too"
• 15 best age-erasing superfoods - MSNBC, 5/25/10 - "Yogurt ... Various cultures claim yogurt as their own creation, but the 2,000-year-old food’s health benefits are not disputed: Fermentation spawns hundreds of millions of probiotic organisms that serve as reinforcements to the battalions of beneficial bacteria in your body, which keep your digestive tract healthy and your immune system in top form, and provide protection against cancer. Not all yogurts are probiotic, though, so make sure the label says “live and active cultures.”"
• Phosphorous in sodas and processed foods accelerates signs of aging, study suggests - Science Daily, 4/26/10 - "high levels of phosphates may add more "pop" to sodas and processed foods than once thought. That's because researchers found that the high levels of phosphates accelerate signs of aging. High phosphate levels may also increase the prevalence and severity of age-related complications, such as chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular calcification, and can also induce severe muscle and skin atrophy"
• Excessive alcohol consumption may lead to increased cancer risk - Science Daily, 4/21/10 - "Researchers have detected a link between alcohol consumption, cancer and aging that starts at the cellular level with telomere shortening ... Telomeres are found at the region of DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome, and are important for the genetic stability of cells. As people age, telomere length shortens progressively ... Since telomere shortening is thought to increase cancer risk, the researchers speculated that those with shorter telomeres due to heavy alcohol consumption would have an increased risk of cancer ... telomere length was dramatically shortened in those who consumed heavy amounts of alcohol; telomere length was nearly half as long as telomere length in the non-abusers (0.41 vs. 0.79 relative units)"
• Anti-aging hormones: Little or no benefit and the risks are high, according to experts - Science Daily, 4/13/10
• Vitamin combo may delay ageing: Mouse study - Nutra USA, 3/1/10 - "Results showed maintenance of youthful levels of locomotor activity into old age in the supplemented animals, whereas old non-supplemented mice showed a 50 per cent loss in daily movement, said the researchers. This was accompanied by a loss of mitochondria activity, and declines in brain signalling chemicals relevant to locomotion, such as striatal neuropeptide Y. This chemical is associated with a range of functions, including maintaining energy balance, as well as effects in memory and learning ... No such declines were observed in supplemented animals ... The supplement was composed of vitamins B1, B3 (niacin), B6, B12, C, D, E, folic acid, beta-carotene, CoQ10, rutin, bioflavonoids, ginko biloba, ginseng, green tea extract, ginger root extract, garlic, L-Glutathione, magnesium, selenium, potassium, manganese, chromium picolinate, acetyl L-carnitine, melatonin, alpha-lipoic acid, N-acetyl cysteine, acetylsalicylic acid, cod liver oil, and flax seed oil"
• Dietary formula that maintains youthful function into old age - Science Daily, 2/12/10 - "Using bagel bits soaked in the supplement to ensure consistent and accurate dosing, the formula maintained youthful levels of locomotor activity into old age whereas old mice that were not given the supplement showed a 50 per cent loss in daily movement, a similar dramatic loss in the activity of the cellular furnaces that make our energy, and declines in brain signaling chemicals relevant to locomotion. This builds on the team's findings that the supplement extends longevity, prevents cognitive declines, and protects mice from radiation ... Ingredients consists of items that were purchased in local stores selling vitamin and health supplements for people, including vitamins B1, C, D, E, acetylsalicylic acid, beta carotene, folic acid, garlic, ginger root, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, green tea extract, magnesium, melatonin, potassium, cod liver oil, and flax seed oil" - Sounds like most of what I'm already taking. - Ben
• Overweight Older People Live Longer - WebMD, 1/28/10 - "people who met the criteria for being overweight were 17% less likely to die compared to people of normal weight ... In the newly reported research, overweight study participants in their 70s followed for up to 10 years had a 13% lower risk of death than participants classified as normal weight ... Obese and normal-weight study participants had a similar risk of death over the 10 years of follow-up. Underweight study participants had the highest risk of death, even after the researchers adjusted for the wasting effects of disease"
• 10 surprising ways to live longer - MSNBC, 1/5/10 - "Eat omega-3s every day ... Sniff lavender or rosemary ... Don’t be a drama queen ... Stop eating before you’re stuffed ... Stay the weight you were at 18 ... Diversify your workout ... Munch on veggies or fruits every 4 hours ... Floss daily ... Have a standing lunch date ... Donate blood"
• Calorie restriction: Scientists take important step toward 'fountain of youth' - Science Daily, 12/26/09 - "They found that the normal cells lived longer, and many of the precancerous cells died, when given less glucose. Gene activity was also measured under these same conditions. The reduced glucose caused normal cells to have a higher activity of the gene that dictates the level of telomerase, an enzyme that extends their lifespan and lower activity of a gene (p16) that slows their growth. Epigenetic effects (effects not due to gene mutations) were found to be a major cause in changing the activity of these genes as they reacted to decreased glucose levels" - See my Insulin and Aging page.  Insulin controls glucose levels.  Insulin resistance causes high glucose.
