I think some of the biggest breakthroughs for overall health in 2008 occurred in water purification. Paraphrasing Dean Kamen from the well known Colbert Report video: “50% of all human diseases in our world today are due to waterborne pathogens…1.1 billion people go to bed each night either thirsty or sick from drinking dirty water.” There is…
longevity
brain health, lifespan, longevity
Use of statins bad for myelination – possible long-term consequences
by Ward • • 1 Comment
Image via Wikipedia The progressive loss of myelin as we age is now thought to be an important component of brain aging (see here) – so the last thing you want is to take a drug that might interfere with the turnover and remyelination that occurs naturally (though at a reduced level as we age).…
lifespan, longevity
Every other day fasting dramatically improves survival rate after heart failure
by Ward • • 2 Comments
Image via Wikipedia Intermittent fasting dramatically improves survival rate in an animal heart attack model. Dietary restriction, in its various forms (the two main forms are a 30-40% reduction in calories called calorie restriciton (CR), and every-other-day fasting (EODF)), increases lifespan in a wide array of organisms (we have known this since the 1920s). More…
lifespan, longevity, neuroeconomics
Longevity: think of yourself now, and yourself in the future
by Ward • • 3 Comments
Imagine yourself now – are you dedicated? Now imagine yourself in 10 years – are you dedicated? Differences in your brain activity dependent on these two different questions might be fundamental to the future of longevity research and society in general. The future of the longevity field and society To take longevity research seriously it…
cancer, genetics, lifespan, longevity
Sirt1 and aging: fighting wars on two fronts
by Ward • • 0 Comments
A new paper just out in Cell by the Sinclair group gives us some intriguing but sobering information about aging and genomic integrity. The new twist to the ever evolving story is the Sirt1 protein might have at least two primary roles in the cell. The first role is to locate itself on DNA to…
exercise, lifespan, longevity
The testing of a new sirt1 activator: SRT1720
by Ward • • 2 Comments
SRT1720 is a sirt1 activator and the new hope for a calorie restriction mimicker, which may lead to an increase in human lifespan. Resveratrol (which I have written about several times, here, here and here) is also a sirt1 activator, which is found (in very small quantity) in red wine, is also a sirt1 activator…
lifespan, longevity, olfaction
Stop smelling the roses – and live longer ?
by Ward • • 3 Comments
In this case I don’t mean stop living life to its fullest – soaking it all up – but rather the possibility of ceasing your ability to smell to increase your life span (hopefully you can continue living life to its fullest without the ability to smell – open question). Now one problem with almost…
longevity
Hourglass IV longevity blog carnival up at Existence is Wonderful
by Ward • • 0 Comments
Anne C. has done a wonderful job (no pun intended) at Existence is Wonderful hosting the latest installment of the hourglass longevity blog carnival. She does a great job of writing bookends (introduction and postscript) to ease us in and out of exploring new frontiers.
lifespan, longevity
Visceral fat and how important it is to your longevity
by Ward • • 2 Comments
Over the last 3-5 years you have probably come across the importance of visceral fat to your health. Visceral fat is not the fat you can pinch at your belly – that fat is subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat is inside the abdominal wall. It is the fat that is thought to be responsible for chronic…
longevity, Uncategorized
Is calorie restriction the same in mice and men?
by Ward • • 1 Comment
Calorie restriction (CR) (reduced calories with adequate nutrition) in multiple organisms increase mean and maximum lifespan. The big question (along with CR mimetics) is will it do the same in humans? One mechanism (of many) that is thought to be involved in CR effect on lifespan is the lowering of IGF-1. It was an open…