Category Archives: Human Longevity

21 November

Afghanistan: UN mission condemns killing of civilians in Kabul mosque attack

20 November

UN, international partners underline need to ensure legitimacy and credibility of elections in Somalia

UN chief denounces attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Syria's Aleppo

On Universal Children's Day, UNICEF calls for protecting the rights of every child

On Africa Industrialization Day, Ban urges financing 'engines of development' to realize continent's potential

UN chief urges rapid scale-up in action to prevent vehicle-related deaths and injuries

19 November

Zika no longer an international public health emergency, but sustained response needed – UN health agency

Noting upcoming elections in Mali, Ban urges Government to engage with all actors to diffuse tensions

Security Council 'deeply alarmed' over escalation of ethnic violence in South Sudan

Yemen: UN envoy announces resumption of cessation of hostilities

18 November

In Paris, Ban hails support of France during his tenure as UN chief

Reflecting on his five-year term, UN deputy chief pins hopes on multilateralism

MARRAKECH: Countries at UN conference pledge to press ahead with implementation of Paris Agreement

With continuous support, storm-hit Haiti can make real and tangible progress UNICEF

UN expert warns on Turkish governments draconian measures on freedoms of expression

Chad: UN agencies and EU join forces to tackle malnutrition

UN agencies call for immediate support amid deepening food crisis in southern Madagascar

Australias human rights record tainted by regressive migration policies UN expert

Iraq: Sustained funding crucial as Mosul displacement grows, says UN refugee agency

Myanmar: UN urges aid access, warns of rights violations after 'lockdown' in northern Rakhine state

MARRAKECH: We strive to lead, climate-vulnerable countries declare, pledging robust action on Paris accord

On World Toilet Day, UN spotlights impact of sanitation on peoples livelihoods

Security Council extends the mandate of joint UN-OPCW body on chemical weapons in Syria

17 November

UN and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation must cooperate on resolving conflicts, Security Council told

South Sudan continues to face persistent challenges to peace and stability, Security Council told

Colombia: UN-led mechanism investigating alleged ceasefire violation

At governing body, UN atomic agency chief highlights agencys priorities for 2017

Worlds first malaria vaccine set for 2018 rollout in Africa after UN health agency secures funding

New UN initiative aims to save lives and cut climate change by protecting peatlands

UN deputy chief urges donors to support peace consolidation in Central African Republic

Great Green Wall initiative offers unique opportunity to combat climate change in Africa UN agency

MARRAKECH: We need everyone, Ban says, urging society-wide engagement in implementation of Paris climate accord

Nigeria: UN expert seeks urgent answers on brutal eviction of 30,000 people in Lagos

UN health agency denounces attacks on health facilities in Syria

One month into Mosul battle, UN and partners profoundly concerned for civilian safety

DR Congo: Ban takes note of appointment of new Prime Minister

'Philosophy is an art of living together,' says UNESCO on World Philosophy Day

16 November

Kosovo situation yielding fewer results than hoped in 2016, UN envoy tells Security Council

Ban welcomes Canadas announcement of donation to UN Palestine refugee agency

Global humanitarian response affected by lack of funding senior UN relief official

Welcoming Kenyas decision on Dadaab camp, UN urges flexibility on time frames for Somali refugees

Top UN peacekeeping officials hail success of community violence reduction programmes

MARRAKECH: UN chief urges rapid scale-up in funding to address climate change

Do not betray the victims; stand by the Rome Statute and the ICC UN human rights chief

Central African Republic: Justice and reconciliation key to lasting peace, UN expert says

MARRAKECH: Middle East and North Africa region taking action to combat climate change

Brussels conference to play significant role in supporting Central African Republics recovery Security Council

Tolerance is a commitment 'to seek in our diversity the bonds that unite humanity' – UN

15 November

UN relief agencies deploy emergency humanitarian aid and resources to conflict-torn Mosul

MARRAKECH: UN seeks to build climate resilience through new initiative

INTERVIEW: What extreme weather and global temperature rise mean for humanity - WMO chief

Ban welcomes resolution of border dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Gabon

Afghanistan: UN launches nine-month operation to assist returnees with emergency food and cash

Central African Republic: Nearly one in five children is a refugee or internally displaced, warns UNICEF

UN experts back call to halt pipeline construction in North Dakota, citing rights abuses of protestors

UN agriculture agency calls for giant research leap to rein in farm-driven antimicrobial resistance

Poor rains, supply bottlenecks exacerbate food security woes in war-torn Syria, UN warns

With Silicon Valley model, UNICEF invests in tech start-ups working to improve childrens lives

MARRAKECH: Ban hails 'new dawn of cooperation on climate change,' urges action on Paris accord

14 November

UN labour agency advocates policy changes to address rise in non-standard forms of employment

UN provides food assistance to 100,000 Iraqis as conflict in Mosul intensifies

Without urgent action, world heading towards post-antibiotic era UN health agency

2016 slated to be hottest year ever, with record-breaking emissions and melting Arctic ice

MARRAKECH: Deepening South-South cooperation driving climate action among developing countries

On World Day, UN chief urges prevention to reduce diabetes and associated blindness

13 November

Ban commends Colombian Government and FARC-EP for concluding modified peace agreement

In DR Congo, UN Security Council delegation calls for consensual, inclusive electoral calendar

UN chief condemns terrorist attack against Sufi shrine in Pakistan

MARRAKECH: Dozens of heads of State and Government to attend UN climate conference

12 November

In phone conversation, Ban welcomes US President-elect Trump's calls for unity

UN-brokered Cyprus talks to reconvene on 20 November; 'significant progress' achieved

MARRAKECH: Efforts to revolutionize transport gaining momentum, UN climate conference told

11 November

INTERVIEW: Policing is about the passion to serve people- UNAMID Police Commissioner Priscilla Makotose

In new report, UN-backed sustainable development fund highlights importance of broad partnerships

Myanmar: UN envoy urges investigation into alleged sexual assaults after violence flares in Rakhine state

Displacement continues amid recurrent clashes in north-central Somalia UN

Risk of outright ethnic war and genocide in South Sudan, UN envoy warns

UN development agency working with Cuban government in areas hard-hit by Hurricane Matthew

Mosul offensive against ISIL pushing Iraqs civilians into war-ravaged Syria UN rights wing

Rehabilitating drylands key to global food security, according to new UN report

MARRAKECH: Private sector commits to actions on sustainable energy for a just climate future for all

Tough action on pneumonia and diarrhoea can save more than one million lives annually UNICEF

UN mission in Afghanistan condemns deadly attack near German consulate in Mazar

Iraq: Citing 'numbing' extent of suffering caused by ISIL, UN rights chief urges focus on victims' rights

10 November

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Liam Neeson praises strength of Syrian refugee children in Jordan

New Lebanese government brings mood of optimism needed to address ongoing challenges UN envoy

Senior UN police officers brief Security Council on their work and challenges they face

Syria: UN envoy urges action to avert mass hunger in eastern Aleppo ahead of killer winter

Excerpt from:
UN News Centre - United Nations

This is a collection of lists of countries by average life expectancy at birth.

Life expectancy equals the average number of years a person born in a given country is expected to live if mortality rates at each age were to remain steady in the future. The life expectancy is shown separately for males and females, as well as a combined figure. Several non-sovereign entities are also included in this list too.

The figures reflect the quality of healthcare in the countries listed as well as other factors including ongoing wars, obesity, and HIV infections.[citation needed]

Worldwide, the average life expectancy at birth was 71.0 years (68 years and 6 months for males and 73 years and 6 months for females) over the period 20102013 according to United Nations World Population Prospects 2012 Revision,[3] or 70.7 years (68.2 years for males and 73.2 years for females) for 2009 according to The World Factbook.[4] According to the World Health Organization (WHO), women on average live longer than men in all countries, with the exception of Tonga.

The countries with the lowest overall life expectancies per the WHO are Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Somalia, Swaziland, Angola, Chad, Mali, Burundi, Cameroon, and Mozambique. Of those countries, only Lesotho, Swaziland, and Mozambique in 2011 were suffering from an HIV prevalence rate of greater than 10 percent in the 1549 age group.[5]

Comparing life expectancies from birth across countries can be problematic. There are differing definitions of live birth vs stillbirth even among more developed countries and less developed countries often have poor reporting.[6]

2015 data[7] published in May 2016.[8]

HALE: Health-adjusted life expectancy[9]

On July 2015, the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), released World Population Prospects, The 2015 Revision.[3] The following table shows the life expectancy at birth for the period 2010 to 2015.

over 80

77.5-80.0

75.0-77.5

72.5-75.0

70.0-72.5

67.5-70.0

65.0-67.5

60-65

55-60

50-55

45-50

under 45

not available

The Global Burden of Disease 2010 study published updated figures in 2012,[10] including recalculations of life expectancies[11] which differ substantially in places from the UN estimates for 2010 (reasons for this are discussed in the freely available appendix to the paper, pages 2527, currently not available). Although no estimate is given for the sexes combined, for the first time life expectancy estimates have included uncertainty intervals.

>80

>77.5

>75

>72.5

>70

>67.5

>65

>60

>55

>50

>45

>40

<40

The US CIA published the following life expectancy data in its annual world factbook 2012.[1]

Figures are from the CIA World Factbook 2009[1] and from the 2010 revision of the United Nations World Population Prospects report, for 20052010,[3] (data viewable at http://esa.un.org/wpp/Sorting-Tables/tab-sorting_mortality.htm, with equivalent spreadsheets here, here, and here).

Only countries/territories with a population of 100,000 or more in 2010 are included in the United Nations list. WHO database 2013 http://www.who.int/gho/publications/world_health_statistics/EN_WHS2013_Full.pdf

Continue reading here:
List of countries by life expectancy - Wikipedia

The word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography - however, the term "longevity" is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas "life expectancy" is always defined statistically as the average number of years remaining at a given age. For example, a population's life expectancy at birth is the same as the average age at death for all people born in the same year (in the case of cohorts). Longevity is best thought of as a term for general audiences meaning 'typical length of life' and specific statistical definitions should be clarified when necessary.

Reflections on longevity have usually gone beyond acknowledging the brevity of human life and have included thinking about methods to extend life. Longevity has been a topic not only for the scientific community but also for writers of travel, science fiction, and utopian novels.

There are many difficulties in authenticating the longest human life span ever by modern verification standards, owing to inaccurate or incomplete birth statistics. Fiction, legend, and folklore have proposed or claimed life spans in the past or future vastly longer than those verified by modern standards, and longevity narratives and unverified longevity claims frequently speak of their existence in the present.

A life annuity is a form of longevity insurance.

Various factors contribute to an individual's longevity. Significant factors in life expectancy include gender, genetics, access to health care, hygiene, diet and nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, and crime rates. Below is a list of life expectancies in different types of countries:[3]

Population longevities are increasing as life expectancies around the world grow:[1][4]

The Gerontology Research Group validates current longevity records by modern standards, and maintains a list of supercentenarians; many other unvalidated longevity claims exist. Record-holding individuals include:[citation needed]

Evidence-based studies indicate that longevity is based on two major factors, genetics and lifestyle choices.[5]

Twin studies have estimated that approximately 20-30% the variation in human lifespan can be related to genetics, with the rest due to individual behaviors and environmental factors which can be modified.[6] Although over 200 gene variants have been associated with longevity according to a US-Belgian-UK research database of human genetic variants,[7] these explain only a small fraction of the heritability.[8] A 2012 study found that even modest amounts of leisure time physical exercise can extend life expectancy by as much as 4.5 years.[9]

Lymphoblastoid cell lines established from blood samples of centenarians have significantly higher activity of the DNA repair protein PARP (Poly ADP ribose polymerase) than cell lines from younger (20 to 70 year old) individuals.[10] The lymphocytic cells of centenarians have characteristics typical of cells from young people, both in their capability of priming the mechanism of repair after H2O2 sublethal oxidative DNA damage and in their PARP gene expression.[11] These findings suggest that elevated PARP gene expression contributes to the longevity of centenarians, consistent with the DNA damage theory of aging.[12]

A study of the regions of the world known as blue zones, where people commonly live active lives past 100 years of age, speculated that longevity is related to a healthy social and family life, not smoking, eating a plant-based diet, frequent consumption of legumes and nuts, and engaging in regular physical activity.[13] In a cohort study, the combination of a plant based diet, normal BMI, and not smoking accounted for differences up to 15 years in life expectancy.[14] Korean court records going back to 1392 indicate that the average lifespan of eunuchs was 70.0 1.76 years, which was 14.419.1 years longer than the lifespan of non-castrated men of similar socio-economic status.[15] The Alameda County Study hypothesized three additional lifestyle characteristics that promote longevity: limiting alcohol consumption, sleeping 7 to 8 hours per night, and not snacking (eating between meals), although the study found the association between these characteristics and mortality is "weak at best".[16] There are however many other possible factors potentially affecting longevity, including the impact of high peer competition, which is typically experienced in large cities.[17]

In preindustrial times, deaths at young and middle age were more common than they are today. This is not due to genetics, but because of environmental factors such as disease, accidents, and malnutrition, especially since the former were not generally treatable with pre-20th century medicine. Deaths from childbirth were common in women, and many children did not live past infancy. In addition, most people who did attain old age were likely to die quickly from the above-mentioned untreatable health problems. Despite this, we do find many examples of pre-20th century individuals attaining lifespans of 75 years or greater, including Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Cato the Elder, Thomas Hobbes, Eric of Pomerania, Christopher Polhem, and Michelangelo. This was also true for poorer people like peasants or laborers. Genealogists will almost certainly find ancestors living to their 70s, 80s and even 90s several hundred years ago.

For example, an 1871 census in the UK (the first of its kind, but personal data from other censuses dates back to 1841 and numerical data back to 1801) found the average male life expectancy as being 44, but if infant mortality is subtracted, males who lived to adulthood averaged 75 years. The present male life expectancy in the UK is 77 years for males and 81 for females, while the United States averages 74 for males and 80 for females.

Studies have shown that black American males have the shortest lifespans of any group of people in the US, averaging only 69 years (Asian-American females average the longest).[18] This reflects overall poorer health and greater prevalence of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer among black American men.

Women normally outlive men, and this was as true in pre-industrial times as today. Theories for this include smaller bodies (and thus less stress on the heart), a stronger immune system (since testosterone acts as an immunosuppressant), and less tendency to engage in physically dangerous activities.

There is a current debate as to whether or not the pursuit of longevity is a worthwhile health care goal for the United States. Bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, who is also one of the architects of ObamaCare, has stated that the pursuit of longevity via the compression of morbidity explanation is a "fantasy" and that life is not worth living after age 75; therefore longevity should not be a goal of health care policy.[19] This has been refuted by neurosurgeon Miguel Faria, who states that life can be worthwhile in healthy old age; that the compression of morbidity is a real phenomenon; that longevity should be pursued in association with quality of life.[20] Faria has discussed how longevity in association with leading healthy lifestyles can lead to the postponement of senescence as well as happiness and wisdom in old age.[21]

All of the biological organisms have a limited longevity, and different species of animals and plants have different potentials of longevity. Misrepair-accumulation aging theory [22][23] suggests that the potential of longevity of an organism is related to its structural complexity.[24] Limited longevity is due to the limited structural complexity of the organism. If a species of organisms has too high structural complexity, most of its individuals would die before the reproduction age, and the species could not survive. This theory suggests that limited structural complexity and limited longevity are essential for the survival of a species.

Longevity traditions are traditions about long-lived people (generally supercentenarians), and practices that have been believed to confer longevity.[25][26] A comparison and contrast of "longevity in antiquity" (such as the Sumerian King List, the genealogies of Genesis, and the Persian Shahnameh) with "longevity in historical times" (common-era cases through twentieth-century news reports) is elaborated in detail in Lucian Boia's 2004 book Forever Young: A Cultural History of Longevity from Antiquity to the Present and other sources.[27]

The Fountain of Youth reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters. The New Testament, following older Jewish tradition, attributes healing to the Pool of Bethesda when the waters are "stirred" by an angel.[28] After the death of Juan Ponce de Len, Gonzalo Fernndez de Oviedo y Valds wrote in Historia General y Natural de las Indias (1535) that Ponce de Len was looking for the waters of Bimini to cure his aging.[29] Traditions that have been believed to confer greater human longevity also include alchemy,[30] such as that attributed to Nicolas Flamel. In the modern era, the Okinawa diet has some reputation of linkage to exceptionally high ages.[31]

More recent longevity claims are subcategorized by many editions of Guinness World Records into four groups: "In late life, very old people often tend to advance their ages at the rate of about 17 years per decade .... Several celebrated super-centenarians (over 110 years) are believed to have been double lives (father and son, relations with the same names or successive bearers of a title) .... A number of instances have been commercially sponsored, while a fourth category of recent claims are those made for political ends ...."[32] The estimate of 17 years per decade was corroborated by the 1901 and 1911 British censuses.[32] Mazess and Forman also discovered in 1978 that inhabitants of Vilcabamba, Ecuador, claimed excessive longevity by using their fathers' and grandfathers' baptismal entries.[32][33]Time magazine considered that, by the Soviet Union, longevity had been elevated to a state-supported "Methuselah cult".[34]Robert Ripley regularly reported supercentenarian claims in Ripley's Believe It or Not!, usually citing his own reputation as a fact-checker to claim reliability.[35]

The U.S. Census Bureau view on the future of longevity is that life expectancy in the United States will be in the mid-80s by 2050 (up from 77.85 in 2006) and will top out eventually in the low 90s, barring major scientific advances that can change the rate of human aging itself, as opposed to merely treating the effects of aging as is done today. The Census Bureau also predicted that the United States would have 5.3 million people aged over 100 in 2100. The United Nations has also made projections far out into the future, up to 2300, at which point it projects that life expectancies in most developed countries will be between 100 and 106 years and still rising, though more and more slowly than before. These projections also suggest that life expectancies in poor countries will still be less than those in rich countries in 2300, in some cases by as much as 20 years. The UN itself mentioned that gaps in life expectancy so far in the future may well not exist, especially since the exchange of technology between rich and poor countries and the industrialization and development of poor countries may cause their life expectancies to converge fully with those of rich countries long before that point, similarly to the way life expectancies between rich and poor countries have already been converging over the last 60 years as better medicine, technology, and living conditions became accessible to many people in poor countries. The UN has warned that these projections are uncertain, and cautions that any change or advancement in medical technology could invalidate such projections.[36]

Recent increases in the rates of lifestyle diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, may eventually slow or reverse this trend toward increasing life expectancy in the developed world, but have not yet done so. The average age of the US population is getting higher[37] and these diseases show up in older people.[38]

Jennifer Couzin-Frankel examined how much mortality from various causes would have to drop in order to boost life expectancy and concluded that most of the past increases in life expectancy occurred because of improved survival rates for young people. She states that it seems unlikely that life expectancy at birth will ever exceed 85 years.[39]Michio Kaku argues that genetic engineering, nanotechnology and future breakthroughs will accelerate the rate of life expectancy increase indefinitely.[40] Already genetic engineering has allowed the life expectancy of certain primates to be doubled, and for human skin cells in labs to divide and live indefinitely without becoming cancerous.[41]

However, since 1840, record life expectancy has risen linearly for men and women, albeit more slowly for men. For women the increase has been almost three months per year, for men almost 2.7 months per year. In light of steady increase, without any sign of limitation, the suggestion that life expectancy will top out must be treated with caution. Scientists Oeppen and Vaupel observe that experts who assert that "life expectancy is approaching a ceiling ... have repeatedly been proven wrong." It is thought that life expectancy for women has increased more dramatically owing to the considerable advances in medicine related to childbirth.[42]

Mice have been genetically engineered to live twice as long as ordinary mice. Drugs such as deprenyl are a part of the prescribing pharmacopia of veterinarians specifically to increase mammal lifespan. A large plurality of research chemicals have been described at the scientific literature that increase the lifespan of a number of species.