• Look Young to Live Longer? - WebMD, 12/15/09 - "Perceived age, the researchers say, adjusted for chronological age and sex, also correlated with physical and cognitive functioning, as well as length of leukocyte telomeres - chromosome tips on DNA of people's white blood cells ... Shorter telomere length is associated with a “host of diseases related to aging and lifestyle factors and has been shown to be associated with mortality,”"
• Scientists find molecular trigger that helps prevent aging and disease - Science Daily, 11/18/09 - "diabetes reduces activation of CBP, leading Dr. Mobbs to conclude that a high-calorie diet that leads to diabetes would have the opposite effect of dietary restriction and would accelerate aging"
• Be Overweight And Live Longer, German Study Suggests - Science Daily, 10/16/09 - "overweight does not increase death rates, although obesity does increase them by 20%. As people grow older, obesity makes less and less difference ... For coronary heart disease, overweight increases risk by about 20% and obesity increases it by about 50%. On the other hand, a larger BMI is associated with a lower risk of bone and hip fracture"
• 'Anti-Atkins' Low Protein Diet Extends Lifespan In Flies - Science Daily, 10/1/09 - Science Daily, 10/1/09 - "Flies fed an "anti-Atkins" low protein diet live longer because their mitochondria function better"
• Drug Has Potential to Slow Aging - WebMD, 7/10/09 - "At first, the drug was not readily absorbed into the bloodstream of the mice, so a specialized feed was developed with an encapsulated, timed-release form of rapamycin"
• Enzyme Important In Aging Identified - Science Daily, 7/10/09
• Antibiotic Delayed Aging in Mice - NYTimes.com, 7/8/09 - "The effectiveness of rapamycin in extending the life of elderly mice was discovered by accident. The researchers found that the mice fed rapamycin were not getting the proper dose in their bloodstream. They reformulated the drug in the form of capsules that fed slow doses to the intestine, but by that time the mice were elderly. Nonetheless, life span increased by 14 percent in the females and 9 percent in the males"
• Reduced Diet Thwarts Aging, Disease In Monkeys - Science Daily, 7/9/09 - "We observed that caloric restriction reduced the risk of developing an age-related disease by a factor of three and increased survival ... The incidence of cancerous tumors and cardiovascular disease in animals on a restricted diet was less than half that seen in animals permitted to eat freely. Remarkably, while diabetes or impaired glucose regulation is common in monkeys that can eat all they want, it has yet to be observed in any animal on a restricted diet"
• Easter Island Compound Extends Lifespan Of Old Mice: 28 To 38 Percent Longer Life - Science Daily, 7/8/09
• Biological 'Fountain Of Youth' Found In New World Bat Caves - Science Daily, 6/30/09
• Study: Overweight People Live Longer - WebMD, 6/25/09 - "There is more evidence that people who are overweight tend to live longer than people who are underweight, normal weight, or obese ... Those classified as underweight were 73% more likely to die ... Those classified as extremely obese with BMI of 35 or greater were 36% more likely to die ... Those classified as obese with BMI 30-34.9 had about the same risk of death ... Those classified as overweight with BMI 25-29.9 were 17% less likely to die"
• How To Confirm The Causes Of Iron Deficiency Anemia In Young Women - Science Daily, 6/23/09
• Melatonin: The Fountain Of Youth? - Science Daily, 6/22/09 - "Melatonin can slow down the effects of aging. A team at laboratoire Arago in Banyuls sur Mer (CNRS / Université Pierre et Marie Curie) has found that a treatment based on melatonin can delay the first signs of aging in a small mammal ... studied the long-term effects of melatonin on the Greater White-toothed shrew, a small nocturnal insectivorous mammal. Under normal conditions, this animal shows the first signs of aging after reaching 12 months, mainly through the loss of circadian rhythm in its activities. By continuously administering melatonin, starting a little before 12 months, the appearance of these first signs was delayed by at least 3 months, which is a considerable period in relation to the lifespan of this shrew ... Melatonin is now known to play several beneficial roles. These include being an antioxidant, an anti-depressant, and helping to remediate sleep problems" - See melatonin at Amazon.com.
