Easter Island May Hold Anti-Aging Miracle Drug
The secret to slowing down aging is in the soil? Easter Island continues to grow spookier and spookier. The Independent reports:
A drug originating on Easter Island, the mysterious South Pacific home of a lost statue-building people, may become the first substance to slow down human aging, new research indicates.
Rapamycin, a pharmacological product used to prevent rejection in organ transplants, has been found to extend the lifespan of mice by up to 38 per cent, raising the possibility that it may delay ageing in people.
Rapamycin is a bacterial product originally found in a soil sample from Easter Island. Originally developed as an anti-fungal agent, rapamycin was soon found to have powerful immuno-suppressant properties and thus be valuable for preventing rejection of transplanted organs. Now, however, it has been shown to affect the ageing of mice – the first time that this has ever been shown with a mammal.
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The Seven Essentials For Longer Life Spans
From the Seattle Times/AP:
Here are the seven secrets to a long life: Stay away from cigarettes. Keep a slender physique. Get some exercise. Eat a healthful diet and keep your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar in check.
Research shows that most 50-year-olds who do that can live an additional 40 years free of stroke and heart disease, two of the most common killers, said Dr. Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association. The heart association published the advice online Wednesday in the journal Circulation.
The group also introduced an online quiz to help people gauge how close they are to the ideal. Tips are offered for those who fall short.
“These seven factors — if you can keep them ideal or control them — end up being the fountain of youth for your heart,” said Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, a cardiologist who was lead author of the statement.
Specifically, those with ideal cardiovascular…
Quest for a Long Life Gains Scientific Respect
Lee Hoffman, our tech guru and CEO of the excellent content aggregator Veritocracy, alerted us to this New York Times article about anti-aging science becoming mainstream:
BOSTON — Who would have thought it? The quest for eternal life, or at least prolonged youthfulness, has now migrated from the outer fringes of alternative medicine to the halls of Harvard Medical School.
At a conference on aging held here last week, the medical school’s dean, Jeffrey Flier, was to be seen greeting participants who ranged from members of the 120 club (they intend to live at least that long) to devotees of very low calorie diets.
The heavyweight at the conference was Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. The company is developing drugs that mimic resveratrol, a chemical found in some red wines. Resveratrol has been found to activate proteins called sirtuins, from which the company derives its name. Activation of sirtuins is thought to help the body ride out…