Some argue that molecular nanotechnology will greatly extend human life spans. If the rate of increase of life span can be raised with these technologies to a level of twelve months increase per year, this is defined as effective biological immortality and is the goal of radical life extension.

Currently living:

Non-living:

Certain exotic organisms do not seem to be subject to aging and can live indefinitely. Examples include Tardigrades and Hydras. That is not to say that these organisms cannot die, merely that they only die as a result of disease or injury rather than age-related deterioration (and that they are not subject to the Hayflick limit).

Read the original:
Longevity - Wikipedia

Dreaming of an ad-free life? Get your daily relief on Gaia. We value open space, room to dream, freedom and choice. Ad-free streaming made possible by your membership.

Gaia is an exceptional resource for exploring different styles of yoga with the world's top instructors. The convenience of having guided classes at home makes yoga more accessible and promotes a daily routine. My home practice was transformed within my first month of membership. I continue to do yoga everyday and feel great.

Sarah Carpenter, Gaia Member

I got involved with Gaia because of Corey Goode. He fascinates me and I find him to be remarkably authentic and very straightforward... I love Gaia and have respect for the mission and purpose of the company that brings so much good information to all of us. Thank you, Gaia.

James Daniel MacManis, Gaia Member

My Yoga on Gaia has been an integral part of my yoga journey. No matter what I'm working on, either in my body or in my heart, there is a program to help with it... My Yoga is a great complement to my practice in the studio...

Kristen Dill, Gaia Member

Gaia is totally based, without a doubt, on TRUTH, and each and every video has opened many doors for my inquisitive mind. I Love watching David Wilcock,Corey Goode, George Noory and Regina Meredith and hundreds more...

Glenda Jasper, Gaia Member

Gaia is an incredible portal into the realms of the esoteric. Everything from meditation and astrology to ancient civilizations and the paranormal, it's all in one place. I'm able to expand my perspectives everyday at home, plus it makes for great conversation with my friends. Thanks Gaia, keep fighting the good fight!

Zane Basak, Gaia Member

Stream yoga, meditation, and mind-expanding programs that provide a true alternative to mainstream media. Explore what's on Gaia below, then sign up to gain full access and continue your path towards a more conscious life.

Foster mindfulness in your practice with the latest expertly led yoga and meditation instruction, at any level.

Awaken your spirit with exclusive tools to help with mind development, spirituality and self-improvement.

Explore Who are we? and Why are we here? with specialists in metaphysics, ancient wisdom, the paranormal and more.

Nourish yourself with insights and information from the forefront of alternative medicine, holistic healing and longevity practices.

Get inspired by hard-to-find independent films, moving shorts, nature and cultural documentaries and feel-good films.

One-Time Payment of $20 Monthly Payment of $9.95 thereafter

Monthly Payment of $9.95 thereafter

Save 20% Annual Payment of $95.40

Monthly Payment of $9.95 thereafter

Save 20% Annual Payment of $95.40

Save 20% Annual Payment of $95.40

One-Time Payment of $20 Monthly Payment of $9.95 thereafter

Save 20% Annual Payment of $95.40

One-Time Payment of $20 Monthly Payment of $9.95 thereafter

Gaia is an exceptional resource for exploring different styles of yoga with the world's top instructors. The convenience of having guided classes at home makes yoga more accessible and promotes a daily routine. My home practice was transformed within my first month of membership. I continue to do yoga everyday and feel great.

Sarah Carpenter, Gaia Member

I got involved with Gaia because of Corey Goode. He fascinates me and I find him to be remarkably authentic and very straightforward... I love Gaia and have respect for the mission and purpose of the company that brings so much good information to all of us. Thank you, Gaia.

James Daniel MacManis, Gaia Member

My Yoga on Gaia has been an integral part of my yoga journey. No matter what I'm working on, either in my body or in my heart, there is a program to help with it... My Yoga is a great complement to my practice in the studio...

Kristen Dill, Gaia Member

Gaia is totally based, without a doubt, on TRUTH, and each and every video has opened many doors for my inquisitive mind. I Love watching David Wilcock,Corey Goode, George Noory and Regina Meredith and hundreds more...

Glenda Jasper, Gaia Member

Gaia is an incredible portal into the realms of the esoteric. Everything from meditation and astrology to ancient civilizations and the paranormal, it's all in one place. I'm able to expand my perspectives everyday at home, plus it makes for great conversation with my friends. Thanks Gaia, keep fighting the good fight!

Zane Basak, Gaia Member

Gaia helps you achieve your highest potential at your convenience. Stream our unique programming on the screen of your choice. Currently available on the new Apple TV, Roku, IOS, Chromecast, and on the web.

Read more from the original source:
Gaiam TV is now Gaia

For the last 4 decades, the question of how to manipulate the serotonergic system with drugs has been an important area of research in biological psychiatry, and this research has led to advances in the treatment of depression. Research on the association between various polymorphisms and depression supports the idea that serotonin plays a role, not only in the treatment of depression but also in susceptibility to depression and suicide. The research focus here has been on polymorphisms of the serotonin transporter, but other serotonin-related genes may also be involved.15 In the future, genetic research will make it possible to predict with increasing accuracy who is susceptible to depression. Much less attention has been given to how this information will be used for the benefit of individuals with a serotonin-related susceptibility to depression, and little evidence exists concerning strategies to prevent depression in those with such a susceptibility. Various studies have looked at early intervention in those with prodromal symptoms as well as at population strategies for preventing depression.611 Obviously, prevention is preferable to early intervention; moreover, although population strategies are important, they are ideally supplemented with preventive interventions that can be used over long periods of time in targeted individuals who do not yet exhibit even nonclinical symptoms. Clearly, pharmacologic approaches are not appropriate, and given the evidence for serotonin's role in the etiology and treatment of depression, nonpharmacologic methods of increasing serotonin are potential candidates to test for their ability to prevent depression.

Another reason for pursuing nonpharmacologic methods of increasing serotonin arises from the increasing recognition that happiness and well-being are important, both as factors protecting against mental and physical disorders and in their own right.1214 Conversely, negative moods are associated with negative outcomes. For example, the negative mood hostility is a risk factor for many disorders. For the sake of brevity, hostility is discussed here mainly in relation to one of the biggest sources of mortality, coronary heart disease (CHD). A meta-analysis of 45 studies demonstrated that hostility is a risk factor for CHD and for all-cause mortality.15 More recent research confirms this. Hostility is associated not only with the development of CHD but also with poorer survival in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients.16 Hostility may lead to decreased social support and social isolation,17 and low perceived social support is associated with greater mortality in those with CAD.18 Effects are not just limited to CHD. For example, the opposite of hostility, agreeableness, was a significant protective factor against mortality in a sample of older, frail participants.19

The constitution of the WHO states Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.20 This may sound exaggerated but positive mood within the normal range is an important predictor of health and longevity. In a classic study, those in the lowest quartile for positive emotions, rated from autobiographies written at a mean age of 22 years, died on average 10 years earlier than those in the highest quartile.21 Even taking into account possible confounders, other studies found the same solid link between feeling good and living longer.12 In a series of recent studies, negative emotions were associated with increased disability due to mental and physical disorders,22 increased incidence of depression,23 increased suicide24 and increased mortality25 up to 2 decades later. Positive emotions protected against these outcomes. A recent review including meta-analyses assessed cross-sectional, longitudinal and experimental studies and concluded that happiness is associated with and precedes numerous successful outcomes.26 Mood may influence social behaviour, and social support is one of the most studied psychosocial factors in relation to health and disease.27 Low social support is associated with higher levels of stress, depression, dysthymia and posttraumatic stress disorder and with increased morbidity and mortality from a host of medical illnesses.27

Research confirms what might be intuitively expected, that positive emotions and agreeableness foster congenial relationships with others.28,29 This in turn will create the conditions for an increase in social support.

Several studies found an association between measures related to serotonin and mood in the normal range. Lower platelet serotonin2 receptor function was associated with lower mood in one study,30 whereas better mood was associated with higher blood serotonin levels in another.31 Two studies found that greater prolactin release in response to fenfluramine was associated with more positive mood.32,33 The idea that these associations indicate a causal association between serotonin function and mood within the normal range is consistent with a study demonstrating that, in healthy people with high trait irritability, tryptophan, relative to placebo, decreased quarrelsome behaviours, increased agreeable behaviours and improved mood.34 Serotonin may be associated with physical health as well as mood. In otherwise healthy individuals, a low prolactin response to the serotonin-releasing drug fenfluramine was associated with the metabolic syndrome, a risk factor for heart disease,35 suggesting that low serotonin may predispose healthy individuals to suboptimal physical as well as mental functioning.

Nonpharmacologic methods of raising brain serotonin may not only improve mood and social functioning of healthy people a worthwhile objective even without additional considerations but would also make it possible to test the idea that increases in brain serotonin may help protect against the onset of various mental and physical disorders. Four strategies that are worth further investigation are discussed below.

The article by Perreau-Linck and colleagues36 (page 430 of this issue) provides an initial lead about one possible strategy for raising brain serotonin. Using positron emission tomography, they obtained a measure of serotonin synthesis in the brains of healthy participants who underwent positive, negative and neutral mood inductions. Reported levels of happiness were positively correlated and reported levels of sadness were negatively correlated with serotonin synthesis in the right anterior cingulate cortex. The idea that alterations in thought, either self-induced or due to psychotherapy, can alter brain metabolism is not new. Numerous studies have demonstrated changes in blood flow in such circumstances. However, reports related to specific transmitters are much less common. In one recent study, meditation was reported to increase release of dopamine.37 The study by Perreau-Linck and colleagues36 is the first to report that self-induced changes in mood can influence serotonin synthesis. This raises the possibility that the interaction between serotonin synthesis and mood may be 2-way, with serotonin influencing mood and mood influencing serotonin. Obviously, more work is needed to answer questions in this area. For example, is the improvement in mood associated with psychotherapy accompanied by increases in serotonin synthesis? If more precise information is obtained about the mental states that increase serotonin synthesis, will this help to enhance therapy techniques?

Exposure to bright light is a second possible approach to increasing serotonin without drugs. Bright light is, of course, a standard treatment for seasonal depression, but a few studies also suggest that it is an effective treatment for nonseasonal depression38 and also reduces depressed mood in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder39 and in pregnant women suffering from depression.40 The evidence relating these effects to serotonin is indirect. In human postmortem brain, serotonin levels are higher in those who died in summer than in those who died in winter.41 A similar conclusion came from a study on healthy volunteers, in which serotonin synthesis was assessed by measurements of the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in the venous outflow from the brain.42 There was also a positive correlation between serotonin synthesis and the hours of sunlight on the day the measurements were made, independent of season. In rats, serotonin is highest during the light part of the lightdark cycle, and this state is driven by the photic cycle rather than the circadian rhythm.43,44 The existence of a retinoraphe tract may help explain why, in experimental animals, neuronal firing rates, c-fos expression and the serotonin content in the raphe nuclei are responsive to retinal light exposure.4448 In humans, there is certainly an interaction between bright light and the serotonin system. The mood-lowering effect of acute tryptophan depletion in healthy women is completely blocked by carrying out the study in bright light (3000 lux) instead of dim light.49

Relatively few generations ago, most of the world population was involved in agriculture and was outdoors for much of the day. This would have resulted in high levels of bright light exposure even in winter. Even on a cloudy day, the light outside can be greater than 1000 lux, a level never normally achieved indoors. In a recent study carried out at around latitude 45 N, daily exposure to light greater than 1000 lux averaged about 30 minutes in winter and only about 90 minutes in summer50 among people working at least 30 hours weekly; weekends were included. In this group, summer bright light exposure was probably considerably less than the winter exposure of our agricultural ancestors. We may be living in a bright lightdeprived society. A large literature that is beyond the scope of this editorial exists on the beneficial effect of bright light exposure in healthy individuals. Lamps designed for the treatment of seasonal affective disorder, which provide more lux than is ever achieved by normal indoor lighting, are readily available, although incorporating their use into a daily routine may be a challenge for some. However, other strategies, both personal and institutional, exist. Light cafes pioneered in Scandinavia have come to the United Kingdom,51 and an Austrian village that receives no sunshine in the winter because of its surrounding mountains is building a series of giant mirrors to reflect sunlight into the valley.52 Better use of daylight in buildings is an issue that architects are increasingly aware of. Working indoors does not have to be associated with suboptimal exposure to bright light.

A third strategy that may raise brain serotonin is exercise. A comprehensive review of the relation between exercise and mood concluded that antidepressant and anxiolytic effects have been clearly demonstrated.53 In the United Kingdom the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which works on behalf of the National Health Service and makes recommendations on treatments according to the best available evidence, has published a guide on the treatment of depression.54 The guide recommends treating mild clinical depression with various strategies, including exercise rather than antidepressants, because the riskbenefit ratio is poor for antidepressant use in patients with mild depression. Exercise improves mood in subclinical populations as well as in patients. The most consistent effect is seen when regular exercisers undertake aerobic exercise at a level with which they are familiar.53 However, some skepticism remains about the antidepressant effect of exercise, and the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States is currently funding a clinical trial of the antidepressant effect of exercise that is designed to overcome sources of potential bias and threats to internal and external validity that have limited previous research.55

Several lines of research suggest that exercise increases brain serotonin function in the human brain. Post and colleagues56 measured biogenic amine metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with depression before and after they increased their physical activity to simulate mania. Physical activity increased 5-HIAA, but it is not clear that this was due to increased serotonin turnover or to mixing of CSF from higher regions, which contain higher levels of 5-HIAA, with lumbar CSF (or to a combination of both mechanisms). Nonetheless, this finding stimulated many animal studies on the effects of exercise. For example, Chaouloff and colleagues57 showed that exercise increased tryptophan and 5-HIAA in rat ventricles. More recent studies using intracerebral dialysis have shown that exercise increases extracellular serotonin and 5-HIAA in various brain areas, including the hippocampus and cortex (for example, see5860). Two different mechanisms may be involved in this effect. As reviewed by Jacobs and Fornal,61 motor activity increases the firing rates of serotonin neurons, and this results in increased release and synthesis of serotonin.62 In addition, there is an increase in the brain of the serotonin precursor tryptophan that persists after exercise.63

The largest body of work in humans looking at the effect of exercise on tryptophan availability to the brain is concerned with the hypothesis that fatigue during exercise is associated with elevated brain tryptophan and serotonin synthesis. A large body of evidence supports the idea that exercise, including exercise to fatigue, is associated with an increase in plasma tryptophan and a decrease in the plasma level of the branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) leucine, isoleucine and valine (see64,65 for reviews). The BCAAs inhibit tryptophan transport into the brain.66 Because of the increase in plasma tryptophan and decrease in BCAA, there is a substantial increase in tryptophan availability to the brain. Tryptophan is an effective mild hypnotic,67 a fact that stimulated the hypothesis that it may be involved in fatigue. A full discussion of this topic is not within the scope of this editorial; however, it is notable that several clinical trials of BCAA investigated whether it was possible to counter fatigue by lowering brain tryptophan, with results that provided little support for the hypothesis. Further, exercise results in an increase in the plasma ratio of tryptophan to the BCAAs before the onset of fatigue.64,65 The conclusion of these studies is that, in humans, a rise in precursor availability should increase serotonin synthesis during and after exercise and that this is not related to fatigue, although it may be related to improved mood. Whether motor activity increases the firing rate of serotonin neurons in humans, as in animals, is not known. However, it is clear that aerobic exercise can improve mood.