• Multivitamins linked to younger ‘biological age’: Study - Nutra USA, 5/27/09 - "Compared to non-multivitamin users, the researchers noted that that telomeres were on average 5.1 per cent longer for daily multivitamin users ... Whereas the evidence is not sufficient to conclude that these 2 dietary antioxidants mediated the observed relation, the results are consistent with experimental findings that vitamins C and E protect telomeres in vitro" - [Abstract]
• Multivitamin use and telomere length in women - Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jun;89(6):1857-63 - "After age and other potential confounders were adjusted for, multivitamin use was associated with longer telomeres. Compared with nonusers, the relative telomere length of leukocyte DNA was on average 5.1% longer among daily multivitamin users (P for trend = 0.002). In the analysis of micronutrients, higher intakes of vitamins C and E from foods were each associated with longer telomeres, even after adjustment for multivitamin use. Furthermore, intakes of both nutrients were associated with telomere length among women who did not take multivitamins"
• Half A Glass Of Wine A Day May Boost Life Expectancy By Five Years - Science Daily, 4/29/09 - "light long term alcohol consumption of all types—up to 20 g a day— extended life by around two extra years compared with no alcohol at all. Extended life expectancy was slightly less for those who drank more than 20 g ... men who drank only wine, and less than half a glass of it a day, lived around 2.5 years longer than those who drank beer and spirits, and almost five years longer than those who drank no alcohol at all"
• High IQ Linked To Reduced Risk Of Death - Science Daily, 3/13/09 - "a lower IQ was strongly associated with a higher risk of death from causes such as accidents, coronary heart disease and suicide ... the link between IQ and mortality could be partially attributed to the healthier behaviours displayed by those who score higher on IQ tests ... People with higher IQ test scores tend to be less likely to smoke or drink alcohol heavily, they eat better diets, and they are more physically active"
• Not So Sweet: Over-consumption Of Sugar Linked To Aging - Science Daily, 3/9/09 - "We know that lifespan can be extended in animals by restricting calories such as sugar intake ...it's not sugar itself that is important in this process but the ability of cells to sense its presence ... the lifespan of yeast cells increased when glucose was decreased from their diet. They then asked whether the increase in lifespan was due to cells decreasing their ability to produce energy or to the decrease in signal to the cells by the glucose sensor ... cells unable to consume glucose as energy source are still sensitive to the pro-aging effects of glucose. Conversely, obliterating the sensor that measures the levels of glucose significantly increased lifespan"
• Slowing Aging: Anti-aging Pathway Enhances Cell Stress Response - Science Daily, 2/19/09 - "The researchers discovered a new molecular relationship critical to keeping cells healthy across a long span of time: a protein called SIRT1, important for caloric restriction and lifespan and activated by resveratrol, regulates heat shock factor 1 (HSF1), keeping it active. HSF1 in turn senses the presence of damaged proteins in the cell and elevates the expression of molecular chaperones to keep a cell's proteins in a folded, functional state. Regulation of this pathway has a direct beneficial effect to cells ... decrease in SIRT1 may help explain why protein misfolding diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and adult-onset diabetes, are diseases of aging" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Eating Less May Not Extend Human Life: Caloric Restriction May Benefit Only Obese Mice - Science Daily, 1/26/09 - "For lean mice – and possibly for lean humans, the authors of a new study predict – the anti-aging strategy known as caloric restriction may be a pointless, frustrating and even dangerous exercise ... Today there are a lot of very healthy people who look like skeletons because they bought into this ... Contrary to what is widely believed, caloric restriction does not extend (the) life span of all strains of mice ... caloric restriction begun in older mice – both in DBA and leaner C57 individuals – actually shortened life span"
• Old Gastrointestinal Drug Slows Aging, Researchers Say - Science Daily, 1/6/08 - "Recent animal studies have shown that clioquinol – an 80-year old drug once used to treat diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disorders – can reverse the progression of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases ... clioquinol acts directly on a protein called CLK-1, often informally called "clock-1," and might slow down the aging process ... Because clock-1 affects longevity in invertebrates and mice, and because we're talking about three age-dependent neurodegenerative diseases, we hypothesize that clioquinol affects them by slowing down the rate of aging ... clioquinol was withdrawn from the market after being blamed for a devastating outbreak of subacute myelo-optic neuropathy (SMON) in Japan in the 1960s. However, because no rigorous scientific study was conducted at the time, and because clioquinol was used safely by millions before and after the Japanese outbreak, some researchers think its connection to SMON has yet to be proven" - I Googled clioquinol and I don't think it's available anywhere.
