Fountain Of Youth May Be Hiding In Common Prescription Drugs

A woman and an older lady standing next to each other.


For centuries, humans have searched for the Fountain of Youth.  The latest search for longevity may arrive in pill form.  Scientists are now trying to extrapolate life-prolonging experiments in animals to something which would work on a human being.  Two leading candidates are metformin—a common diabetes treatment—and rapamycin, a drug currently used to prevent transplant patients from rejecting organs.  There is also a new class of drugs called senolytics.  These clear the body of senescent cells, old cells that stop dividing but don’t die.  They accumulate in tissues throughout the body and damage healthy cells and have been linked to cognitive impairment.  Let’s hope at least one of these works!

https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-you-fight-aging-scientists-are-testing-drugs-to-help-11641913275

 

Searching For The Fountain Of Youth : What Does It Take To Become A Centenarian : By Derek Baine

An older woman with a gray hair sitting in front of trees.


For decades, people have been searching for the fountain of youth, not just to look good but to try and avoid the inevitable—death.  There is a field of scientists called biogerontologists that are working in a fast-developing field to not only maximize the average lifespan, but also to increase the “healthspan,†which is the number of years we spend free from disease, disability and impairment.  Humans go through the aging process in a different manner than some animals, which may provide clues to growing older gracefully.  Every year a human is alive, their risk of dying increased by 10%.  In your 30’s, for instance, your odds of dying in any given year are less than one in 1,000.  However, this 10% compounding effect adds up quickly.  Tortoises, some kind of salamander and fish and burrow-dwelling rodents called naked molerats all have a risk of death unrelated to how long they have been alive.  This phenomenon is called “negligible senescence†and is being studied avidly by scientists.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-best-remedy-for-our-diseases-aging-less-11618003335