As with exposure to bright light, there has been a large change in the level of vigorous physical exercise experienced since humans were hunter-gatherers or engaged primarily in agriculture.68 Lambert68 argued that the decline in vigorous physical exercise and, in particular, in effort-based rewards may contribute to the high level of depression in today's society. The effect of exercise on serotonin suggests that the exercise itself, not the rewards that stem from exercise, may be important. If trials of exercise to prevent depression are successful, then prevention of depression can be added to the numerous other benefits of exercise.

The fourth factor that could play a role in raising brain serotonin is diet. According to some evidence, tryptophan, which increases brain serotonin in humans as in experimental animals,69 is an effective antidepressant in mild-to-moderate depression.67,70 Further, in healthy people with high trait irritability, it increases agreeableness, decreases quarrelsomeness and improves mood.34 However, whether tryptophan should be considered primarily as a drug or a dietary component is a matter of some dispute. In the United States, it is classified as a dietary component, but Canada and some European countries classify it as a drug. Treating tryptophan as a drug is reasonable because, first, there is normally no situation in which purified tryptophan is needed for dietary reasons, and second, purified tryptophan and foods containing tryptophan have different effects on brain serotonin. Although purified tryptophan increases brain serotonin, foods containing tryptophan do not.71 This is because tryptophan is transported into the brain by a transport system that is active toward all the large neutral amino acids and tryptophan is the least abundant amino acid in protein. There is competition between the various amino acids for the transport system, so after the ingestion of a meal containing protein, the rise in the plasma level of the other large neutral amino acids will prevent the rise in plasma tryptophan from increasing brain tryptophan. The idea, common in popular culture, that a high-protein food such as turkey will raise brain tryptophan and serotonin is, unfortunately, false. Another popular myth that is widespread on the Internet is that bananas improve mood because of their serotonin content. Although it is true that bananas contain serotonin, it does not cross the bloodbrain barrier.

-Lactalbumin, a minor constituent of milk, is one protein that contains relatively more tryptophan than most proteins. Acute ingestion of -lactalbumin by humans can improve mood and cognition in some circumstances, presumably owing to increased serotonin.72,73 Enhancing the tryptophan content of the diet chronically with -lactalbumin is probably not practical. However, increasing the tryptophan content of the diet relative to that of the other amino acids is something that possibly occurred in the past and could occur again in the future. Kerem and colleagues74 studied the tryptophan content of both wild chickpeas and the domesticated chickpeas that were bred from them in the Near East in neolithic times. The mean protein content (per mg dry seed) was similar for 73 cultivars and 15 wild varieties. In the cultivated group, however, the tryptophan content was almost twice that of the wild seeds. Interestingly, the greater part of the increase was due to an increase in the free tryptophan content (i.e., not part of the protein). In cultivated chickpeas, almost two-thirds of the tryptophan was in the free form. Kerem and colleagues74 argue that there was probably selection for seeds with a higher tryptophan content. This is plausible, given another example of an early strategy to increase the available tryptophan content of an important food source. Pellagra is a disorder caused by niacin deficiency, usually owing to poverty and a diet relying heavily on corn (maize), which has a low level of niacin and its precursor tryptophan. Cultures in the Americas that relied greatly on corn used alkali during its processing (e.g., boiling the corn in lime when making tortillas). This enhanced the nutritional quality of the corn by increasing the bioavailability of both niacin and tryptophan, a practice that prevented pellagra.75 The Europeans transported corn around the world but did not transport the traditional alkali-processing methods, thereby causing epidemics of pellagra in past centuries. Breeding corn with a higher tryptophan content was shown in the 1980s to prevent pellagra76; presumably, it also raised brain serotonin. In a recent issue of Nature Biotechnology, Morris and Sands77 argue that plant breeders should be focusing more on nutrition than on yield. They ask, Could consumption of tryptophan-rich foods play a role in reducing the prevalence of depression and aggression in society? Cross-national studies have reported a positive association between corn consumption and homicide rates78 and a negative association between dietary tryptophan and suicide rates.79 Although the idea behind such studies is interesting, any causal attribution must remain speculative, given the possible confounds. Nonetheless, the possibility that the mental health of a population could be improved by increasing the dietary intake of tryptophan relative to the dietary intake of other amino acids remains an interesting idea that should be explored.

The primary purpose of this editorial is to point out that pharmacologic strategies are not the only ones worthy of study when devising strategies to increase brain serotonin function. The effect of nonpharmacologic interventions on brain serotonin and the implications of increased serotonin for mood and behaviour need to be studied more. The amount of money and effort put into research on drugs that alter serotonin is very much greater than that put into non-pharmacologic methods. The magnitude of the discrepancy is probably neither in tune with the wishes of the public nor optimal for progress in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders.

See the original post:
How to increase serotonin in the human brain without drugs

For millennia, if not for eonsanthropology continuously pushes backward the time of human originlife expectancy was short. The few people who grew old were assumed, because of their years, to have won the favor of the gods. The typical person was fortunate to reach 40.

Beginning in the 19th century, that slowly changed. Since 1840, life expectancy at birth has risen about three months with each passing year. In 1840, life expectancy at birth in Sweden, a much-studied nation owing to its record-keeping, was 45 years for women; today its 83 years. The United States displays roughly the same trend. When the 20th century began, life expectancy at birth in America was 47 years; now newborns are expected to live 79 years. If about three months continue to be added with each passing year, by the middle of this century, American life expectancy at birth will be 88 years. By the end of the century, it will be 100 years.

Viewed globally, the lengthening of life spans seems independent of any single, specific event. It didnt accelerate much as antibiotics and vaccines became common. Nor did it retreat much during wars or disease outbreaks. A graph of global life expectancy over time looks like an escalator rising smoothly. The trend holds, in most years, in individual nations rich and poor; the whole world is riding the escalator.

Projections of ever-longer life spans assume no incredible medical discoveriesrather, that the escalator ride simply continues. If anti-aging drugs or genetic therapies are found, the climb could accelerate. Centenarians may become the norm, rather than rarities who generate a headline in the local newspaper.

Pie in the sky? On a verdant hillside in Marin County, Californiahome to hipsters and towering redwoods, the place to which the Golden Gate Bridge leadssits the Buck Institute, the first private, independent research facility dedicated to extending the human life span. Since 1999, scientists and postdocs there have studied ways to make organisms live much longer, and with better health, than they naturally would. Already, the institutes researchers have quintupled the life span of laboratory worms. Most Americans have never heard of the Buck Institute, but someday this place may be very well known.

Buck is not alone in its pursuit. The University of Michigan, the University of Texas, and the University of California at San Francisco are studying ways to slow aging, as is the Mayo Clinic. Late in 2013, Google brought its trove of cash into the game, founding a spin-off called the California Life Company (known as Calico) to specialize in longevity research. Six months after Calicos charter was announced, Craig Venter, the biotech entrepreneur who in the 1990s conducted a dramatic race against government laboratories to sequence the human genome, also founded a start-up that seeks ways to slow aging.

Should research find a life-span breakthrough, the proportion of the U.S. population that is elderlyfated to rise anyway, considering declining fertility rates, the retirement of the Baby Boomers, and the continuing uplift of the escalatormay climb even more. Longer life has obvious appeal, but it entails societal risks. Politics may come to be dominated by the old, who might vote themselves ever more generous benefits for which the young must pay. Social Security and private pensions could be burdened well beyond what current actuarial tables suggest. If longer life expectancy simply leads to more years in which pensioners are disabled and demand expensive services, health-care costs may balloon as never before, while other social needs go unmet.

With each passing year, the newly born live about three months longer than those born the prior year.

But the story might have a happy ending. If medical interventions to slow aging result in added years of reasonable fitness, life might extend in a sanguine manner, with most men and women living longer in good vigor, and also working longer, keeping pension and health-care subsidies under control. Indeed, the most-exciting work being done in longevity science concerns making the later years vibrant, as opposed to simply adding time at the end.

Postwar medical research has focused on specific conditions: there are heart-disease laboratories, cancer institutes, and so on. Traditional research assumes the chronic later-life diseases that are among the nations leading killerscardiovascular blockage, stroke, Alzheimersarise individually and should be treated individually. What if, instead, aging is the root cause of many chronic diseases, and aging can be slowed? Not just life span but health span might increase.

Drugs that lengthen health span are becoming to medical researchers what vaccines and antibiotics were to previous generations in the lab: their grail. If health-span research is successful, pharmaceuticals as remarkable as those earlier generations of drugs may result. In the process, society might learn the answer to an ancient mystery: Given that every cell in a mammals body contains the DNA blueprint of a healthy young version of itself, why do we age at all?

Here in our freezers we have 100 or so compounds that extend life in invertebrates, says Gordon Lithgow, a geneticist at the Buck Institute. He walks with me through labs situated on a campus of modernistic buildings that command a dreamlike view of San Pablo Bay, and encourage dreamlike thoughts. The 100 compounds in the freezer? What we dont know is if they work in people.

The Buck Institute bustles with young researchers. Jeans and San Francisco 49ers caps are common sightsthis could be a Silicon Valley software start-up were not microscopes, cages, and biological-isolation chambers ubiquitous. The institute is named for Leonard and Beryl Buck, a Marin County couple who left oil stocks to a foundation charged with studying why people age, among other issues. When the institute opened, medical research aimed at slowing aging was viewed as quixoticthe sort of thing washed-up hippies talk about while sipping wine and watching the sunset. A mere 15 years into its existence, the Buck Institute is at the bow wave of biology.

In one lab, researchers laboriously tamper with yeast chromosomes. Yeast is expedient as a research subject because it lives out a lifetime before an analysts eyes, and because a third of yeast genes are similar to human genes. Deleting some genes kills yeast; deleting others causes yeast to live longer. Why deleting some genes extends life isnt knownBuck researchers are trying to figure this out, in the hope that they might then carry the effect over to mammals. The work is painstaking, with four microscopes in use at least 50 hours a week.

Buck employs Lilliputian electrocardiogram machines and toy-size CT scanners to examine the internal organs of mice, since the goal is not just to make them live longer but to keep them healthy longer, with less cancer or heart disease. Researchers curious about aging mainly work with mice, worms, flies, and yeast, because they are small and easily housed, and because they dont live long, so improvements to life expectancy are quickly observable. Twenty years ago it was a really big deal to extend the life span of worms. Now any postdoc can do that, says Simon Melov, a Buck geneticist. Experiments funded by the National Institute on Aging have shown that drugs can extend a mouses life span by about a quarter, and Buck researchers have been able to reverse age-related heart dysfunction in the same animal. Think how the world would be upended if human longevity quickly jumped another 25 percent.

The rubber will meet the road with human trials. We hope to find five to 10 small molecules that extend healthy life span in mice, then stage a human trial, says Brian Kennedy, the Buck Institutes CEO. A drug called rapamycinbeing tested at the institute and elsewhereseems closest to trial stage and has revolutionary potential. But in addition to being ethically fraught, human trials of a life-extension substance will be costly, and might take decades. The entry of Googles billions into the field makes human trials more likely. Calico is tight-lipped about its plansthe company agreed to let me visit, then backed out.

Anti-aging research is not without antecedents, some of which offer notes of caution. A generation ago, Linus Pauling, a winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, proposed that megadoses of vitamin C would retard aging. It turned out that at megadoses, vitamins can become toxic. If you take vitamins, swallow the amounts recommended by the Food and Drug Administration.

A decade ago, a biotech start-up called Sirtris sought to devise drugs that mimic the supposed health-giving properties of red wine. GlaxoSmithKline bought Sirtris for $790 million in todays dollars, money the company may wish it had back: Sirtris experiments have yet to lead to any practical product.

About 15 years ago, Bruce Ames, an accomplished scientist at the University of California at Berkeley, proposed that acetylcarnitine, which regulates the mitochondria of cells, combined with an antioxidant, might retard aging while treating mild Alzheimers. Antioxidant has become a buzzword of supplement marketing and Dr. Ozstyle quackery. Too much antioxidant would be unhealthy, since oxidation is essential to the bodys respiration. Ames thought he had found a compound that safely moderates the pace at which cells use themselves up. He began dosing himself with acetylcarnitine, and continues to work at Berkeley, at age 85; whether he would have enjoyed such longevity anyway is unknowable. Pharmaceutical companies have shown little interest in Amess ideabecause it occurs naturally, acetylcarnitine cannot be patented, and, worse from Big Pharmas standpoint, the substance is inexpensive.

Today, lab results show a clear relationship between a restricted-calorie diet and longevity in mice. That eating less extends the life spans of small mammals is the strongest finding of anti-aging research to this point. A restrictive diet seems to put mouse cells into a state vaguely similar to hibernation; whether caloric restriction would work in people isnt known. A campaign against calories might seem to possess broad practical appeal, since whats recommendedeating lesscosts nothing. But if the mice are any indication, one would need to eat a lot less, dropping caloric intake to the level at which a person feels hunger pangs throughout the day. Caloric restriction is a fad diet in Northern California, Melov told me. We had a caloric-restriction group come in to visit the institute. They did not look at all healthy.

Recently, separate teams at Harvard, Stanford, and UC San Francisco reported that transferring the blood of adolescent mice into old, declining mice had a rejuvenating effect on the latter. The thought of the old rich purchasing blood from the young poor is ghoulish on numerous levels. The research goal is to determine what chemical aspect of youthful blood benefits mature tissue. Perhaps compounds in adolescent blood excite dormant stem cells, and a drug could be developed that triggers the effect without transfusion.

The Buck Institute and other labs have been looking for health-span DNA that may exist in other mammals. Whales are a lot less likely than people are to get cancer. Polar bears consume an extremely high-fat diet yet dont develop arterial plaque. If the biological pathways for such qualities were understood, a drug might be designed to trigger the effect in people. Mimicking what nature has already developed seems more promising than trying to devise novel DNA.

In worms, genes called daf-2 and daf-16 can change in a way that causes the invertebrates to live twice as long as is natural, and in good vigor. A molecular biologist named Cynthia Kenyon, among the first hires at Calico, made that discovery more than two decades ago, when she was a researcher at UC San Francisco. By manipulating the same genes in mice, Kenyon has been able to cause them to live longer, with less cancer than mice in a control group: that is, with a better health span. The daf-16 gene is similar to a human gene called foxo3, a variant of which is linked to exceptional longevity. A drug that mimics this foxo3 variant is rumored to be among Calicos initial projects.

A long time has passed since Kenyons eureka moment about worm genes, and shes still far from proving that this insight can help people. But the tempo of the kind of work she does is accelerating. Twenty years ago, genetic sequencing and similar forms of DNA research were excruciatingly time-consuming. New techniques and equipment have altered that: for instance, one Silicon Valley lab-services firm, Sequetech, advertises, Go from [cell] colony to sequence in a day. The accelerating pace of genetic-information gathering may come in handy for health-span research.

The Buck Institute became cautiously optimistic about rapamycin when its life-extension properties were noticed in yeast. Lab mice dosed with rapamycin are dying off more slowly than they would naturally, and many of the old mice appear energetic and youthful. Devised to prevent rejection of transplanted organs, rapamycin seems to alter some chemistry associated with cellular senescence. (More on that later.) If the drug turns out to delay aging in people, it would be the greatest off-label pharmaceutical use ever. But dont ask your doctor for a prescriptionhealth-span therapy based on rapamycin is years away, if it ever happens. Kennedy, the Buck Institute CEO, does not dose himself with rapamycin, whose side effects are not understood.

Researchers at the Buck Institute are lean: societys obesity problems are not in evidence there. Everyone takes the stairs; elevators are viewed as strictly for visitors. If there is a candy machine on the 488-acre grounds, it is well hidden. I met some researchers for lunch in a glass-and-chrome conference room (Bucks buildings were designed by I. M. Pei and fairly shout Give me an architecture award!). Lunch was an ascetic affair: water and a small sandwich with greens; no sides, soda, or cookies. Kennedy says he seldom eats lunch, and runs up to 20 miles weekly. Yet, even doing everything right by the lights of current assumptions about how to stave off aging, at age 47, Kennedy has wrinkle lines around his eyes.

Except with regard to infectious diseases, medical cause and effect is notoriously hard to pin down. Coffee, salt, butter: good, bad, or neither? Studies are inconclusive. Why do some people develop heart disease while others with the same habits dont? The Framingham Heart Study, in its 66th year and following a third generation of subjects, still struggles with such questions. You should watch your weight, eat more greens and less sugar, exercise regularly, and get ample sleep. But you should do these things because they are common sensenot because there is any definitive proof that they will help you live longer.

The uncertainty inherent in the practice of medicine is amplified when the subject is longevity, because decades might pass before anyone knows whether a particular drug or lifestyle modification does any good. Scrutinizing the very old has not been the gold mine some researchers hoped it would be. Lifestyle studies of centenarians can be really puzzling, Kennedy says. They smoke more and drink less than we might guess. Few are vegetarians. Nothing jumps out as a definitive cause of their long lives.

Among the first wide-scale efforts to understand gerontology was the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, begun by federal researchers in 1958 and ongoing. Its current director, Luigi Ferrucci, says, The study has determined that disabilities among the elderly often have warning signs that can be detected in youth, and this insight might lead to early-life interventions that decrease late-life chronic disease. But on some of the big questions, such as whether longevity is caused mainly by genes or mainly by lifestyle and environment, we just have no idea at all.

Studies of twins suggest that about 30 percent of longevity is inherited. This is one of the factors that make researchers optimisticif 30 percent of longevity is inherited, perhaps laboratories can design a compound that causes anyones blood chemistry to mimic what happens in the bodies of those who were born with the DNA for long life. But when we sequence the genome, only 1 percent seems linked to longevity, Ferrucci told me. The other 99 percent of the presumed genetic effect is unexplained.