• Both Major Theories About Human Cellular Aging Supported By New Research - Science Daily, 12/30/08 - "old age is the final stage of a developmental program AND the result of a lifelong accumulation of unrepaired cellular and molecular damage ... When fatty acids build up, yeast cells explode from within, scattering their contents and spreading inflammation to neighboring cells ... In addition to cell death, the accumulation of fatty acids sets off chemical reactions that ultimately produce a lipid called diacylglycerol, which impairs many of the yeast's stress response-related defenses ... Low-calorie diets, which have been shown to increase lifespan and delay age-related disorders in nonhuman primates and other organisms, altered the way fats were processed in the yeast cells"
• Scientists Find a Possible Cause of Aging - NYTimes.com, 11/26/08 - "A new insight into the reason for aging has been gained by scientists trying to understand how resveratrol, a minor ingredient of red wine, improves the health and lifespan of laboratory mice. They believe that the integrity of chromosomes is compromised as people age, and that resveratrol works by activating a protein known as sirtuin that restores the chromosomes to health ... Dr. Sinclair has been taking large daily doses of resveratrol since he and others discovered five years ago that it activated sirtuin. “I’m still taking it and I feel great,” he said, “but it’s too early to say if I’m young for my age."" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• A Healthy Lifestyle Halves The Risk Of Premature Death In Women - Science Daily, 9/16/08 - "Over half of deaths in women from chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease could be avoided if they never smoke, keep their weight in check, take exercise and eat a healthy diet low in red meat and trans-fats"
• Clean living 'slows cell ageing' - BBC News, 9/15/08 - "Among 24 men asked to adopt healthy lifestyle changes for a US study in The Lancet Oncology, levels of telomerase increased by 29% on average ... Telomerase repairs and lengthens telomeres, which cap and protect the ends of chromosomes housing DNA ... These consisted of a diet high in fruit and vegetables, supplements of vitamins and fish oils, an exercise regimen and classes in stress management, relaxation techniques and breathing exercises"
• Low Vitamin D Levels Pose Large Threat To Health; Overall 26 Percent Increased Risk Of Death - Science Daily, 8/12/08 - "This translates overall to an estimated 26 percent increased risk of any death, though the number of deaths from heart disease alone was not large enough to meet scientific criteria to resolve that it was due to low vitamin D levels ... Previous results from the same nationwide survey showed that 41 percent of men and 53 percent of women are technically deficient in the nutrient, with vitamin D levels below 28 nanograms per milliliter" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Running Slows the Effects of Aging - WebMD, 8/11/08 - "Older runners have fewer disabilities, remain more active as they get into their 70s and 80s, and are half as likely as non-runners to die early deaths, the study shows ... If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise ... The researchers used national death records to learn which participants died and why. Nineteen years into the study, 34% of the non-runners had died, compared with only 15% of the runners" - [Science Daily]
• Low Level of Vitamin D Ups Death Risk - WebMD, 8/11/08 - "Over an average follow-up period of about nine years, 1,806 participants died. The researchers found a 26% increased risk of death from any cause for the quartile of participants with the lowest vitamin D levels compared to those with the highest levels" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Resveratrol, Found In Red Wine, Wards Off Effects Of Age On Heart, Bones, Eyes And Muscle - Science Daily, 7/3/08 - "This study, conducted and supported in part by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, is a follow-up to 2006 findings that resveratrol improves health and longevity of overweight, aged mice. The report confirms previous results suggesting the compound, found naturally in foods like grapes and nuts, may mimic, in mice, some of the effects of dietary or calorie restriction, the most effective and reproducible way found to date to alleviate age-associated disease in mammals" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Substance In Red Wine, Resveratrol, Found To Keep Hearts Young - Science Daily, 6/4/08 - "Resveratrol is active in much lower doses than previously thought and mimics a significant fraction of the profile of caloric restriction at the gene expression level ... In animals on a restricted diet, 90 percent of those heart genes experienced altered gene expression profiles, while low doses of resveratrol thwarted age-related change in 92 percent. The new findings, say the study's authors, were associated with prevention of the decline in heart function associated with aging" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Low-dose resveratrol may slow ageing: for mice at least - Nutra USA, 6/4/08 - "animals in the calorie-restriction and low-dose resveratrol groups had altered gene expression profiles in 90 and 92 per cent, respectively, in the heart ... In short, a glass of wine or food or supplements that contain even small doses of resveratrol are likely to represent "a robust intervention in the retardation of cardiac ageing,"" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Red wine may protect heart from aging’s toll - MSNBC - 6/3/08 - "Resveratrol at low doses can retard some aspects of the aging process, including heart aging, and it may do so by mimicking some of the effects of caloric restriction, which is known to retard aging in several tissues and extend life span" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Dietary lipoic acid supplementation can mimic or block the effect of dietary restriction on life span -Mech Ageing Dev. 2008 Apr 22;129(6):341-348 - "Ad libitum feeding a diet supplemented with lipoic acid can therefore act as mimetic of DR to extend survival" - See alpha lipoic acid at Amazon.com.
• Lifelong prebiotic supplements may enhance survival: rat study - Nutra USA, 4/24/08 - "In terms of survival, at 18 months of age, all the animals in the prebiotic group were still alive, compared to 76 per cent in the control group. After 24 months, 81 per cent of the rats in the prebiotic group were alive, compared to only 52 per cent of controls" - [Abstract] - See inulin products at iHerb.
