Looking in the Right Direction for a Longer, Healthier Life?
There’s an interesting interview (A Longer, Better Life) in the NY Times Magazine with two medical scientists (Lenny Guarente, Ph.D., M.I.T. biology professor and researcher, and Robert N. Butler, M.D., director of the International Longevity Center) discussing the topic of aging and longevity.
Here’s a quick look at some of the opinions expressed in the interview, some of which make sense, others of which are less likely to yield results.
Quality vs. Longevity
Guarente states that his goal is improving the health and quality of life, not so much its length:
The research that I’m involved in is not about extending life after people are infirm. I don’t think of life span as the gold standard. The gold standard is health span. All the indicators from the laboratory are that the genes we’re studying and the kinds of drugs we would be developing would extend health span. If you can extend health span, and you also happen to extend life span, so be it. That’s a side benefit.
For now, I’d have to agree with that goal. Lengthening the number of high-quality health years needs to be the primary objective. That’s not to say longevity shouldn’t also be a goal, but a practical first step seems to be improving the quality of the years humans generally live, so as to reduce both the individual suffering and financial costs often associated with the final years of life.
Why Not Longevity Science?
Butler notes that as a society we haven’t really devoted the necessary resources to examining the issues of healthy aging and longevity:
A lot of it comes down to our willingness in this country to make an investment in the biology of aging. Historically, we’ve devoted our energies and money to studying one disease at a time. At the same time, we have neglected targeting the underlying risk factor of aging.
Why does 50 percent of all cancer occur after 65? Why does 80 percent occur after age 50? As we age, there are changes at the cellular molecular level that predispose us to disease and disability. But so far, no government, no foundation, no corporation anywhere in the world has fully embraced the importance of longevity science. If we could target aging, that would have an impact on diseases.
Well, maybe no governments, but there are certainly foundations and corporations fully embracing longevity science. For example, the Life Extension Foundation has long been doing an excellent job making the science-based case for diet, nutritional supplementation, and lifestyle changes contributing to healthier aging and longevity.
Genes vs. Environment
My primary differences with the approaches advocated by the interviewees center on their focus on genetics and drug development, rather than on the environmental factors that may contribute to aging (e.g., nutrition and toxin exposure).
For example, there is this discussion following the interviewer question, “Where do you think the breakthroughs will come from in understanding diseases of the brain?”
GUARENTE: We are looking at genes, because from our perspective everything starts with genetics. Genetics is a key that opens a door that you can walk through, and now you can see: here’s what we should be studying. Antiaging genes like sirtuins carry the blueprint for proteins that might be able to ameliorate the cellular damage that accumulates with aging, like oxidation of molecules in cells. The next step, which is a difficult one, would be to develop drugs that stimulate the sirtuins, bolstering the repair of damage in cells. But I’m optimistic that can be achieved.
Genetic alterations and drugs to help make that happen are certainly possibilities. But, in all reality, it’ll likely be quite a while before we see such solutions. In the meantime, there’s plenty of evidence that suggests controlling environmental factors, such as nutrition and avoiding toxin exposure, can directly influence the likelihood for developing and/or recovering from many different chronic diseases, including those affecting the brain.
More from the interview:
There’s a lot of advice given about how to maintain a healthy body, but do we know how to maintain a healthy brain and prevent dementia?
BUTLER: I’m afraid there’s a lot of romance in the literature suggesting that we can stop Alzheimer’s disease by cognitive exercises.
Like doing crossword puzzles? My mother has done them all her life, but she lost her memory anyway.
BUTLER: Just as exercise keeps the body in optimal shape, exercise — both physical and mental — can keep the brain in optimal shape in terms of thinking clearly, making judgments and solving problems. But having a healthy body doesn’t prevent you from getting cancer. Similarly, maintaining a healthy brain doesn’t prevent you from having memory loss or getting Alzheimer’s.
Certainly disagree there. Of course cognitive exercises alone won’t prevent memory loss or getting Alzheimer’s. But to say that maintaining a healthy brain doesn’t help prevent memory loss and the onset of diseases like Alzheimer’s?
Well, that may be true if you define having a healthy brain as one whose owner only does cognitive and physical exercises. But who would define a healthy brain in such a limited way?
A healthy brain is one that not only is regularly used and challenged, but also one that is:
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Given optimal levels of nutrients. How many people out there are deficient in key brain-building and protective nutrients? (e.g., Omega-3 fats; vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid; antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E; minerals magnesium, selenium, & zinc) Millions? Tens of millions? How often are such deficiencies identified and corrected?
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Low in toxic burden. How many people out there have mercury amalgam fillings, receive vaccines containing mercury, regularly eat contaminated seafood, are exposed to pesticides, etc.? Tens of millions? Hundreds of millions? How often are such exposures identified and safely eliminated?
These two areas are critical to maintaining a healthy brain and preventing dementia. Neither is given adequate attention by either the traditional medical or research community.
And to say that having a healthy body doesn’t prevent one from getting cancer? Come on, now. Of course it does. It’s all in the definition of “healthy.”
Again, I’d argue that nutritional status and avoiding toxin exposure are the two keys. There is an increasingly large body of evidence that nutritional factors play a role in cancer development (e.g., vitamin D deficiency), and we know that many environmental toxins (e.g., PCBs, pesticides, heavy metals) have carcinogenic effects.
A Bigger Role for Prevention?
Guarente seems to agree, at least in part, that preventive factors may play a bigger role:
GUARENTE: My feeling is slightly different. I think we can tip the odds a little bit by our lifestyles and by avoiding things that we know are bad, like smoking, like trans fats, like excess body fat. Is it a prevention? Absolutely not, but we’re stacking the odds a little bit away from disease.
A little bit? There’s an understatement. For the vast majority of chronic diseases, genetics may “cock the gun,” but it’s the environmental factors that “pull the trigger.”
For example, there are plenty of people with the ApoE4 gene, a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, who never go on to develop the disease. Likewise, there are plenty of people without the ApoE4 gene who do go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Clearly, environmental factors are at work.
Why the aversion to explicitly emphasizing the importance of prevention and environmental factors? Not smoking, avoiding trans fats, and maintaining a healthy body weight are most certainly preventive steps that can significantly influence the onset of chronic disease. And there are so many others.
If you want to live a healthier, longer life, waiting for a “magic pill” or a genetic “fix” to save you from the chronic diseases associated with aging is not a good strategy. A far more effective approach is one that emphasizes optimal nutrition (through both diet and nutritional supplementation), toxin avoidance/removal, and regular/moderate exercise.
Related Links
Growing Older Gracefully - The New Yorker on Aging
Even Reducing Calorie Intake Later in Life May Slow Aging
Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease Affecting More People at Younger Ages
Brain Structure Changes Seen Years Before Memory Loss Starts
(Image: Horatio Salinas for the NY Times)
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