At medical conferences, Ferrucci likes to show physicians and researchers an elaborate medical profile of an anonymous patient, then ask them to guess her age. Guesses are off by as much as 20 years too high or low, he says. This is because medically, we do not know what age is. The sole means to determine age is by asking for date of birth. Thats what a basic level this research still is at.

Aging brings with it, of course, senescence. Cellular senescence, a subset of the overall phenomenon, is a subject of fascination in longevity research.

The tissues and organs that make up our bodies are prone to injury, and the cells are prone to malfunctions, cancer being the most prominent. When an injury must be healed, or cancerous tissue that is dividing must be stopped, nearby cells transmit chemical signals that trigger the repair of injured cells or the death of malignant ones. (Obviously this is a simplification.) In the young, the system works pretty well. But as cells turn senescent, they begin to send out false positives. The bodys healing ability falters as excess production of the repair signal leads to persistent inflammation, which is the foundation of heart disease, Alzheimers, arthritis, and other chronic maladies associated with the passage of time. Cars wear out because they cannot repair themselves; our bodies wear out because they lose the ability to repair themselves. If the loss of our ability to self-repair were slowed down, health during our later years would improve: a longer warranty, in the auto analogy.

If we can figure out how to eliminate senescent cells or switch off their secretions, says Judith Campisi, who runs the Buck Institutes research on this topic, then we could prevent or lessen the impact of many chronic diseases of aging. Its not a coincidence that incidence of these chronic diseases increases sharply after the age of 50, a time when senescent cells also increase in number. If you believe, as many scientists do, that aging is a prime cause of many chronic diseases, it is essential that we understand the accumulation of senescent cells. Rapamycin excites longevity researchers because it seems to switch off the repair signal mistakenly sent by senescent cells. Mayo Clinic researchers are studying other substances that dampen the effects of cellular senescence; some have proved to keep mice fit longer than normal, extending their health span. Many elderly people decline into years of progressive disability, then become invalids. If instead most people enjoyed reasonable vigor right up to the end, that would be just as exciting for society as adding years to life expectancy.

Big medical efforts tend to be structured as assaults on specific conditionsthe war on cancer and so on. One reason is psychological: a wealthy person who survived a heart attack, or lost a parent to one, endows a foundation to study the problem. Another reason is symbolic: we tend to view diseases as challenges thrown at us by nature, to be overcome one by one. If the passage of time itself turns out to be the challenge, interdisciplinary study of aging might overtake the disease-by-disease approach. As recently as a generation ago, it would have seemed totally crazy to suppose that aging could be cured. Now curing aging seems, well, only somewhat crazy.

The life-expectancy escalator has for nearly two centuries risen about three months a year, despite two world wars, the 1918 influenza pandemic, the AIDS epidemic, and the global populations growing sevenfoldthe latter deceptively important, because crowded conditions are assumed to more readily communicate disease. Will life-span increases continue regardless of what may happen in biotech? The yea position is represented by James Vaupel, the founder of Germanys Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research; the nay by Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In 2002, Vaupel published an influential article in Science documenting the eerily linear rise in life expectancy since 1840. Controversially, Vaupel concluded that reductions in mortality should not be seen as a disconnected sequence of unrepeatable revolutions but rather as a regular stream of continuing progress. No specific development or discovery has caused the rise: improvements in nutrition, public health, sanitation, and medical knowledge all have helped, but the operative impetus has been the stream of continuing progress.

Vaupel called it a reasonable scenario that increases will continue at least until life expectancy at birth surpasses 100. His views havent changed. The data still support the conclusions of the 2002 paper. Linear rise in life expectancy has continued, Vaupel told me earlier this year. In a recent report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the age-adjusted U.S. death rate declined to a record low in 2011. Today the first four causes of death in the United States are chronic, age-related conditions: heart disease, cancer, chronic lower-respiratory diseases, and stroke. As long as living standards continue to improve, Vaupel thinks, life expectancy will continue to increase.

On the opposite side of this coin, Olshansky told me the rise in life expectancy will hit a wall soon, if it hasnt already. He noted, Most of the 20th-century gains in longevity came from reduced infant mortality, and those were onetime gains. Infant mortality in the United States trails some other nations, but has dropped so muchdown to one in 170that little room for improvement remains. Theres tremendous statistical impact on life expectancy when the young are saved, Olshansky says. A reduction in infant mortality saves the entire span of a persons life. Avoiding mortality in a young personsay, by vaccinesaves most of the persons life. Changes in medicine or lifestyle that extend the lives of the old dont add much to the numbers. Olshansky calculates that if cancer were eliminated, American life expectancy would rise by only three years, because a host of other chronic fatal diseases are waiting to take its place. He thinks the 21st century will see the average life span extend another 10 years or so, with a bonus of more health span. Then the increase will slow noticeably, or stop.

Whether human age may have a biological limit does not factor into this debate. A French woman who lived from 1875 to 1997, Jeanne Calment, had the longest confirmed life span, at 122. Shes obviously an outlier, and while outliers dont tell us much, they do hint at whats possible. Her age at death was well beyond the average life span that either Vaupel or Olshansky are contemplating in their analyses. And in any case, various experts, at various times across the past century, have argued that life span was nearing a ceiling, only to be proved wrong.

Diminishing smoking and drunk driving have obviously contributed to declining mortality. Homicide has fallen so muchshootings arent necessarily down, but improved trauma response saves more victimsthat murder is no longer among the top 15 causes of death in the United States. Other health indicators seem positive as well. All forms of harmful air and water emissions except greenhouse gases are in long-term decline. Less smog, acid rain, and airborne soot foster longevitythe old are sensitive to respiratory diseasewhile declining levels of industrial toxins may contribute to declining cancer rates. Life expectancy can be as much as 18 years shorter in low-income U.S. counties than in high-income counties, but Obamacare should correct some of that imbalance: Romneycare, enacted in 2006 and in many ways Obamacares precursor, reduced mortality in low-income Massachusetts counties. These and many other elements of Vaupels stream of continuing progress seem to favor longevity. So does climate change: people live longer in warm climates than cold, and the world is warming.

Popular attention tends to focus on whether what we gulp down determines how long we live: Should people take fish oil and shop for organic probiotic kefir? The way our homes, families, and friendships are organized may matter just as much. Thomas Perls, a professor at Boston Medical Center who analyzes the genomes of centenarians, notes that Seventh-Day Adventists enjoy about a decade more life expectancy than peers of their birth years: They dont drink or smoke, most are vegetarians, they exercise regularly even when old, and take a true weekly day of rest. But what really strikes Perls about Seventh-Day Adventists is that they maintain large social groups. Constant interaction with other people can be annoying, but overall seems to keep us engaged with life.

For years, the American social trend has been away from constant interaction with other peoplefewer two-parent homes, fewer children per home, declining participation in religious and community activities, grandparents living on their own, electronic interaction replacing the face-to-face in everything from work to dating. Prosperity is associated with smaller households, yet the large multigeneration home may be best for long life. There are some indications that the Great Recession increased multigeneration living. This may turn out to boost longevity, at least for a time.

The single best yardstick for measuring a persons likely life span is education. John Rowe, a health-policy professor at Columbia University and a former CEO of Aetna, says, If someone walked into my office and asked me to predict how long he would live, I would ask two things: What is your age, and how many years of education did you receive?

Jay Olshanskys latest research suggests that American women with no high-school diploma have experienced relatively small life-span increases since the 1950s, while the life expectancy of highly educated women has soared since then. Today the best-educated Americans live 10 to 14 years longer than the least educated, on average. Nothing pops out of the data like the link between education and life expectancy, Olshansky says. The good news is that the share of the American population that is less educated is in gradual decline. The bad news is that lack of education seems even more lethal than it was in the past.

Education does not sync with life expectancy because reading Dostoyevsky lowers blood pressure; college is a proxy for other aspects of a persons life. Compared with the less educated, people with a bachelors degree have a higher income, smoke less, are less likely to be overweight, and are more likely to follow doctors instructions. College graduates are more likely to marry and stay married, and marriage is good for your health: the wedded suffer fewer heart attacks and strokes than the single or divorced.

Many of the social developments that improve longevitybetter sanitation, less pollution, improved emergency roomsare provided to all on an egalitarian basis. But todays public high schools are dreadful in many inner-city areas, and broadly across states including California. Legislatures are cutting support for public universities, while the cost of higher education rises faster than inflation. These issues are discussed in terms of fairness; perhaps health should be added as a concern in the debate. If education is the trump card of longevity, the top quintile may pull away from the rest.

Society is dominated by the oldold political leaders, old judges. With each passing year, as longevity increases, the intergenerational imbalance worsens. The old demand benefits for which the young must pay, while people in their 20s become disenchanted, feeling that the deck is stacked against them. National debt increases at an alarming rate. Innovation and fresh thinking disappear as energies are devoted to defending current pie-slicing arrangements.

This isnt a prediction about the future of the United States, but rather a description of Japan right now. The Land of the Rising Sun is the worlds grayest nation. Already the median age is 45 (in the U.S., by comparison, it is 37), and it will jump to 55 by 2040. As Nicholas Eberstadt, a demographer at the American Enterprise Institute, has noted, median age in the retirement haven of Palm Springs, California, is currently 52 years. Japan is on its way to becoming an entire nation of Palm Springs residents.

The number of Americans 65 or older could reach 108 million in 2050. Thats like adding three more Floridas, inhabited entirely by seniors.

Japans grayness stems from a very low fertility ratenot enough babies to bring down the average ageand strict barriers against immigration. The United States remains a nation of immigrants, and because of the continual inflow of young people, the U.S. median age wont go haywire even as life expectancy rises: the United Nations World Population Prospects estimates that the U.S. median age will rise to 41 by mid-century.

Nonetheless, that Japan is the first major nation to turn gray, and is also the deepest in debt, is not encouraging. Once, Japan was feared as the Godzilla of global trade, but as it grayed, its economy entered a long cycle of soft growth. In 2012 the centrist Democratic Party of Japan, then holding the Diet, backed a tax whose goal was not to pay down what the country owes but merely to slow the rate of borrowing. The party promptly got the heave-ho from voters. Last year Japans public debt hit $10 trillion, twice the nations GDP.

Sheila Smith, a Japan specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, told me, Young people in Japan have some of the worlds worst voter-participation rates. They think the old have the system so rigged in their favor, theres no point in political activity. The young dont seem excited by the future. News accounts of young Japanese becoming so apathetic that theyve lost interest in having sex sound hard to believe, but may bear some truth.

Young urban Japanese surely are aware that their elders are ringing up bills to be handed to them, but theyre also aware that if funding for the retired is cut, Grandma may want to move into their very small apartment. As life expectancy rises, a Japanese person entering the happy-go-lucky phase of early adulthood may find that parents and grandparents both expect to be looked after. Because the only child is common in Japans newest generation, a big cast of aging people may turn to one young person for financial support or caregiving or both. Acceding to public borrowing may have become, to young Japanese, a way to keep older generations out of the apartmenteven if it means crushing national debt down the road.

That America may become more like Japansteadily older, with rising debt and declining economic growthis unsettling. From the second half of the George W. Bush administration until 2013, U.S. national debt more than doubled. The federal government borrowed like there was no tomorrow. The debt binge, for which leaders of both political parties bear blame, was a prelude to the retirement of the Baby Boomers. Tomorrow has a way of coming.

Suppose the escalator slows, and conservative assumptions about life expectancy prevail. In a 2009 study, Olshansky projected future demographics under the hit a wall scenario. The number of Americans 65 or older, 43 million today, could reach 108 million in 2050that would be like adding three more Floridas, inhabited entirely by seniors. The oldest old cohort, those 85 and older, may increase at least fivefold, to more than 6 percent of the U.S. citizenry. Olshansky projected that by 2050, life expectancy will extend three to eight years past the age used by the Social Security Administration to assess the solvency of its system, while forecasting that by 2050, Medicare and Social Security will rack up between $3.2 trillion and $8.3 trillion in unfunded obligations. (State and local governments have at least another $1 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities.) These disconcerting numbers flow from the leading analyst who thinks that the life-span increase is slowing down.

When President Obama took office, Social Securitys trustees said the current benefits structure was funded until 2037. Now the Congressional Budget Office says the year of reckoning may come as soon as 2031. States may be funding their pension obligations using fuzzy math: New York issues promissory notes; Illinois and New Jersey sell debt instruments distressingly similar to junk bonds. Many private pension plans are underfunded, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which on paper appears to insure them, is an accident looking for a place to happen. Twice in the past three years, Congress has voted to allow corporations to delay contributions to pension plans. This causes them to pay more taxes in the present year, giving Congress more to spend, while amplifying problems down the road. Social Securitys disability fund may fail as soon as late 2016. Medicare spending is rising faster than Social Security spending, and is harder to predict. Projections show the main component of Medicare, its hospital fund, failing by 2030.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over the next decade, all federal spending growth will come from entitlementsmainly Social Security and Medicareand from interest on the national debt. The nonpartisan think tank Third Way has calculated that at the beginning of the Kennedy presidency, the federal government spent $2.50 on public investmentsinfrastructure, education, and researchfor every $1 it spent on entitlements. By 2022, Third Way predicts, the government will spend $5 on entitlements for every $1 on public investments. Infrastructure, education, and research lead to economic growth; entitlement subsidies merely allow the nation to tread water.

If health span can be improved, the costs of aging-related disability may be manageable. Not that long ago, vast sums were spent on iron lungs and sanitariums for treatment of polio: preventing the disease has proved much less expensive than treating it. If chronic ailments related to aging can be prevented or significantly delayed, big-ticket line items in Medicare might not go off the rails.

But if health span does not improve, longer life could make disability in aging an economic crisis. Today, Medicare and Medicaid spend about $150 billion annually on Alzheimers patients. Absent progress against aging, the number of people with Alzheimers could treble by 2050, with society paying as much for Alzheimers care as for the current defense budget.

Many disabilities associated with advanced years cannot be addressed with pharmaceuticals or high-tech procedures; caregivers are required. Providing personal care for an aged invalid is a task few wish to undertake. Already many lists of careers with the most job openings are headed by caregiver or nurses aide, professions in which turnover is high.

As longevity increases, so too does the number of living grandparents. Families that once might have had one oldest old relative find themselves with three or four, all expecting care or money. At the same time, traditional family trees are being replaced with diagrams that resemble maps of the London Underground. Will children of blended families feel the same obligation to care for aging stepparents as they feel for biological parents? Just the entry of the phrase birth parent into the national lexicon suggests the magnitude of the change.

With Japan at the leading edge of lengthening life expectancy, its interest in robotics can be eerie. Foxconn, the Asian electronics giant, is manufacturing for the Japanese market a creepy mechanized thing named Pepper that is intended to provide company for the elderly. More-sophisticated devices may be in store. A future in which large numbers of very old, incapacitated people stare into the distance as robot attendants click and hum would be a bad science-fiction movie if it didnt stand a serious chance of happening.

As the population ages, so do the political powers that beand theyre aging in place. Computerized block-by-block voting analysis and shameless gerrymanderingMarylands new sixth congressional district is such a strange shape, it would have embarrassed Elbridge Gerrylock incumbents into power as never before. Campaign-finance laws appear to promote reform, but in fact have been rigged to discourage challengers. Between rising life expectancy and the mounting power of incumbency, both houses of Congress are the oldest theyve ever been: the average senator is 62 years old; the average representative, 57.

A graying Congress would be expected to be concerned foremost with protection of the status quo. Government may grow sclerotic at the very time the aging of the populace demands new ideas. Theres already a tremendous advantage to incumbency, one experienced political operative told me. As people live longer, incumbents will become more entrenched. Strom Thurmond might not be unusual anymore. Many from both parties could cling to power too long, freezing out fresh thinking. It wont be good for democracy. The speaker was no starry-eyed radical: he was Karl Rove.

Now think of the Supreme Court as life expectancy increases. The nine justices on the first Court sat an average of nine years; the last nine to depart, an average of 27 years. John Paul Stevens, the most recent to retire, was a justice for 35 years. If Clarence Thomas lives to the actuarial life expectancy of a male his current age, he could be a Supreme Court justice for 40 years.

The Framers would be aghast at the idea of a small cadre of unelected potentates lording it over the body politic for decades. When the Constitution was written, no one could have anticipated how much life span would increase, nor how much power the Supreme Court would accrue. If democracy is to remain vibrant as society ages, campaign laws must change to help challengers stand a chance versus incumbents, and the Constitution must be amended to impose a term limit on the Supreme Court, so confirmation as a justice stops being a lifetime appointment to royalty.

In 1940, the typical American who reached age 65 would ultimately spend about 17 percent of his or her life retired. Now the figure is 22 percent, and still rising. Yet Social Security remains structured as if longevity were stuck in a previous century. The early-retirement option, added by Congress in 1961start drawing at age 62, though with lower benefitsis appealing if life is short, but backfires as life span extends. People who opt for early Social Security may reach their 80s having burned through savings, and face years of living on a small amount rather than the full benefit they might have received. Polls show that Americans consistently underestimate how long they will livea convenient assumption that justifies retiring early and spending now, while causing dependency over the long run.

James Vaupel has warned that refusing to acknowledge longevitys steady march distorts peoples decisions about how much to save and when to retire and gives license to politicians to postpone painful adjustments to Social Security. Ronald Reagan was the last president to push through legislation to account for life-span changes. His administration increased the future eligible age of full Social Security benefits from 65 to 66 or 67, depending on ones birth year. Perhaps 99 percent of members of Congress would agree in private that retirement economics must change; none will touch this third rail. Generating more Social Security revenue by lifting the payroll-tax cap, currently $117,000, is the sole politically attractive option, because only the well-to-do would be impacted. But the Congressional Budget Office recently concluded that even this soak-the-rich option is insufficient to prevent insolvency for Social Security. At least one other change, such as later retirement or revised cost-of-living formulas, is required. A fair guess is that the government will do nothing about Social Security reform until a crisis strikesand then make panicked, ill-considered moves that foresight might have avoided.