• Effects of lifelong intervention with an oligofructose-enriched inulin in rats on general health and lifespan - Br J Nutr. 2008 Apr 11;:1-8 - "a diet with 10 % of an oligofructose-enriched inulin (Synergy1) ... During the whole intervention period, male rats receiving Synergy1 (SYN1-M) displayed lower body weight, cholesterol and plasma triacylglycerolaemia compared with the controls (Cont-M). The survival rate at 24 months of age of SYN1-M rats was 35.3 % greater than that of Cont-M rats. In female rats, the Synergy1 supplementation (SYN1-F) group also reduced body weight, cholesterol and triacylglycerolaemia levels, but results were less consistent over the experiment. The survival rate at 24 months of age in SYN1-F rats was 33.3 % greater compared with that of the control (Cont-F) group. To conclude, lifelong intervention with Synergy1 improved biological markers during ageing and survival rate (lifespan) of rats" - See inulin products at iHerb.
• Serum Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate Levels Predict Longevity in Men: 27-Year Follow-Up Study in a Community-Based Cohort (Tanushimaru Study) - J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008 Apr 18 - "in men after adjustments for age, systolic blood pressure, and fasting plasma glucose showed significantly (log-rank stat =10.6; P<.001) greater longevity in the highest group (200 mug/dL) than in the moderate (130-199 mug/dL) or lowest groups (129 mug/dL)" - See DHEA at Amazon.com.
• Lipoic acid significantly restores, in rats, the age-related decline in vasomotion - Br J Pharmacol. 2008 Feb 25 - "In old animals, endothelium-dependent relaxation in aortic rings was decreased, GSH levels and its redox state in aortic endothelia were over 30% lower and nSMase activity and endothelial ceramide levels were three-fold increased, relative to young (2-4 mo) rats. LA treatment of old animals improved relaxation in aortic rings, reversed the changes in endothelial GSH, in nSMase activities and in ceramide levels. Similar effects on GSH levels and nSMase activity in old rats were also induced by treatment with GSH monoethylester. Activation (by phosphorylation) of eNOS was decreased by about 50% in old rats and this age-related decrease was partially reversed by LA treatment" - See alpha lipoic acid at Amazon.com.
• Sedentary Lifestyles Associated With Accelerated Aging Process - Science Daily, 1/28/08 - "Telomere length decreased with age, with an average loss of 21 nucleotides (structural units) per year. Men and women who were less physically active in their leisure time had shorter leukocyte telomeres than those who were more active. ... "The mean difference in leukocyte telomere length between the most active [who performed an average of 199 minutes of physical activity per week] and least active [16 minutes of physical activity per week] subjects was 200 nucleotides, which means that the most active subjects had telomeres the same length as sedentary individuals up to 10 years younger, on average."" - I'm must be in fat city on this one.  I must have averaged 60 minutes per day since I've been 18 which comes to 420 minutes per week.  Maybe that's the main reason people claim I look young. Plus I've always taken vitamin D which helps with telomere length also. - Ben
• Sustained Tubulo-interstitial Protection in SHRs by Transient Losartan Treatment: An Effect of Decelerated Aging? - Am J Hypertens. 2008 Jan 10 - "Transient losartan treatment reduces cell-turnover not only acutely but also for a prolonged period after drug withdrawal. This results in the long-term in reduced aging and attenuated tubulo-interstitial damage, suggesting there exists a modulating effect of angiotensin II (ANGII)-antagonism on long-term cell turnover" - Note:  Losartan is an ARB.  I would think that telmisartan (also and ARB and my recommendation for hypertension) would give the same effect.
• Four Health Behaviors Can Add 14 Extra Years Of Life - Science Daily, 1/8/08 - "People who adopt four healthy behaviours -- not smoking; taking exercise; moderate alcohol intake; and eating five servings of fruit and vegetables a day -- live on average an additional fourteen years of life compared with people who adopt none of these behaviours"
• Herbal Extract Found To Increase Lifespan - Science Daily, 12/5/07 - "Flies that ate a diet rich with Rhodiola rosea, an herbal supplement long used for its purported stress-relief effects, lived on an average of 10 percent longer than fly groups that didn’t eat the herb ... Although this study does not present clinical evidence that Rhodiola can extend human life, the finding that it does extend the lifespan of a model organism, combined with its known health benefits in humans, make this herb a promising candidate for further anti-aging research ... Rhodiola rosea ... has been used by Scandinavians and Russians for centuries for its anti-stress qualities ... patients taking a Rhodiola extract called SHR-5 reported fewer symptoms of depression than did those who took a placebo" - See Rhodiola rosea at Amazon.com.
• Fit Beats Fat for a Longer Life - WebMD, 12/4/07 - "Fitness was found to be a strong predictor of longevity in the study, which involved adults ages 60 and older, while obesity had little influence on death risk"
• Could Hydrogen Sulfide Hold The Key To A Long Life? - Science Daily, 12/4/07
• Fat Hormone May Contribute To Longevity - Science Daily, 11/21/07 - "long-lived Snell dwarf mice burn less glucose and more fatty acids during periods of fasting, and as a result produce fewer free radicals ... The key to this switch may be adiponectin, a hormone produced by fat cells that helps lower glucose production and stimulates cells to use fat for energy instead. The researchers found that Snell mice had three times as much adiponectin in their blood as control mice" - See my adiponectin page for ways to increase it.  Something that was also in today's abstracts was pioglitazone, which increased adiponectin 156%.
