Are Longer Healthspans within Our Reach?

Are CR Mimetics the key to longer lifespans free of the degenerative conditions we associate with old age?

In 1934, Cornell University researcher Clive McCay completed a four-year study showing that Calorie Restriction (CR) greatly extended the healthy lifespan – or healthspan – of lab mice. The research was applied successfully to other species in later studies. Consistently, lifespans free of disability such as senile dementia, arthritis and degenerative illnesses were lengthened by at least a third.

Scientists knew that not many humans would submit to near-starvation diets in order to liver longer. They might not suffer the debilitating diseases of old age, but people on CR diets would be miserable and hungry their entire longer lives. Not a good tradeoff. So the research was not immediately extended to humans.

In the 1990s, scientists began finding compounds that that could be taken as drugs or supplements which seemed to mimic the effects of CR. The first on the scene was Resveratrol. Despite the fact that Resveratrol’s image was tarnished after unscrupulous marketers concocted exaggerated claims and perpetrated auto-ship scams on consumers, several biotech companies have sprung up to pursue investigation into CR Mimetics.

In the words of science writer David Stipp, “Such drugs will be designed to switch on an ancient, enormously complex mechanism embedded in our genomes to postpone, and possibly attenuate, a myriad of ills brought on by aging: dementia, heart disease, cancer, as well as wrinkles, arthritis, age-related loss of muscle and bone, and the onset of senior moments. In effect, they'll represent the biggest free lunch in medical history. And given that compounds capable of emulating key effects of CR in rodents have already come to light, it's arguable that the Great Free Lunch's appetizers are now on the table.”

You can read the full text of David’s article for Fortune reprinted at CNN Money Online.

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Tags: extending longevity, longer healthspan, auto-ship abuse, , CR mimetics, avoid disability, healthy lives extended by one-third, biotech research to extend life