Americans may decry government gridlock, but they cant blame anyone else for their own decisions. Peoples retirement savings simply must increase, though this means financial self-discipline, which Americans are not known for. Beyond that, most individuals will likely need to take a new view of what retirement should be: not a toggle switchno work at all, after years of full-time laborbut a continuum on which a person gradually downshifts to half-time, then to working now and then. Lets call it the retirement track rather than retirement: a phase of continuing to earn and save as full-time work winds down.

Widespread adoption of a retirement track would necessitate changes in public policy and in employers attitudes. Banks dont think in terms of smallish loans to help a person in the second half of life start a home-based business, but such lending might be vital to a graying population. Many employers are required to continue offering health insurance to those who stay on the job past 65, even though they are eligible for Medicare. Employers premiums for these workers are much higher than for young workers, which means employers may have a logical reason to want anyone past 65 off the payroll. Ending this requirement would make seniors more attractive to employers.

Many people may find continuing to work but under the lower-stress circumstances of part-time employment to be preferable to a gold watch, then idleness. Gradual downshifting could help ease aging people into volunteer service roles, where theres never any end of things to do. The retirement track could be more appealing than traditional retirement. A longer health span will be essential to making it possible.

Understanding the evolutionary biology of aging might help the quest for improved health span. Each cell of the body contains DNA code for a fresh, healthy cell, yet that blueprint is not called on as we grow old. Evolutionists including Alfred Russel Wallace have toyed with the idea of programmed deaththe notion that natural selection wants old animals to die in order to free up resources for younger animals, which may carry evolved genetic structures. Current thinking tends to hold that rather than trying to make older animals die, natural selection simply has no mechanism to reward longevity.

Felipe Sierra, a researcher at the National Institute on Aging, says, Evolution doesnt care about you past your reproductive age. It doesnt want you either to live longer or to die, it just doesnt care. From the standpoint of natural selection, an animal that has finished reproducing and performed the initial stage of raising young might as well be eaten by something, since any favorable genetic quality that expresses later in life cannot be passed along. Because a mutation that favors long life cannot make an animal more likely to succeed at reproducing, selection pressure works only on the young.

A generation ago, theorists suspected that menopause was an evolutionary adaptation exclusive to the Homo genuswomen stop expending energy to bear children so they can care longer for those already born, as mothers and grandmothers. This, the theory goes, increases childrens chances of survival, allowing them to pass along family genes. Yet recent research has shown that animals including lions and baboons also go through menopause, which increasingly looks more like a malfunction of aging cells than a quality brought about by selection pressure. As for the idea that grandparents help their grandchildren prosper, favoring longevitythe grandmother effectthis notion, too, has fared poorly in research.

The key point is: if nothing that happens after a person reproduces bears on which genes flourish, then nature has never selected for qualities that extend longevity. Evolution favors strength, intelligence, reflexes, sexual appeal; it does not favor keeping an organism running a long time. For example, a growing body needs calcium, so nature selected for the ability to metabolize this element. In later life, calcium causes stiffening of the arteries, a problem that evolution has no mechanism to correct, since hardened arteries do not occur until its too late for natural selection to side with any beneficial mutation. Testosterone is essential to a youthful man; in an aging man, it can be a factor in prostate cancer. Evolution never selected for a defense against that.

Similar examples abound; the most important may be senescent cells. Natural selection probably favors traits that reduce the risk of cancer, because cancer can strike the young before reproductive age is reached. Senescence doesnt occur until evolution is no longer in play, so natural selection has left all mammal bodies with a defect that leads to aging and death.

If senescence could be slowed, men and women hardly would become immortal. Violence, accidents, and contagious disease still would kill. Even if freed of chronic conditions, eventually our bodies would fail.

But it is not credulous futurism to suppose that drugs or even genetic therapy may alter the human body in ways that extend longevity. Brian Kennedy, of the Buck Institute, notes, Because natural selection did not improve us for aging, theres a chance for rapid gains. The latest BMWs are close to perfect. How can an engineer improve on them? But the Model T would be easy to improve on now. When young, genetically we are BMWs. In aging, we become Model Ts. The evolutionary improvements havent started yet.

In the wild, young animals outnumber the old; humanity is moving toward a society where the elderly outnumber the recently arrived. Such a world will differ from todays in many outward aspects. Warm-weather locations are likely to grow even more popular, though with climate change, warm-weather locations may come to include Buffalo, New York. Ratings for football, which is loud and aggressive, may wane, while baseball and theatergoing enjoy a renaissance. The shift back toward cities, initiated by the educated young, may give way to another car-centric suburban and exurban growth phase.

The university, a significant aspect of the contemporary economy, centuries ago was a place where the fresh-faced would be prepared for a short life; today the university is a place where adults watch children and grandchildren walk to Pomp and Circumstance. The university of the future may be one that serves all ages. Colleges will reposition themselves economically as offering just as much to the aging as to the adolescent: courses priced individually for later-life knowledge seekers; lots of campus events of interest to students, parents, and the community as a whole; a pleasant college-town atmosphere to retire near. In decades to come, college professors may address students ranging from age 18 to 80.

Products marketed to senior citizens are already a major presence on television, especially during newscasts and weathercasts. Advertising pitched to the elderly may come to dominate the airwaves, assuming there still is television. But consumerism might decline. Neurological studies of healthy aging people show that the parts of the brain associated with reward-seeking light up less as time goes on. Whether its hot new fashions or hot-fudge sundaes, older people on the whole dont desire acquisitions as much as the young and middle-aged do. Denounced for generations by writers and clergy, wretched excess has repelled all assaults. Longer life spans may at last be the counterweight to materialism.

If health span extends, the nuclear family might be seen as less central. Bearing and raising children would no longer be the all-consuming life event.

Deeper changes may be in store as well. People in their late teens to late 20s are far more likely to commit crimes than people of other ages; as society grays, the decline of crime should continue. Violence in all guises should continue downward, too. Horrible headlines from Afghanistan or Syria are exceptions to an overall trend toward less warfare and less low-intensity conflict. As Steven Pinker showed in the 2011 book Better Angels of Our Nature, total casualties of combat, including indirect casualties from the economic harm associated with fighting, have been declining, even as the global population has risen. In 1950, one person in 5,000 worldwide died owing to combat; by 2010, this measure was down to one person in 300,000. In recent years, far more people have been killed by car crashes than by battle. Simultaneously, per capita military expenditure has shrunk. My favorite statistic about the world: the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that, adjusting to todays dollars, global per capita military spending has declined by one-third in the past quarter century.

The end of the Cold War, and the proxy conflicts it spawned, is an obvious influence on the subsiding of warfare, as is economic interconnectedness. But aging may also be a factor. Counterculture optics notwithstanding, polls showed that the young were more likely to support the Vietnam War than the old were; the young were more likely to support the 2003 invasion of Iraq, too. Research by John Mueller, a political scientist at Ohio State University, suggests that as people age, they become less enthusiastic about war. Perhaps this is because older people tend to be wiser than the youngand couldnt the world use more wisdom?

Older people also report, to pollsters and psychologists, a greater sense of well-being than the young and middle-aged do. By the latter phases of life, material and romantic desires have been attained or given up on; passions have cooled; and for most, a rich store of memories has been compiled. Among the core contentions of the well-being research of the Princeton University psychologist Daniel Kahneman is that in the end, memories are all you keepwhats in the mind matters more than what you own. Regardless of net worth, the old are well off in this sense.

Should large numbers of people enjoy longer lives in decent health, the overall well-being of the human family may rise substantially. In As You Like It, Jaques declares, Man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages. The first five embody promise and powerinfant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, and success. The late phases are entirely negativepantaloon, a period as the butt of jokes for looking old and becoming impotent; then second childishness, a descent into senile dependency. As life expectancy and health span increase, the seven ages may demand revision, with the late phases of life seen as a positive experience of culmination and contentment.

Further along may be a rethinking of life as better structured around friendship than around family, the basic unit of human society since the mists of prehistory. In the brief life of previous centuries, all a man or woman could hope to accomplish was to bear and raise children; enervation followed. Today, life is longer, but an education-based economy requires greater investments in childrencontemporary parents are still assisting offspring well into a childs 20s. As before, when the child-rearing finally is done, decline commences.

But if health span extends, the nuclear family might be seen as less central. For most people, bearing and raising children would no longer be the all-consuming life event. After child-rearing, a phase of decades of friendships could awaitpotentially more fulfilling than the emotionally charged but fast-burning bonds of youth. A change such as this might have greater ramifications for society than changes in work schedules or health-care economics.

Regardless of where increasing life expectancy leads, the direction will be into the unknownfor society and for the natural world. Felipe Sierra, the researcher at the National Institute on Aging, puts it this way: The human ethical belief that death should be postponed as long as possible does not exist in naturefrom which we are now, in any case, diverging.

Continue reading here:
What Happens When We All Live to 100? - The Atlantic

Stem Cell 100 is designed to rejuvenate your body and slow the aging process to help you feel and function more like a young person. This can help you feel better, look younger and improve your health.

Most of the cells in your body lose function with age. Everyone has special cells called adult stem cells which are needed to repair damaged and old tissues, but adult stem cells themselves are also aging.

Until now there was not much you could do about it. Stem Cell 100 rejuvenates adult stem cells and their micro-environments with the proprietary SC100 formula. Stem Cell 100+ is a more powerful and faster acting version of the same nutraceutical.

Developed by experts in the anti-aging field, patent-pending Stem Cell 100 is the only supplement proven to double maximum lifespan of an animal model. No other product or therapy including caloric restriction even comes close.

Harness the Power of Your Own Stem Cells

Millions of people suffer from chronic conditions of aging and disease. Based on international scientific studies in many academic and industry laboratories, there is new hope that many of the conditions afflicting mankind can some day be cured or greatly improved using stem cell regenerative medicine.

Stem Cell 100 offers a way to receive some of the benefits of stem cell therapy today by improving the effectiveness of your own adult stem cells.

Stem Cell 100 Helps to Support:

The statements above have not been reviewed by the FDA. Stem Cell 100 is not a preventive or treatment for any disease.

Help Rejuvenate Your Body by Boosting Your Own Stem Cells

As a child, we are protected from the ravages of aging and can rapidly recover from injury or illness because of the ability of the young regenerative stem cells of children have a superior ability to repair and regenerate most damaged tissues.

As we age, our stem cell populations become depleted and/or slowly lose their capacity to repair. Moreover, the micro-environment (i.e. niches) around stem cells becomes less nurturing with age, so cell turnover and repair are further reduced. This natural progression occurs so slowly that we are barely aware of it, but we start to notice the body changes in our 20s, 30s, 40s, and especially after 50 years of age.

Stem Cell 100 helps adults regain their youthful regenerative potential by stabilizing stem cell function.

Stem Cell 100 works differently than other stem cell products on the market

You may have seen a number of products that are advertised as stimulating or enhancing the number of stem cells. Each person only has a limited number of stem cells so using them up faster may not be a good strategy. Stem Cell 100 is about improving the effectiveness and longevity of your stem cells as well as preserving the stem cell micro-environment. That should be the goal of any effective stem cell therapy and is what Stem Cell 100 is designed to do and what other stem cell products cannot do.

Stem Cell 100 Extends Drosophila (Fruit Fly) Lifespan

In extensive laboratory testing Stem Cell 100 greatly extended both the average and maximum lifespan of Drosophila fruit flies. The study (see Charts below) included three cages of Drosophila fruit flies that were treated with Stem Cell 100 (Cages T1 to T3) and three cages which were untreated controls (Cages C1 to C3). Each cage started with 500 fruit flies including 250 males and 250 females.

The experiment showed that median lifespan more than doubled with a 123% increase.

While fruit flies are not people they are more like us than you might think. Drosophila have a heart and circulatory system, and the most common cause of death is heart failure. Like humans and other mammals (e.g. mice), it is difficult to increase their lifespan significantly.

These observed results outperform every lifespan enhancing treatment ever tested including experiments using genetic modification and dietary restriction.

The longest living fruit fly receiving Stem Cell 100 lived 89 days compared to the longest living untreated control which lived 48 days. It is possible that the single longest living fruit fly lived longer for other reasons such as genetic mutation, however, there were many others that lived almost as long so it was not just an aberation.

The oldest 5% of the treated fruit flies lived 77% longer than the oldest 5% of the control group. It is also important that the study showed an improved ability of the fruit flies to survive stress and illness at all ages not just during old age. Even after the first few days of the study there were already more of the

Stem Cell 100 treated fruit flies alive that survived youth than the control group of untreated fruit flies. For additional information about the study please go to our Longevity page.

SK, Santa Fe, New Mexico

I have been using Stem Cell 100 for about one year. Initially I noticed a boost in energy level, which now remains steady-hence not noticed I have experienced no adverse effects from taking this product. I heartily recommend Stem Cell 100 and plan to continue on it.*

Leslie

Stem Cell 100 has made a noticeable difference in me, including turning my gray hair back to its original color, which supposedly is impossible. The reversal of the gray hair to original color began a couple of months after starting the pill. After about 10 months, the gray hair is mostly gone. At the current rate of improvement, I expect my hair to completely be back to its original color within 1 to 2 months. I think my beard will take longer, but it was the first to gray.

Also, my skin became smoother and younger looking. The skin and hair rely heavily on stem cells, and they seem to benefit strongly from this product. Im so excited about telling people my results because there is nothing that can reverse the graying of hair. It will give me evidence that this supplement thing is really powerful.

Unfortunately, I dont have before and after pictures because I didnt read any claims that the product would affect hair color. I would just say that Im a person who totally believes that it does me no good to imagine things or interpret tings in a way favorable to what I want to believe. When Im convinced enough to make a statement, you can count on it.*

Joey, California

I am a 48 year old working woman. A friend of mine introduced me to Stem Cell 100. After taking Stem Cell 100 for about 4 months my anxiety level has really been diminished. Its a great supplement and I would recommend it to everyone!*

Paul, California

I am an active 61 year old man in excellent health, but had experienced a serious drop in my energy level at the time I enrolled in a 4-month trial of Stem Cell 100. Within a month, my energy increased noticeably and I began to take to my physical activities (running, cycling) with a renewed enthusiasm and intensity level. My mood began to elevate steadily, and soon I had even lost those few stubborn pounds that had eluded me for years. I am very enthusiastic about Stem Cell 100. I look forward to continuing with the new, improved formulation, and would not hesitate to recommend it.*

Mike, Texas

After taking the Stem Cell 100 for the last month my sinuses have also cleared, unplugging my ears for the first time since mid September.*

Tom, Australia

Only after about 2-3 weeks of taking Stem Cell 100 my eye sight returned back to a level where I did not need glasses to work on my computer monitors. My eyes had always been good but had started to deteriorate about a year ago where 50% of the time I had to wear my glasses. I was shocked to find the improvement so quick. I found I was less stressed. No other changes to lifestyle yet a measureable difference.

My fingers would sometimes get stiff in the mornings after long days on the keyboard. This stiffness disappeared. Some of my hair is getting darker. I have a full body of hair that had virtually all turned grey but I noticed that some of my hair was starting regrow brown my original colour. I had some age spots in my left leg that are disappearing. Generally, I feel great.*

Willie, California

As I was sprinting this morning around 6:00am I noticed that I was not hurting anymore! I have been having sore knees, ankles, hamstrings and back for the last couple of years. I usually just ran through it, but I noticed since I have been taking the Stem Cell 100 capsules for about 45 days now, those nagging pains are gone away!*

*DIsclaimer: The testimonials reflect the real life experiences written and voluntarily submitted to us by individuals who used our products. Individual results may vary. We do not claim that any individual experience recounted is typical or representative of what any other consumer might experience.

View More Testimonials

Supplement Facts

Stem Cell 100 and Stem Cell 100+ are Patent-Pending Life Code Nutraceuticals.

All Life Code products arenutraceutical grade and provide the best of science along with the balance of nature. Stem Cell 100 is vegetarian.

Serving Size: One type O capsule

Servings Per Container: 60 Capsules

Recommended Use: Typical usage of Stem Cell 100 is two capsules per day, preferably at meal times. While both capsules can be taken at the same time, it is preferable to separate the two capsules by at least 4 hours. Since Stem Cell 100 is a potent formulation, do not take more than three capsules per day. One capsule per day may be sufficient for those below 110 pounds.

Recommended Users: Anyone from ages 22 and up could benefit from Stem Cell 100 or Stem Cell 100+. Those in their 20s and 30s will like the boost in endurance during sports or exercise, while older users will notice better energy and general health with the potential for some weight loss.

Stem Cell 100 was our first multi-pathway longevity nutraceutical. Stem Cell 100+ is a more advanced, faster acting and powerful version of Stem Cell 100.

Click label to enlarge

Active Stem Cell 100 Ingredients: There are ten herbal components that make up the patent-pending combination in Stem Cell 100. The herbal components are highly extracted natural herbs that are standardized for active components that promote adult stem cells and lower inflammation:

1) Polysaccharides, flavonoids, and astragalosides extracted from Astragalus membranaceus, which has many positive effects on stem cells and the cardiovascular and immune systems.

2) Proprietary natural bilberry flavonoids and other compounds from a stabilized nutraceutical grade medicinal Vaccinium extract. Activate metabolic PPARS and helps produce healthy levels of cholesterol and inflammation. Also has anti-fungal and anti-viral activity.

3) Flavonoids and oligo-proanthocyanidins (OPCs) extracted from Pine Bark, which greatly reduce oxidative stress, DNA damage, and inflammation.

4) L-Theanine, which is a natural amino acid from Camellia sinesis that reduces mental stress and inflammation while improving cognition and protecting brain cells from ischemic or toxic injury.