• Drug Commonly Used To Treat Bipolar Disorder Dramatically Increases Lifespan In Worms - Science Daily, 10/30/07 - "Nematode worms treated with lithium show a 46 percent increase in lifespan, raising the tantalizing question of whether humans taking the mood affecting drug are also taking an anti-aging medication" - See lithium products at iHerb.
• Can Fat Be Fit?  -- Scientific American, 9/07
• Avoiding Sweets May Spell A Longer Life, Study In Worms Suggests - Science Daily, 10/2/07 - "A new study in Cell Metabolism reveals that worms live to an older age when they are unable to process the simple sugar glucose"
• Loneliness Can Speed Aging - WebMD, 8/20/07 - "lonely people live in a heightened sense of arousal, which could have long-term effects on heart disease and other health problems"
• Vitamin Extends Life In Yeast, Scientists Find - Science Daily, 5/3/07 - "providing a newly discovered vitamin activates the yeast anti-aging gene product Sir2, which resembles sirtuins found in humans. The new work builds on Brenner's prior discovery of the vitamin, termed NR (nicotinamide riboside), a natural product found in milk. Like the B3 vitamin, niacin, NR is a precursor to a versatile cellular factor that is vital for all life"
• New Clues on What Causes Aging - WebMD, 12/21/06
• Cool Mice Live Longer - WebMD, 11/2/06 - "the cool mice live significantly longer than normal mice. Females lived about 20% longer than normal. Males lived about 12% longer"
• Cell Mutations That Lead To Apoptosis May Contribute To Aging In Mammals - Science Daily, 7/15/05 - "mutations in the mitochondria caused by obesity and lack of exercise -- not oxidative stress from free radicals -- may be a key factor in the aging process"
• Obesity, Smoking Linked to Faster Aging - WebMD, 6/13/05 - "Telomeres are the tips of the chromosomes, which contain DNA. They gradually shorten over a lifetime ... The difference in telomere length between being lean and being obese corresponds to 8.8 years of aging ... Obesity and smoking are important risk factors for many age-related diseases. Both are states of heightened oxidative stress … and inflammation"
• Anti-aging Enzyme's Secrets Revealed - Science Daily, 4/1/05
• Mountain Life Spells Longer Life - Science Daily, 3/29/05 - "as blood lipids and blood pressure were higher among the mountain residents, other 'protective' factors must be at play ... living at moderately high altitude produces long term physiological changes in the body to enable it to cope with lower levels of oxygen, and that this, combined with the exertion required to walk uphill regularly on rugged terrain, could give the heart a better work-out"
• Live long, the Okinawan way - Maui News, 1/14/05
• System That Regulates Blood Pressure May Also Affect Aging - Science Daily, 11/22/04
• Social & Environmental Factors Play Important Role In How People Age, Two Studies Find - Science Daily, 9/14/04 - "those who scored high on positive affect were significantly less likely to become frail. Each unit increase in baseline positive affect score was associated with a three percent decreased risk of frailty"
• Healthy Aging Requires Healthy Attitudes - WebMD, 9/13/04 - "the patients who exhibited more positive emotions were significantly less likely to become frail. For example, every point increase in a senior's positive effect score at the start of the study was associated with a 3% decreased risk of frailty"
• Why do the Japanese live so long? - Guardian Unlimited, 6/10/04 - "People in Japan eat a third fewer calories than the typical North American. What they eat is also important: more seafood and, hence, healthy fish oils ... the Japanese are less sedentary than westerners, and Japan a less stressed society"
• Insulin Plays Central Role In Aging, Brown Scientists Discover - Science Daily, 6/4/04 - "insulin regulates its own production and that it directly regulates tissue aging. The principle: Keep insulin levels low and cells are stronger, staving off infection and age-related diseases such as cancer, dementia and stroke"
• Insulin plays central role in ageing, explains benefits of calorie reduction - Nutra USA, 6/3/04 - "if insulin levels remain low, cells are stronger and can ward off infection and age-related diseases such as cancer, dementia and stroke"
• Drosophila dFOXO controls lifespan and regulates insulin signalling in brain and fat body - Nature. 2004 Jun 3;429(6991):562-6
• DNA damage could be a start to aging, study suggests - USA Today, 5/26/04 - "the results are also consistent with the theory that so-called "free radicals" play a role in aging"
• Social Connections Build Healthier Lives - WebMD, 4/30/04 - "the prevalence of ill health was highest among those who rarely or never attended church and lowest among those that attended church regularly. Members of civic groups or those who volunteered regularly were also more likely to be completely healthy and less likely to report complete ill health than others"
