WINNERS

Showing posts with label longevity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label longevity. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Aging is a disease, and this man wants to cure it.

No, this is not Rasputin.

Some of you might know this gentleman: Aubrey de Grey. He's an Englishman who has taken up the quest to annihilate age-related diseases. Don't let him catch you calling it immortality - a claim that many journalists love to bandy about when referring to de Grey. Immortality is the necessary endpoint of his quest, but increased health into old age is the real subject. He aims to rally biologists, gerontologists, and geneticists to tackle aging on a cellular level. To that end, the Methuselah foundation (named after the biblical character) has created a contest to substantially increase the lifespan of mice.

Recently de Grey's group has put up a new contest - one that will reward the first research group to develop a fully transplantable human organ, grown from the ground up. The idea? If an organ is failing, simply swap it out for a fresh one.

There's a great wired interview available here for those of you who are interested.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Who wants to live forever?

New research shows that increased intake of branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, valine) can raise the median lifespan of mice by 12%. Take care to note that the MAXIMUM age at death was not raised, but the average age at death.
It is thought they act by increasing productivity of mitochondria and staving off the ravages of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are implicated in DNA damage and disruption of cellular function.

After a little searching I found that BCAA supplements have been available for bodybuilding for some time, and although it isn't the fountain of youth, it may be beneficial.