5) Pterocarpus Marsupium, which contains two stable resveratrol analogs which promote stem cells, lower inflammation, and stabilized metabolism.

6) Polygonum Multiflorium stem stem is a popular Chinese herbal tonic that fights premature aging and promotes youthfulness. Polygonum is reported to enhance fertility by improving sperm count in men and egg vitality in women. Polygonum is also widely used in Asia to strengthen muscle and is thus used by many athletes as an essential tonic for providing strength and stamina to the body.

Modern research has supported Polygonum multiflorium stem in that animal studies have proven that it can extend lifespan and improve the quality of life. Polygonum appears to protect the liver and brain against damage, perhaps by improving immune and cardiovascular health. The stem sections of Polygonum multiflorium are also calming to the nervous system and promote sounder sleep. Life Code uses a proprietary Polygonum multiflorium stem extract.

7) Schisandra Berry is used by many Chinese women to preserve their youthful beauty. For thousands of years, Schisandra has been prized as an antiaging tonic that increases stamina and mental clarity, while fighting stress and fatigue. In Chinese traditional medicine, Schisandra berry has been used for liver disorders and to enhance resistance to infection and promote skin health and better sleep.

Schisandra berry is classified as an adaptogen, which can stimulate the central nervous system, increase brain efficiency, improve reflexes, and enhance endurance. Modern research indicates that Schisandra berry extracts have a protective effect on the liver and promote immunity. A double-blind human trial suggested that Schisandra berry may help patients with viral hepatitis, which is very prevalent in China.

Recent work indicates that the liver is protected by the enhanced production of glutathione peroxidase, which helps detoxify the liver. Life Code uses a proprietary Schisandra berry extract.

8) Fo-Ti Root (aka He-Shou-Wu) is one of the most widely used Chinese herbal medicines to restore blood, kidney, liver, and cardiovascular health. Fo-Ti is claimed to have powerful rejuvenating effects on the brain, endocrine glands, the immune system, and sexual vigor.

Legend has it that Professor Li Chung Yun took daily doses of Fo-Ti to live to be 256 and is said to have outlived 23 wives and spawned 11 generations of descendents before his death in 1933. While it is unlikely that he really lived to such an old age there is scientific support for Fo-Ti as beneficial for health and longevity.

Like the Indian Keno bark, Fo-ti contains resveratrol analogs and likely acts by various mechanism, which includes liver detoxification and protection of skin from UVB radiation. Life Code uses a proprietary Fo-Ti root extract.

9) Camellia sinensis has many bioactive polyphenols including the potent epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). A 2006 Japanese study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that adults aged 40 to 79 years of age who drank an average of 5 or more cups of tea per day had a significantly lower risk of dying from all causes (23% lower for females and 12% lower for males). The study tracked more than 40,000 adults for up to 11 years and found dramatically lower rates of cardiovascular disease and strokes in those drinking 5 or more cups of tea.

Many studies have found that adults drinking 3 or more cups of tea per day have significantly less cancer. Other studies have found that green tea helps protect against age-related cognitive decline, kidney disease, periodontal disease, and type 2 diabetes. Green tea also promotes visceral fat loss and higher endurance levels.

Summarizing all of the thousands of studies on tea and tea polyphenols that have been published, it can be concluded that tea polyphenols preserve health and youth. This conclusion is backed up by gene studies showing that tea polyphenols decrease insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which is a highly conserved genetic pathway that has been strongly linked to aging in yeast, worms, mice, and humans. If everyone could drink 4 to 5 cups of green tea each day, they could enjoy these important health benefits, but for most people drinking that much green tea can disturb their sleep patterns.

Life Code uses a nutraceutical grade green tea extract that has 98% polyphenols and 50% ESCG that provides the polyphenol and ESCG equivalent of 4 to 5 cups of green tea with only 2% of the caffeine. Thus, most or all of the benefits of green tea are provided without concerns about disturbing sleep.

10) Drynaria Rhizome is used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine as an effective herb for healing bones, ligaments, tendons, and lower back problems. Eastern martial art practitioners have used Drynaria for thousands of years to help in recovering from sprains, bruises, and stress fractures.

Drynaria has also helped in many cases of bleeding gums and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). The active components of Drynaria protect bone forming cells by enhancing calcium absorption and other mechanisms. Drynaria is also reported to act as a kidney tonic and to promote hair growth and wound healing. Life Code uses a proprietary Drynaria rhizome extract.

Safety: The extracts in both versions of Stem Cell 100 are pharmaceutical grade and have been individually tested in both animals and humans without significant safety issues. Those with pre-existing conditions of diabetes or hypertension should coordinate this product with your doctor, as lower blood glucose or reduced blood pressure can result from taking the recommended dose of this product.

Warnings: may lower glucose and/or blood pressure in some individuals. The supplement is not recommended for pregnant, lactating, or hypoglycemic individuals.

References

1. Yu, Q., Y.S. Bai, and J. Lin, [Effect of astragalus injection combined with mesenchymal stem cells transplantation for repairing the Spinal cord injury in rats]. Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi, 2010. 30(4): p. 393-7.

2. Xu, C.J., et al., [Effect of astragalus polysaccharides on the proliferation and ultrastructure of dog bone marrow stem cells induced into osteoblasts in vitro]. Hua Xi Kou Qiang Yi Xue Za Zhi, 2007. 25(5): p. 432-6.

3. Xu, C.J., et al., [Effects of astragalus polysaccharides-chitosan/polylactic acid scaffolds and bone marrow stem cells on repairing supra-alveolar periodontal defects in dogs]. Zhong Nan Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban, 2006. 31(4): p. 512-7.

4. Zhu, X. and B. Zhu, [Effect of Astragalus membranaceus injection on megakaryocyte hematopoiesis in anemic mice]. Hua Xi Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao, 2001. 32(4): p. 590-2.

5. Qiu, L.H., X.J. Xie, and B.Q. Zhang, Astragaloside IV improves homocysteine-induced acute phase endothelial dysfunction via antioxidation. Biol Pharm Bull, 2010. 33(4): p. 641-6.

6. Araghi-Niknam, M., et al., Pine bark extract reduces platelet aggregation. Integr Med, 2000. 2(2): p. 73-77.

7. Rohdewald, P., A review of the French maritime pine bark extract (Pycnogenol), a herbal medication with a diverse clinical pharmacology. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther, 2002. 40(4): p. 158-68.

8. Koch, R., Comparative study of Venostasin and Pycnogenol in chronic venous insufficiency. Phytother Res, 2002. 16 Suppl 1: p. S1-5.

9. Rimando, A.M., et al., Pterostilbene, a new agonist for the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha-isoform, lowers plasma lipoproteins and cholesterol in hypercholesterolemic hamsters. J Agric Food Chem, 2005. 53(9): p. 3403-7.

10. Manickam, M., et al., Antihyperglycemic activity of phenolics from Pterocarpus marsupium. J Nat Prod, 1997. 60(6): p. 609-10.

11. Grover, J.K., V. Vats, and S.S. Yadav, Pterocarpus marsupium extract (Vijayasar) prevented the alteration in metabolic patterns induced in the normal rat by feeding an adequate diet containing fructose as sole carbohydrate. Diabetes Obes Metab, 2005. 7(4): p. 414-20.

12. Mao, X.Q., et al., Astragalus polysaccharide reduces hepatic endoplasmic reticulum stress and restores glucose homeostasis in a diabetic KKAy mouse model. Acta Pharmacol Sin, 2007. 28(12): p. 1947-56.

13. Schafer, A. and P. Hogger, Oligomeric procyanidins of French maritime pine bark extract (Pycnogenol) effectively inhibit alpha-glucosidase. Diabetes Res Clin Pract, 2007. 77(1): p. 41-6.

14. Kwak, C.J., et al., Antihypertensive effect of French maritime pine bark extract (Flavangenol): possible involvement of endothelial nitric oxide-dependent vasorelaxation. J Hypertens, 2009. 27(1): p. 92-101.

15. Xue, B., et al., Effect of total flavonoid fraction of Astragalus complanatus R.Brown on angiotensin II-induced portal-vein contraction in hypertensive rats. Phytomedicine, 2008.

16. Mizuno, C.S., et al., Design, synthesis, biological evaluation and docking studies of pterostilbene analogs inside PPARalpha. Bioorg Med Chem, 2008. 16(7): p. 3800-8.

17. Sato, M., et al., Dietary pine bark extract reduces atherosclerotic lesion development in male ApoE-deficient mice by lowering the serum cholesterol level. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem, 2009. 73(6): p. 1314-7.

18. Kimura, Y. and M. Sumiyoshi, French Maritime Pine Bark (Pinus maritima Lam.) Extract (Flavangenol) Prevents Chronic UVB Radiation-induced Skin Damage and Carcinogenesis in Melanin-possessing Hairless Mice. Photochem Photobiol, 2010.

19. Pavlou, P., et al., In-vivo data on the influence of tobacco smoke and UV light on murine skin. Toxicol Ind Health, 2009. 25(4-5): p. 231-9.

20. Ni, Z., Y. Mu, and O. Gulati, Treatment of melasma with Pycnogenol. Phytother Res, 2002. 16(6): p. 567-71.

21. Bito, T., et al., Pine bark extract pycnogenol downregulates IFN-gamma-induced adhesion of T cells to human keratinocytes by inhibiting inducible ICAM-1 expression. Free Radic Biol Med, 2000. 28(2): p. 219-27.

See the rest here:
Stem Cell 100 Longevity Telomere Support Supplement SC100 ...

Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.[1] Happy mental states may also reflect judgements by a person about their overall well-being.[2] A variety of biological, psychological, economic, religious and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources. Various research groups, including positive psychology and happiness economics are employing the scientific method to research questions about what "happiness" is, and how it might be attained.

The United Nations declared 20 March the International Day of Happiness to recognise the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals.

Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the Greek Eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. There has been a transition over time from emphasis on the happiness of virtue to the virtue of happiness.[3] Since the turn of the millennium, the human flourishing approach, advanced particularly by Amartya Sen has attracted increasing interest in psychological, especially prominent in the work of Martin Seligman, Ed Diener and Ruut Veenhoven, and international development and medical research in the work of Paul Anand.[citation needed]

A widely discussed political value expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776, written by Thomas Jefferson, is the universal right to "the pursuit of happiness."[4] This suggests a subjective interpretation but one that nonetheless goes beyond emotions alone.[citation needed]

Happiness is a fuzzy concept and can mean many different things to many people. Part of the challenge of a science of happiness is to identify different concepts of happiness, and where applicable, split them into their components. Related concepts are well-being, quality of life and flourishing. At least one author defines happiness as contentment.[5] Some commentators focus on the difference between the hedonistic tradition of seeking pleasant and avoiding unpleasant experiences, and the eudaimonic tradition of living life in a full and deeply satisfying way.[6]

The 2012 World Happiness Report stated that in subjective well-being measures, the primary distinction is between cognitive life evaluations and emotional reports.[7] Happiness is used in both life evaluation, as in How happy are you with your life as a whole?, and in emotional reports, as in How happy are you now?, and people seem able to use happiness as appropriate in these verbal contexts. Using these measures, the World Happiness Report identifies the countries with the highest levels of happiness.[citation needed]

Since the 1960s, happiness research has been conducted in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including gerontology, social psychology, clinical and medical research and happiness economics. During the past two decades, however, the field of happiness studies has expanded drastically in terms of scientific publications, and has produced many different views on causes of happiness, and on factors that correlate with happiness,[8] but no validated method has been found to substantially improve long-term happiness in a meaningful way for most people.

Sonja Lyubomirsky concludes in her book The How of Happiness that 50 percent of a given human's happiness level is genetically determined (based on twin studies), 10 percent is affected by life circumstances and situation, and a remaining 40 percent of happiness is subject to self-control.[citation needed]

The results of the 75-year Grant Study of Harvard undergraduates show a high correlation of loving relationship, especially with parents, with later life wellbeing.[9]

In the 2nd Edition of the Handbook of Emotions (2000), evolutionary psychologists Leda Cosmides and John Tooby say that happiness comes from "encountering unexpected positive events". In the 3rd Edition of the Handbook of Emotions (2008), Michael Lewis says "happiness can be elicited by seeing a significant other". According to Mark Leary, as reported in a November 1995 issue of Psychology Today, "we are happiest when basking in the acceptance and praise of others". Sara Algoe and Jonathan Haidt say that "happiness" may be the label for a family of related emotional states, such as joy, amusement, satisfaction, gratification, euphoria, and triumph.[10]

It has been argued that money cannot effectively "buy" much happiness unless it is used in certain ways.[11] "Beyond the point at which people have enough to comfortably feed, clothe, and house themselves, having more money - even a lot more money - makes them only a little bit happier."[according to whom?] A Harvard Business School study found that "spending money on others actually makes us happier than spending it on ourselves".[12]

Meditation has been found to lead to high activity in the brain's left prefrontal cortex, which in turn has been found to correlate with happiness.[13]

Psychologist Martin Seligman asserts that happiness is not solely derived from external, momentary pleasures,[14] and provides the acronym PERMA to summarize Positive Psychology's correlational findings: humans seem happiest when they have

There have also been some studies of how religion relates to happiness. Causal relationships remain unclear, but more religion is seen in happier people. This correlation may be the result of community membership and not necessarily belief in religion itself. Another component may have to do with ritual.[15]

Abraham Harold Maslow, an American professor of psychology, founded humanistic psychology in the 1930s. A visual aid he created to explain his theory, which he called the hierarchy of needs, is a pyramid depicting the levels of human needs, psychological, and physical. When a human being ascends the steps of the pyramid, he reaches self-actualization. Beyond the routine of needs fulfillment, Maslow envisioned moments of extraordinary experience, known as peak experiences, profound moments of love, understanding, happiness, or rapture, during which a person feels more whole, alive, self-sufficient, and yet a part of the world. This is similar to the flow concept of Mihly Cskszentmihlyi.[citation needed]

Self-determination theory relates intrinsic motivation to three needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Cross-sectional studies worldwide support a relationship between happiness and fruit and vegetable intake. Those eating fruits and vegetables each day have a higher likelihood of being classified as very happy, suggesting a strong and positive correlation between fruit and vegetable consumption and happiness.[16] Whether it be in South Korea,[17] Iran,[18] Chile,[19] USA,[20] or UK,[21] greater fruit and vegetable consumption had a positive association with greater happiness, independent of factors such as smoking, exercise, body mass index, or socio-economic factors.

Religion and happiness have been studied by a number of researchers, and religion features many elements addressing the components of happiness, as identified by positive psychology. Its association with happiness is facilitated in part by the social connections of organized religion,[22] and by the neuropsychological benefits of prayer[23] and belief.

There are a number of mechanisms through which religion may make a person happier, including social contact and support that result from religious pursuits, the mental activity that comes with optimism and volunteering, learned coping strategies that enhance one's ability to deal with stress, and psychological factors such as "reason for being." It may also be that religious people engage in behaviors related to good health, such as less substance abuse, since the use of psychotropic substances is sometimes considered abuse.[24][25][26][27][28][29]

The Handbook of Religion and Health describes a survey by Feigelman (1992) that examined happiness in Americans who have given up religion, in which it was found that there was little relationship between religious disaffiliation and unhappiness.[30] A survey by Kosmin & Lachman (1993), also cited in this handbook, indicates that people with no religious affiliation appear to be at greater risk for depressive symptoms than those affiliated with a religion.[31] A review of studies by 147 independent investigators found, "the correlation between religiousness and depressive symptoms was -.096, indicating that greater religiousness is mildly associated with fewer symptoms."[32]

The Legatum Prosperity Index reflects the repeated finding of research on the science of happiness that there is a positive link between religious engagement and wellbeing: people who report that God is very important in their lives are on average more satisfied with their lives, after accounting for their income, age and other individual characteristics.[33]

Surveys by Gallup, the National Opinion Research Centre and the Pew Organisation conclude that spiritually committed people are twice as likely to report being "very happy" than the least religiously committed people.[34] An analysis of over 200 social studies contends that "high religiousness predicts a lower risk of depression and drug abuse and fewer suicide attempts, and more reports of satisfaction with sex life and a sense of well-being. However, the links between religion and happiness are always very broad in nature, highly reliant on scripture and small sample number. To that extent there is a much larger connection between religion and suffering (Lincoln 1034)."[32] And a review of 498 studies published in peer-reviewed journals concluded that a large majority of them showed a positive correlation between religious commitment and higher levels of perceived well-being and self-esteem and lower levels of hypertension, depression, and clinical delinquency.[35] A meta-analysis of 34 recent studies published between 1990 and 2001 found that religiosity has a salutary relationship with psychological adjustment, being related to less psychological distress, more life satisfaction, and better self-actualization.[36] Finally, a recent systematic review of 850 research papers on the topic concluded that "the majority of well-conducted studies found that higher levels of religious involvement are positively associated with indicators of psychological well-being (life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, and higher morale) and with less depression, suicidal thoughts and behaviour, drug/alcohol use/abuse."[37]

However, there remains strong disagreement among scholars about whether the effects of religious observance, particularly attending church or otherwise belonging to religious groups, is due to the spiritual or the social aspectsi.e. those who attend church or belong to similar religious organizations may well be receiving only the effects of the social connections involved. While these benefits are real enough, they may thus be the same one would gain by joining other, secular groups, clubs, or similar organizations.[38]

Terror management theory maintains that people suffer cognitive dissonance (anxiety) when they are reminded of their inevitable death. Through terror management, individuals are motivated to seek consonant elements symbols which make sense of mortality and death in satisfactory ways (i.e. boosting self-esteem).