• How to Age Well - WebMD, 10/27/03 - "What made them different than the other half? One thing stands out. Those who stayed healthy had perfectly healthy hearts. They didn't even have "subclinical" heart problems, the ones so minor they can only be detected by testing ... For men, having subclinical heart disease was like being 6.5 years older. For women, it was like being 5.5 years older ... refrain from smoking, lower their blood lipids, watch blood pressure, and avoid obesity through diet and exercise"
• Longevity May Run in Your Blood - WebMD, 10/14/03 - "the HDL and LDL particle sizes were significantly larger in the exceptionally old adults compared with both control groups, regardless of their cholesterol levels ... this trait was also associated with lower rates of high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health problems that account for a large number of deaths among the elderly"
• Does Growing Old Cause Cancer? - WebMD, 9/25/03
• The Serious Search for an Anti-Aging Pill - Scientific America, 8/03 - "Regrettably, however, 2DG has a fatal flaw preventing it from being the "magic pill" we were hoping for. Though safe at certain low levels, it apparently becomes toxic for some animals when the amount delivered is raised just a bit or given over long periods ... Treatment with antidiabetic medications that enhance cellular sensitivity to insulin might be helpful as well, as long as the amounts given do not cause blood glucose levels to fall too low ... Drugs that replicate only selected effects of caloric restriction could have a role to play as well. In theory, antioxidant vitamins might fit that bill"
• Children of Centenarians Have Delays in Age-Related Diseases - Doctor's Guide, 5/20/03 - "Fewer offspring of centenarians took prescription medicines, and they have lower weight and body mass compared to controls"
• Reaching 100 Is Largely a Matter of Genes - WebMD, 4/8/03
• Survival to 90 Years Linked to Low Weight in Young Adulthood and Exercise - Doctor's Guide, 4/8/03 - "baseline height and weight were not associated with mortality. However, a higher weight at age 21 was associated with increased odds of dying before reaching 90 years (OR=1.04 per 5 lb increase, P 0.0001). Those who exercised were 24-31% less likely to die by the age of 90 (OR=0.76, P 0.0001 for less than 1 hour per day, OR=0.69, P 0.0001 for 1 hour or more per day). Similarly, being in the mid tertile of BMI at baseline (22-24 for men, 20-23 for women) was associated with decreased odds of dying before age 90 (OR=0.70, P 0.0001)"
• The Fight for the Fountain of Youth - WebMD, 2/10/03
• A Prescription for Longevity - Physician's Weekly, 1/27/03 - "Okinawans have no genetic predisposition to longevity but rather benefit from the consumption of vegetables, tofu, seaweed; the pursuit of rigorous activity; and a low stress lifestyle. The authors claim if Americans could adopt the habits of Okinawans, "80 percent of the nation¹s coronary care units, one-third of the cancer wards, and a lot of nursing homes would be shut down.""
• Less Body Fat = Longer Life - WebMD, 1/23/03 - "Of the 250 mice in Bluher's study, half were specially bred to lack a response to the hormone insulin specifically in their fat cells -- he calls them "FIRKO mice." These mice were unable to store body fat. The normal mice were able to gain weight and body fat as usual ... The normal mice lived normal mouse-length lives -- 30 months. But at 30 months, 80% of the FIRKO mice were still alive ... His study suggests that increased metabolism is the secret to the FIRKO mouse's leanness and longevity"
• Longevity Runs In Families: Study Looks At Genetics, Environment - Intelihealth, 11/25/02 - "Female children of the centenarians weighed, on average, 146 pounds, while the female children of the control group weighed 158, on average. The male children of the centenarians weighed 184, on average, while the male children in the control group had an average weight of 202"
• Present From Mom and Dad: A Longer Life - WebMD, 11/18/02
• Generous spirit may yield generous life span - USA Today, 11/14/02
• Scientists Extend Life Span - WebMD, 10/25/02
• Supportive Family Helps Successful Aging - WebMD, 5/24/02
• Mountain Life May Make Women Age Faster - WebMD, 4/24/02 - "New research shows that life at high altitudes can speed the aging process for a woman by affecting her hormones ... In fact, by age 70, the levels of DHEA in the women who lived in the mountains were only about 40% of those in the comparison group"
• Gene Scientists Find Clues To Why We Age - Intelihealth, 4/12/02
• Boomers Search For Relief From Aging - Intelihealth, 4/10/02 - "But I feel like I'm launching into one of the most exciting periods of my life. And I want my quality of life to be good, so that I can continue to do all the things I enjoy" - That's the whole point about the information on my web site.