Research has found that strong belief in religious or secular meaning systems affords psychological security and hope. It is moderates (e.g. agnostics, slightly religious individuals) who likely suffer the most anxiety from their meaning systems. Religious meaning systems are especially adapted to manage death anxiety because they are unlikely to be disconfirmed (for various reasons), they are all encompassing, and they promise literal immortality.[39][40]

Whether emotional effects are beneficial or adverse seems to vary with the nature of the belief. Belief in a benevolent God is associated with lower incidence of general anxiety, social anxiety, paranoia, obsession, and compulsion whereas belief in a punitive God is associated with greater symptoms. (An alternative explanation is that people seek out beliefs that fit their psychological and emotional states.)[41]

Citizens of the world's poorest countries are the most likely to be religious, and researchers suggest this is because of religion's powerful coping abilities.[42][43] Luke Galen also supports terror management theory as a partial explanation of the above findings. Galen describes evidence (including his own research) that the benefits of religion are due to strong convictions and membership in a social group.[44][45][46]

Happiness forms a central theme of Buddhist teachings.[47] For ultimate freedom from suffering, the Noble Eightfold Path leads its practitioner to Nirvana, a state of everlasting peace. Ultimate happiness is only achieved by overcoming craving in all forms. More mundane forms of happiness, such as acquiring wealth and maintaining good friendships, are also recognized as worthy goals for lay people (see sukha). Buddhism also encourages the generation of loving kindness and compassion, the desire for the happiness and welfare of all beings.[48][49][unreliable source?]

Happiness or simcha (Hebrew: ) in Judaism is considered an important element in the service of God.[50] The biblical verse "worship The Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs," (Psalm 100:2) stresses joy in the service of God.[citation needed] A popular teaching by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, a 19th-century Chassidic Rabbi, is "Mitzvah Gedolah Le'hiyot Besimcha Tamid," it is a great mitzvah (commandment) to always be in a state of happiness. When a person is happy they are much more capable of serving God and going about their daily activities than when depressed or upset.[51]

The primary meaning of "happiness" in various European languages involves good fortune, chance or happening. The meaning in Greek philosophy, however, refers primarily to ethics. In Catholicism, the ultimate end of human existence consists in felicity, Latin equivalent to the Greek eudaimonia, or "blessed happiness", described by the 13th-century philosopher-theologian Thomas Aquinas as a Beatific Vision of God's essence in the next life.[52] Human complexities, like reason and cognition, can produce well-being or happiness, but such form is limited and transitory. In temporal life, the contemplation of God, the infinitely Beautiful, is the supreme delight of the will. Beatitudo, or perfect happiness, as complete well-being, is to be attained not in this life, but the next.[53]

While religion is often formalised and community-oriented, spirituality tends to be individually based and not as formalised. In a 2014 study, 320 children, ages 812, in both public and private schools, were given a Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire assessing the correlation between spirituality and happiness. Spirituality and not religious practices (praying, attending church services) correlated positively with the child's happiness; the more spiritual the child was, the happier the child was. Spirituality accounted for about 326% of the variance in happiness.[54]

The Chinese Confucian thinker Mencius, who 2300 years ago sought to give advice to the ruthless political leaders of the warring states period, was convinced that the mind played a mediating role between the "lesser self" (the physiological self) and the "greater self" (the moral self) and that getting the priorities right between these two would lead to sage-hood. He argued that if we did not feel satisfaction or pleasure in nourishing one's "vital force" with "righteous deeds", that force would shrivel up (Mencius,6A:15 2A:2). More specifically, he mentions the experience of intoxicating joy if one celebrates the practice of the great virtues, especially through music.[55]

Al-Ghazali (10581111) the Muslim Sufi thinker wrote the Alchemy of Happiness, a manual of spiritual instruction throughout the Muslim world and widely practiced today.[citation needed]

The Hindu thinker Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras, wrote quite exhaustively on the psychological and ontological roots of bliss.[56]

In the Nicomachean Ethics, written in 350 BCE, Aristotle stated that happiness (also being well and doing well) is the only thing that humans desire for its own sake, unlike riches, honor, health or friendship. He observed that men sought riches, or honor, or health not only for their own sake but also in order to be happy. Note that eudaimonia, the term we translate as "happiness", is for Aristotle an activity rather than an emotion or a state.[57] Thus understood, the happy life is the good life, that is, a life in which a person fulfills human nature in an excellent way. Specifically, Aristotle argues that the good life is the life of excellent rational activity. He arrives at this claim with the Function Argument. Basically, if it's right, every living thing has a function, that which it uniquely does. For humans, Aristotle contends, our function is to reason, since it is that alone that we uniquely do. And performing one's function well, or excellently, is one's good. Thus, the life of excellent rational activity is the happy life. Aristotle does not leave it that, however. For he argues that there is a second best life for those incapable of excellent rational activity.This second best life is the life of moral virtue.[citation needed]

Many ethicists make arguments for how humans should behave, either individually or collectively, based on the resulting happiness of such behavior. Utilitarians, such as John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham, advocated the greatest happiness principle as a guide for ethical behavior.[citation needed]

Friedrich Nietzsche savagely critiqued the English Utilitarians' focus on attaining the greatest happiness, stating "Man does not strive for happiness, only the Englishman does." Nietzsche meant that the making happiness one's ultimate goal, the aim of one's existence "makes one contemptible;" Nietzsche instead yearned for a culture that would set higher, more difficult goals than "mere happiness." Thus Nietzsche introduces the quasi-dystopic figure of the "last man" as a kind of thought experiment against the utilitarians and happiness-seekers; these small, "last men" who seek after only their own pleasure and health, avoiding all danger, exertion, difficulty, challenge, struggle are meant to seem contemptible to Nietzsche's reader. Nietzsche instead wants us to consider the value of what is difficult, what can only be earned through struggle, difficulty, pain and thus to come to see the affirmative value suffering and unhappiness truly play in creating everything of great worth in life, including all the highest achievements of human culture, not least of all philosophy.[58][59]

According to St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, man's last end is happiness: "all men agree in desiring the last end, which is happiness."[60] However, where utilitarians focused on reasoning about consequences as the primary tool for reaching happiness, Aquinas agreed with Aristotle that happiness cannot be reached solely through reasoning about consequences of acts, but also requires a pursuit of good causes for acts, such as habits according to virtue.[61] In turn, which habits and acts that normally lead to happiness is according to Aquinas caused by laws: natural law and divine law. These laws, in turn, were according to Aquinas caused by a first cause, or God.[citation needed]

According to Aquinas, happiness consists in an "operation of the speculative intellect": "Consequently happiness consists principally in such an operation, viz. in the contemplation of Divine things." And, "the last end cannot consist in the active life, which pertains to the practical intellect." So: "Therefore the last and perfect happiness, which we await in the life to come, consists entirely in contemplation. But imperfect happiness, such as can be had here, consists first and principally in contemplation, but secondarily, in an operation of the practical intellect directing human actions and passions."[62]

Common market health measures such as GDP and GNP have been used as a measure of successful policy. On average richer nations tend to be happier than poorer nations, but this effect seems to diminish with wealth.[63][64] This has been explained by the fact that the dependency is not linear but logarithmic, i.e., the same percentual increase in the GNP produces the same increase in happiness for wealthy countries as for poor countries.[65][66][67][68] Increasingly, academic economists and international economic organisations are arguing for and developing multi-dimensional dashboards which combine subjective and objective indicators to provide a more direct and explicit assessment of human wellbeing. Work by Paul Anand and colleagues helps to highlight the fact that there many different contributors to adult wellbeing, that happiness judgement reflect, in part, the presence of salient constraints, and that fairness, autonomy, community and engagement are key aspects of happiness and wellbeing throughout the life course.

Libertarian think tank Cato Institute claims that economic freedom correlates strongly with happiness[69] preferably within the context of a western mixed economy, with free press and a democracy. According to certain standards, East European countries (ruled by Communist parties) were less happy than Western ones, even less happy than other equally poor countries.[70]

However, much empirical research in the field of happiness economics, such as that by Benjamin Radcliff, professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, supports the contention that (at least in democratic countries) life satisfaction is strongly and positively related to the social democratic model of a generous social safety net, pro-worker labor market regulations, and strong labor unions.[71] Similarly, there is evidence that public policies that reduce poverty and support a strong middle class, such as a higher minimum wage, strongly affects average levels of well-being.[72]

It has been argued that happiness measures could be used not as a replacement for more traditional measures, but as a supplement.[73] According to professor Edward Glaeser, people constantly make choices that decrease their happiness, because they have also more important aims. Therefore, the government should not decrease the alternatives available for the citizen by patronizing them but let the citizen keep a maximal freedom of choice.[74]

It has been argued that happiness at work is one of the driving forces behind positive outcomes at work, rather than just being a resultant product.[75]

Several scales have been used to measure happiness:

The UK began to measure national well being in 2012,[83] following Bhutan which already measured gross national happiness.[citation needed]

A positive relationship has been found between the volume of gray matter in the right precuneus area of the brain and the subject's subjective happiness score.[84] Interestingly meditation, including mindfulness, based interventions have been found to correlate with a significant gray matter increase within the precuneus.[85][86][87][88][89]

In 2005 a study conducted by Andrew Steptow and Michael Marmot at University College London, found that happiness is related to biological markers that play an important role in health.[90] The researchers aimed to analyze whether there was any association between well-being and three biological markers: heart rate, cortisol levels, and plasma fibrinogen levels. Interestingly, the participants who rated themselves the least happy had cortisol levels that were 48% higher than those who rated themselves as the most happy. The least happy subjects also had a large plasma fibrinogen response to two stress-inducing tasks: the Stroop test, and tracing a star seen in a mirror image. Repeating their studies three years later Steptow and Marmot found that participants who scored high in positive emotion continued to have lower levels of cortisol and fibrinogen, as well as a lower heart rate.[citation needed]

In Happy People Live Longer (2011),[91] Bruno Frey reported that happy people live 14% longer, increasing longevity 7.5 to 10 years and Richard Davidson's bestseller (2012) The Emotional Life of Your Brain argues that positive emotion and happiness benefit long-term health.[citation needed]

However, in 2015 a study building on earlier research found that happiness has no effect on mortality.[92] "This "basic belief that if you're happier you're going to live longer. That's just not true."[93] Consistent results are that "apart from good health, happy people were more likely to be older, not smoke, have fewer educational qualifications, do strenuous exercise, live with a partner, do religious or group activities and sleep for eight hours a night."[93]

Happiness does however seem to have a protective impact on immunity. The tendency to experience positive emotions was associated with greater resistance to colds and flu in interventional studies irrespective of other factors such as smoking, drinking, exercise, and sleep.[94][95]

Despite a large body of positive psychological research into the relationship between happiness and productivity,[96][97][98] happiness at work has traditionally been seen as a potential by-product of positive outcomes at work, rather than a pathway to success in business. However a growing number of scholars, including Boehm and Lyubomirsky, argue that it should be viewed as one of the major sources of positive outcomes in the workplace.[75][99]

See the original post:
Happiness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stem Cell 100 is formulated to rejuvenate your body and slow the aging process to help you feel and function more like a young person. This can help you feel better, look younger and improve your health. Most of the cells in your body lose function with age. Everyone has special cells called adult stem cells which are needed to rejuvenate damaged and old tissues, but adult stem cells themselves are also aging. Until now there was not much you could do about it. Stem Cell 100 rejuvenates adult stem cells and their micro-environments. Stem Cell 100+ is a more advanced and faster acting version of Stem Cell 100.

Developed by experts in the anti-aging field, patent-pending Stem Cell 100 is the only supplement proven to double maximum lifespan of an animal model. No other product or therapy including caloric restriction even comes close.

SK of Santa Fe, NM

I have been using Stem Cell 100 for about one year. Initially I noticed a boost in energy level, which now remains steady-hence not noticed I have experienced no adverse effects from taking this product. I heartily recommend Stem Cell 100 and plan to continue on it.

Leslie

Stem Cell 100 has made a noticeable difference in me, including turning my gray hair back to its original color, which supposedly is impossible. The reversal of the gray hair to original color began a couple of months after starting the pill. After about 10 months, the gray hair is mostly gone. At the current rate of improvement, I expect my hair to completely be back to its original color within 1 to 2 months. I think my beard will take longer, but it was the first to gray. Also, my skin became smoother and younger looking. The skin and hair rely heavily on stem cells, and they seem to benefit strongly from this product. I'm so excited about telling people my results because there is nothing that can reverse the graying of hair. It will give me evidence that this supplement thing is really powerful. Unfortunately, I don't have before and after pictures because I didn't read any claims that the product would affect hair color. I would just say that I'm a person who totally believes that it does me no good to imagine things or interpret tings in a way favorable to what I want to believe. When I'm convinced enough to make a statement, you can count on it.

Joey of San Diego, CA

I am a 48 year old working woman. A friend of mine introduced me to Stem Cell 100. After taking Stem Cell 100 for about 4 months my anxiety level has really been diminished. Its a great supplement and I would recommend it to everyone!

Paul of San Diego, CA

I am an active 61 year old man in excellent health, but had experienced a serious drop in my energy level at the time I enrolled in a 4-month trial of Stem Cell 100. Within a month, my energy increased noticeably and I began to take to my physical activities (running, cycling) with a renewed enthusiasm and intensity level. My mood began to elevate steadily, and soon I had even lost those few stubborn pounds that had eluded me for years. I am very enthusiastic about Stem Cell 100. I look forward to continuing with the new, improved formulation, and would not hesitate to recommend it.

Mike, Texas

After taking the Stem Cell 100 for the last month my sinuses have also cleared, unplugging my ears for the first time since mid September.

Willie, California

As I was sprinting this morning around 6:00am I noticed that I was not hurting anymore! I have been having sore knees, ankles, hamstrings and back for the last couple of years. I usually just ran through it, but I noticed since I have been taking the Stem Cell 100 capsules for about 45 days now, those nagging pains are gone away!

Tom, Australia

Only after about 2-3 weeks of taking Stem Cell 100 my eye sight returned back to a level where I did not need glasses to work on my computer monitors. My eyes had always been good but had started to deteriorate about a year ago where 50% of the time I had to wear my glasses. I was shocked to find the improvement so quick. I found I was less stressed. No other changes to lifestyle yet a measureable difference. My fingers would sometimes get stiff in the mornings after long days on the keyboard. This stiffness disappeared. Some of my hair is getting darker. I have a full body of hair that had virtually all turned grey but I noticed that some of my hair was starting regrow brown - my original colour. I had some age spots in my left leg that are disappearing. Generally, I feel great.

View More Testimonials

Harness the Power of Your Own Stem Cells

Millions of people suffer from chronic conditions of aging and disease. Based on international scientific studies in many academic and industry laboratories, there is new hope that many of the conditions afflicting mankind can some day be cured or greatly improved using stem cell regenerative medicine. Stem Cell 100 offers a way to receive some of the benefits of stem cell therapy today by improving the activity and effectiveness of your own adult stem cells.

Stem Cell 100 Helps to Support:

The statements above have not been reviewed by the FDA. Stem Cell 100 is not a preventive or treatment for any disease.

Help Rejuvenate Your Body by Boosting Your Own Stem Cells

As a child, we are protected from the ravages of aging and can rapidly recover from injury or illness because of the ability of the young regenerative stem cells of children have a superior ability to repair and regenerate most damaged tissues. As we age, our stem cell populations become depleted and/or slowly lose their capacity to repair. Moreover, the micro-environment (i.e. niches) around stem cells becomes less nurturing with age, so cell turnover and repair are further reduced. This natural progression occurs so slowly that we are barely aware of it, but we start to notice the body changes in our 20s, 30s, 40s, and especially after 50 years of age. Stem Cell 100 helps adults regain their youthful regenerative potential by stabilizing stem cell function.

Stem Cell 100 works differently than other stem cell products on the market

You may have seen a number of products that are advertised as stimulating or enhancing the number of stem cells. Each person only has a limited number of stem cells so using them up faster may not be a good strategy. Stem Cell 100 is about improving the effectiveness and longevity of your stem cells as well as preserving the stem cell micro-environment. That should be the goal of any effective stem cell therapy and is what Stem Cell 100 is designed to do and what other stem cell products cannot do.

Stem Cell 100 Extends Drosophila (Fruit Fly) Lifespan

In extensive laboratory testing Stem Cell 100 greatly extended both the average and maximum lifespan of Drosophila fruit flies. The study (see Charts below) included three cages of Drosophila fruit flies that were treated with Stem Cell 100 (Cages T1 to T3) and three cages which were untreated controls (Cages C1 to C3). Each cage started with 500 fruit flies including 250 males and 250 females. The experiment showed that median lifespan more than doubled with a 123% increase. While fruit flies are not people they are more like us than you might think. Drosophila have a heart and circulatory system, and the most common cause of death is heart failure. Like humans and other mammals (e.g. mice), it is difficult to increase their lifespan significantly. These observed results outperform every lifespan enhancing treatment ever tested - including experiments using genetic modification and dietary restriction.

The longest living fruit fly receiving Stem Cell 100 lived 89 days compared to the longest living untreated control which lived 48 days. It is possible that the single longest living fruit fly lived longer for other reasons such as genetic mutation, however, there were many others that lived almost as long so it was not just an aberation. The oldest 5% of the treated fruit flies lived 77% longer than the oldest 5% of the control group. It is also important that the study showed an improved ability of the fruit flies to survive stress and illness at all ages not just during old age. Even after the first few days of the study there were already more of the Stem Cell 100 treated fruit flies alive that survived youth than the control group of untreated fruit flies. For additional information about the study please go to our Longevity page.

Supplement Facts

Stem Cell 100 is a Patent-Pending Life Code Nutraceutical. All Life Code products are nutraceutical grade and provide the best of science along with the balance of nature.

All Life Code products are nutraceutical grade and provide the best of science along with the balance of nature.