• Warning Against 'Anti-Aging' Medicine - WebMD, 3/6/02 - Articles like this burn me up. Most people will be six feet under before those studies come in. I feel you need to go with the best scientific information available at the time. Also, Dr. Smith’s comment that "There is as yet no convincing evidence that administration of any specific compound, natural or artificial, can globally slow aging in people, or even in mice or rats" is absolutely false. Take for example the study published in the 2/19/02 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on alpha lipoic acid and acetyl-l-carnitine or the studies with deprenyl and rats? I could go on and on. Some doctors think that the three credits in nutrition they got back in 1985 from text books written in the 70’s allow them to make bold lies without even reading the research.  LEF has references for their articles.  I guess if your a doctor, you can make bold statements like Dr. Smith's without references.  I agree with the following statement by Dr. Klatz: "To become a physician, you have to take the Hippocratic Oath, in which you swear to "do no harm." But there are many ways to interpret that phrase. As all Catholics are aware, there are sins of omission and sins of commission. Cutting off the wrong leg of a diabetic or operating on the wrong side of the head in a patient with a brain tumor as happened recently in two New York hospitals is clearly doing harm. But what about not keeping abreast of the latest diagnostic treatment or advances? Or failing to inform a patient of lifestyle changes or options that could drastically lower risk of disease? Or taking a authoritarian, I-know-better-than-you attitude that effectively cuts off all questions about alternative measures and treatments? All these "sins of omission" may end up doing you harm in terms of accelerated aging, disease, and death." - Ben
• Cancer-Fighting Protein May Play Role In Aging, Mouse Study Suggests - Intelihealth, 1/3/02
• Optimism May Lower Heart Disease Risk In Older Men - Intelihealth, 12/13/01 - "The researchers found that the most highly optimistic men were less likely to develop heart disease than the most pessimistic men. In fact, each increase in the level of optimism was associated with an approximately 25% decreased risk of chest pain and heart disease"
• Secrets to Aging Gracefully - WebMD, 12/10/01 - "the happiest respondents had minor physical disabilities. They had regular social activities, could still think and reason well, and had an overall feeling of well-being -- and those were important to staying happy. In many cases, they were able to keep up socially because they had spent a lot of time cultivating relationships with friends and family when they were younger, and such investments in their time paid big dividends in terms of avoiding depression and staying vital later in life"
• Vegetarian diet on solid ground, experts say - USA Today, 12/7/01 - "McDougall points to a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine that looked at Seventh-Day Adventists in California, a group made up mostly of vegetarians. The 12-year of study of 34,192 people found that on average, group members lived 10 years longer than the general population ... Vegetarians have a 40% less risk of cancer and much less risk of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and other problems that are common among meat eaters"
• Honing In on the Fountain of Youth - WebMD, 9/25/01
• Pitter-Patter Of Paws Is Time-Tested Remedy - Intelihealth, 7/24/01 - article about how pets help you "live longer, heal faster, lower blood pressure and cholesterol and have a better chance of surviving a heart attack"
• Add a Decade to Your Life - WebMD, 7/20/01 - "Compared with other Californians, we found that Adventist men lived about 7.3 years longer and women lived about 4.4 years longer," Fraser tells WebMD. "And for vegetarian Adventists who eat meat [no more than] once a month -- which accounts for about 30% Adventists -- the differences in life expectancy swell to 9.5 years in men and 6.1 years in women. Those are pretty big numbers."
• The Future is Now: You Can Control How Well You Age, Depression, Education Key Factors - WebMD, 6/1/01 - "However, if the seven controllable factors are in check, the only uncontrollable factor that is likely to wreak havoc with your older years is depression"
• Happy Thoughts May Prolong Life - Intelihealth, 5/8/01 - "a 15-year study of aging and Alzheimer's disease in nuns suggests a positive emotional state at an early age may help ward off disease and even prolong life"
• Bad Health Habits Would Be Taxing Under New Scheme - WebMD, 4/13/01 - "nearly three-quarters of all disease in America results from an "unhealthy lifestyle.""
• Here's to a Long Life! Hormone Pathway That Controls Aging Discovered, Findings Suggest Low-Cal Diet May Extend Lifespan - WebMD, 4/5/01
• Youth for Sale, Antiaging Patients Looking, Feeling Good -- But Long-Term Safety Unknown - WebMD, 10/13/00
• Experiments Extend Life Of Nematode - Intelihealth, 9/1/00
• Gene Study May Explain Why Low-Calorie Diet Slows Aging - WebMD, 6/28/00
• Good habits now key to living longer, healthier life - CNN, 5/29/00
• Workaholism Can Cause Mental, Physical Problems - WebMD, 5/5/00
• Cloned Cows Cells Stay Young - Intelihealth, 4/28/00
• Science takes cellular approach to explore aging process - CNN, 1/4/00
• Staying Young Forever, Putting new research findings into practice - Life Extension Foundation, 12/99
• Good Health Habits Can Extend Life By About A Decade, Study Shows - Intelihealth, 11/30/99
• Herbs riding high, especially healthy ones - CNN, 11/3/99
• Anti-aging nutrition secrets - CNN, 8/4/99
• FDA Joins Battle Against Aging - Doctor's Guide, 2/27/97