Click label to enlarge

Stem Cell 100 Plus+ is a more powerful and faster acting version of Stem Cell 100.

Click label to enlarge

Serving Size: One type O capsule

Servings Per Container: 60 Capsules

Recommended Use: Typical usage of Stem Cell 100 is two capsules per day, preferably at meal times. While both capsules can be taken at the same time, it is preferable to separate the two capsules by at least 4 hours. Since Stem Cell 100 is a potent formulation, do not take more than three capsules per day. One capsule per day may be sufficient for those below 110 pounds.

Recommended Users: Anyone from ages 22 and up could benefit from Stem Cell 100. Those in their 20s and 30s will like the boost in endurance during sports or exercise, while older users will notice better energy and general health with the potential for some weight loss.

Active Ingredients in Stem Cell 100: There are ten herbal components that make up the patent-pending combination in Stem Cell 100. The herbal components are highly extracted natural herbs that are standardized for active components that promote adult stem cells and lower inflammation:

1) Polysaccharides, flavonoids, and astragalosides extracted from Astragalus membranaceus, which has many positive effects on stem cells and the cardiovascular and immune systems.

2) Proprietary natural bilberry flavonoids and other compounds from a stabilized nutraceutical grade medicinal Vaccinium extract. Activate metabolic PPARS and helps produce healthy levels of cholesterol and silent inflammation. Also has anti-fungal and anti-viral activity.

3) Flavonoids and oligo-proanthocyanidins (OPCs) extracted from Pine Bark, which greatly reduce oxidative stress, DNA damage, and inflammation.

4) L-Theanine, which is a natural amino acid from Camellia sinesis that reduces mental stress and inflammation while improving cognition and protecting brain cells from ischemic or toxic injury.

5) Pterocarpus Marsupium, which contains two stable resveratrol analogs which promote stem cells, lower inflammation, and stabilized metabolism.

6) Polygonum Multiflorium stem stem is a popular Chinese herbal tonic that fights premature aging and promotes youthfulness. Polygonum is reported to enhance fertility by improving sperm count in men and egg vitality in women. Polygonum is also widely used in Asia to strengthen muscle and is thus used by many athletes as an essential tonic for providing strength and stamina to the body. Modern research has supported Polygonum multiflorium stem in that animal studies have proven that it can extend lifespan and improve the quality of life. Polygonum appears to protect the liver and brain against damage, perhaps by improving immune and cardiovascular health. The stem sections of Polygonum multiflorium are also calming to the nervous system and promote sounder sleep. Life Code uses a proprietary Polygonum multiflorium stem extract.

7) Schisandra Berry is used by many Chinese women to preserve their youthful beauty. For thousands of years, Schisandra has been prized as an antiaging tonic that increases stamina and mental clarity, while fighting stress and fatigue. In Chinese traditional medicine, Schisandra berry has been used for liver disorders and to enhance resistance to infection and promote skin health and better sleep. Schisandra berry is classified as an adaptogen, which can stimulate the central nervous system, increase brain efficiency, improve reflexes, and enhance endurance. Modern research indicates that Schisandra berry extracts have a protective effect on the liver and promote immunity. A double-blind human trial suggested that Schisandra berry may help patients with viral hepatitis, which is very prevalent in China. Recent work indicates that the liver is protected by the enhanced production of glutathione peroxidase, which helps detoxify the liver. Life Code uses a proprietary Schisandra berry extract.

8) Fo-Ti Root (aka He-Shou-Wu) is one of the most widely used Chinese herbal medicines to restore blood, kidney, liver, and cardiovascular health. Fo-Ti is claimed to have powerful rejuvenating effects on the brain, endocrine glands, the immune system, and sexual vigor. Legend has it that Professor Li Chung Yun took daily doses of Fo-Ti to live to be 256 and is said to have outlived 23 wives and spawned 11 generations of descendents before his death in 1933. While it is unlikely that he really lived to such an old age there is scientific support for Fo-Ti as beneficial for health and longevity. Like the Indian Keno bark, Fo-ti contains resveratrol analogs and likely acts by various mechanism, which includes liver detoxification and protection of skin from UVB radiation. Life CodeTM uses a proprietary Fo-Ti root extract.

9 ) Camellia sinensis has many bioactive polyphenols including the potent epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). A 2006 Japanese study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that adults aged 40 to 79 years of age who drank an average of 5 or more cups of tea per day had a significantly lower risk of dying from all causes (23% lower for females and 12% lower for males). The study tracked more than 40,000 adults for up to 11 years and found dramatically lower rates of cardiovascular disease and strokes in those drinking 5 or more cups of tea. Many studies have found that adults drinking 3 or more cups of tea per day have significantly less cancer. Other studies have found that green tea helps protect against age-related cognitive decline, kidney disease, periodontal disease, and type 2 diabetes. Green tea also promotes visceral fat loss and higher endurance levels. Summarizing all of the thousands of studies on tea and tea polyphenols that have been published, it can be concluded that tea polyphenols preserve health and youth. This conclusion is backed up by gene studies showing that tea polyphenols decrease insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which is a highly conserved genetic pathway that has been strongly linked to aging in yeast, worms, mice, and humans. If everyone could drink 4 to 5 cups of green tea each day, they could enjoy these important health benefits, but for most people drinking that much green tea can disturb their sleep patterns. Life Code uses a nutraceutical grade green tea extract that has 98% polyphenols and 50% ESCG that provides the polyphenol and ESCG equivalent of 4 to 5 cups of green tea with only 2% of the caffeine. Thus, most or all of the benefits of green tea are provided without concerns about disturbing sleep.

10) Drynaria Rhizome is used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine as an effective herb for healing bones, ligaments, tendons, and lower back problems. Eastern martial art practitioners have used Drynaria for thousands of years to help in recovering from sprains, bruises, and stress fractures. Drynaria has also helped in many cases of bleeding gums and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). The active components of Drynaria protect bone forming cells by enhancing calcium absorption and other mechanisms. Drynaria is also reported to act as a kidney tonic and to promote hair growth and wound healing. Life Code uses a proprietary Drynaria rhizome extract.

Active Ingredients in Stem Cell 100+ There are 11 herbal extracts in Stem Cell 100+ along with two nutraceutical grade vitamins Methyl Folate (5-MTHF) and Methyl B12 that are bioavailable vitamin supplements that are highly potent but rarely found. The highly extracted natural herbs are standardized for active components that promote adult stem cells and lower inflammation and have been tested as a synergistic herbal formulation with the proper dosage of each component:

1) Polysaccharides, flavonoids, and astragalosides extracted from Astragalus membranaceus, which has many positive effects on stem cells and the cardiovascular and immune systems. Astragalus has been used for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to promote cardiovascular and immune health. Astragalus is also known as a primary stimulator of Qi (Life Force). Life Code uses a high quality proprietary TCM extract that tested highest in our longevity experiments.

2) Proprietary natural bilberry flavonoids and other compounds from a stabilized nutraceutical grade medicinal Vaccinium extract. Activate metabolic PPARS and helps produce healthy levels of cholesterol and silent inflammation. Also has anti-fungal and anti-viral activity.

3) Flavonoids and oligo-proanthocyanidins (OPCs) extracted from Pine Bark, which promote the vascular system and reduce oxidative stress, DNA damage, and inflammation.

4) L-Theanine, which is a natural amino acid from Camellia sinesis that reduces mental stress and inflammation while improving cognition and protecting brain cells from ischemic or toxic injury. Life Code tested supplement with Mass Spec to verify high purity.

5) Genistein, which is an isoflavone phytoestrogen, activates telomerase, metabolic PPARs, autophagy (cell waste disposal), and smooth muscles. It also inhibits DNA methylation and the carbohydrate transporter GLUT1. Life Code tested supplement with Mass Spec to verify high purity.

6) Harataki Extract (aka Terminalia chebula) contains rejuvenating tannin flavonoids that have doubled human cell longevity in culture while maintaining telomere length. In Traditional Indian Medicine, Harataki has been used to treat skin disorders and heart disease, among many other uses.

7) Two stable resveratrol analogs from extracts of Pterocarpus Marsupium, which promote stem cells, less silent inflammation, and better metabolism. Life Code uses a highly purified proprietary source that is only available to Indian doctors. Life Code does not recommend taking resveratrol supplements or synthetic analogs, as these supplements are inherently unstable.

8) He-Shou-Wu is one of the most widely used Chinese herbal medicines to restore blood, kidney, liver, and cardiovascular health. He-Shou-Wu is claimed to have powerful rejuvenating effects on the brain, endocrine glands, the immune system, and sexual vigor. Legend has it that Professor Li Chung Yun took daily doses to live to 256 years and is said to have outlived 23 wives and spawned 11 generations of descendants before his death in 1933. While it is unlikely that he really lived to such an old age, there is scientific support for He-Shou-Wu as beneficial for health and longevity. Life Code uses a proprietary TCM He-Shou-Wu root extract.

9) Schisandra Berry is used by many Chinese women to preserve their youthful beauty. For thousands of years, Schisandra has been prized as an antiaging tonic that increases stamina and mental clarity, while fighting stress and fatigue. In TCM, Schisandra berry has been used for liver disorders and to enhance resistance to infection and promote skin health and better sleep. Schisandra berry is classified as an adaptogen, which can stimulate the central nervous system, increase brain efficiency, improve reflexes, and enhance endurance. Life Code uses a proprietary TCM extract.

10) Drynaria Rhizome is used extensively in TCM as an effective herb for healing bones, ligaments, tendons, and lower back problems. Eastern martial art practitioners have used Drynaria for thousands of years to help in recovering from sprains, bruises, and stress fractures. The active components of Drynaria protect bone forming cells by enhancing calcium absorption and other mechanisms. Drynaria is also reported to act as a kidney tonic and to promote hair growth and wound healing. Life Code uses a proprietary TCM Drynaria rhizome extract.

11) BioPerine is a proprietary brand of peperine extracted from black pepper. BioPerine has been shown to enhance bioavailability of herbal extracts. Piperine has been shown in rats to have cognitive enhancing effects and to help control silent inflammation.

Safety: The extracts in Stem Cell 100 and Stem Cell 100+ are nutraceutical grade and have been individually tested in both animals and humans without significant safety issues. Those with pre-existing conditions of diabetes or hypertension should coordinate this product with your doctor, as lower blood glucose or reduced blood pressure can result from taking the recommended dose of this product.

Warnings: may lower glucose and/or blood pressure in some individuals. The supplement is not recommended for pregnant, lactating, or hypoglycemic individuals.

References

1. Yu, Q., Y.S. Bai, and J. Lin, [Effect of astragalus injection combined with mesenchymal stem cells transplantation for repairing the Spinal cord injury in rats]. Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi, 2010. 30(4): p. 393-7.

2. Xu, C.J., et al., [Effect of astragalus polysaccharides on the proliferation and ultrastructure of dog bone marrow stem cells induced into osteoblasts in vitro]. Hua Xi Kou Qiang Yi Xue Za Zhi, 2007. 25(5): p. 432-6.

3. Xu, C.J., et al., [Effects of astragalus polysaccharides-chitosan/polylactic acid scaffolds and bone marrow stem cells on repairing supra-alveolar periodontal defects in dogs]. Zhong Nan Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban, 2006. 31(4): p. 512-7.

4. Zhu, X. and B. Zhu, [Effect of Astragalus membranaceus injection on megakaryocyte hematopoiesis in anemic mice]. Hua Xi Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao, 2001. 32(4): p. 590-2.

5. Qiu, L.H., X.J. Xie, and B.Q. Zhang, Astragaloside IV improves homocysteine-induced acute phase endothelial dysfunction via antioxidation. Biol Pharm Bull, 2010. 33(4): p. 641-6.

6. Araghi-Niknam, M., et al., Pine bark extract reduces platelet aggregation. Integr Med, 2000. 2(2): p. 73-77.

7. Rohdewald, P., A review of the French maritime pine bark extract (Pycnogenol), a herbal medication with a diverse clinical pharmacology. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther, 2002. 40(4): p. 158-68.

8. Koch, R., Comparative study of Venostasin and Pycnogenol in chronic venous insufficiency. Phytother Res, 2002. 16 Suppl 1: p. S1-5.

9. Rimando, A.M., et al., Pterostilbene, a new agonist for the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha-isoform, lowers plasma lipoproteins and cholesterol in hypercholesterolemic hamsters. J Agric Food Chem, 2005. 53(9): p. 3403-7.

10. Manickam, M., et al., Antihyperglycemic activity of phenolics from Pterocarpus marsupium. J Nat Prod, 1997. 60(6): p. 609-10.

11. Grover, J.K., V. Vats, and S.S. Yadav, Pterocarpus marsupium extract (Vijayasar) prevented the alteration in metabolic patterns induced in the normal rat by feeding an adequate diet containing fructose as sole carbohydrate. Diabetes Obes Metab, 2005. 7(4): p. 414-20.

12. Mao, X.Q., et al., Astragalus polysaccharide reduces hepatic endoplasmic reticulum stress and restores glucose homeostasis in a diabetic KKAy mouse model. Acta Pharmacol Sin, 2007. 28(12): p. 1947-56.

13. Schafer, A. and P. Hogger, Oligomeric procyanidins of French maritime pine bark extract (Pycnogenol) effectively inhibit alpha-glucosidase. Diabetes Res Clin Pract, 2007. 77(1): p. 41-6.

14. Kwak, C.J., et al., Antihypertensive effect of French maritime pine bark extract (Flavangenol): possible involvement of endothelial nitric oxide-dependent vasorelaxation. J Hypertens, 2009. 27(1): p. 92-101.

15. Xue, B., et al., Effect of total flavonoid fraction of Astragalus complanatus R.Brown on angiotensin II-induced portal-vein contraction in hypertensive rats. Phytomedicine, 2008.

16. Mizuno, C.S., et al., Design, synthesis, biological evaluation and docking studies of pterostilbene analogs inside PPARalpha. Bioorg Med Chem, 2008. 16(7): p. 3800-8.

17. Sato, M., et al., Dietary pine bark extract reduces atherosclerotic lesion development in male ApoE-deficient mice by lowering the serum cholesterol level. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem, 2009. 73(6): p. 1314-7.

18. Kimura, Y. and M. Sumiyoshi, French Maritime Pine Bark (Pinus maritima Lam.) Extract (Flavangenol) Prevents Chronic UVB Radiation-induced Skin Damage and Carcinogenesis in Melanin-possessing Hairless Mice. Photochem Photobiol, 2010.

19. Pavlou, P., et al., In-vivo data on the influence of tobacco smoke and UV light on murine skin. Toxicol Ind Health, 2009. 25(4-5): p. 231-9.

20. Ni, Z., Y. Mu, and O. Gulati, Treatment of melasma with Pycnogenol. Phytother Res, 2002. 16(6): p. 567-71.

21. Bito, T., et al., Pine bark extract pycnogenol downregulates IFN-gamma-induced adhesion of T cells to human keratinocytes by inhibiting inducible ICAM-1 expression. Free Radic Biol Med, 2000. 28(2): p. 219-27.

22. Rihn, B., et al., From ancient remedies to modern therapeutics: pine bark uses in skin disorders revisited. Phytother Res, 2001. 15(1): p. 76-8.

23. Saliou, C., et al., Solar ultraviolet-induced erythema in human skin and nuclear factor-kappa-B-dependent gene expression in keratinocytes are modulated by a French maritime pine bark extract. Free Radic Biol Med, 2001. 30(2): p. 154-60.

24. Van Wijk, E.P., R. Van Wijk, and S. Bosman, Using ultra-weak photon emission to determine the effect of oligomeric proanthocyanidins on oxidative stress of human skin. J Photochem Photobiol B, 2010. 98(3): p. 199-206.

25. Haskell, C.F., et al., The effects of L-theanine, caffeine and their combination on cognition and mood. Biol Psychol, 2008. 77(2): p. 113-22.

26. Owen, G.N., et al., The combined effects of L-theanine and caffeine on cognitive performance and mood. Nutr Neurosci, 2008. 11(4): p. 193-8.

27. Yamada, T., et al., Effects of theanine, a unique amino acid in tea leaves, on memory in a rat behavioral test. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem, 2008. 72(5): p. 1356-9.

28. Jia, R.Z., et al., [Neuroprotective effects of Astragulus membranaceus on hypoxia-ischemia brain damage in neonatal rat hippocampus]. Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi, 2003. 28(12): p. 1174-7.

29. Nathan, P.J., et al., The neuropharmacology of L-theanine(N-ethyl-L-glutamine): a possible neuroprotective and cognitive enhancing agent. J Herb Pharmacother, 2006. 6(2): p. 21-30.

30. Nobre, A.C., A. Rao, and G.N. Owen, L-theanine, a natural constituent in tea, and its effect on mental state. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr, 2008. 17 Suppl 1: p. 167-8.

31. Murakami, S., et al., Effects of oral supplementation with cystine and theanine on the immune function of athletes in endurance exercise: randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem, 2009. 73(4): p. 817-21.

32. Kawada, S., et al., Cystine and theanine supplementation restores high-intensity resistance exercise-induced attenuation of natural killer cell activity in well-trained men. J Strength Cond Res, 2010. 24(3): p. 846-51.

See the article here:
Stem Cell 100 - Powerful Rejuvenation and Anti-Aging ...

Maximize investment returns while Minimizing risk and Maximize health and longevity in Minimum time. How to Profit from the Coming Revolution in Anti-Aging Science... Even If You Do Not Invest

Why not get involved in an emerging trillion dollar industry... while developing technologies that are designed to extend healthy lifespans by 25 years or more?

My name is David Kekich. I founded and managed the biggest marketing arm of a Fortune 500 life insurance company until an unfortunate accident changed the direction of my life thirty two years ago. (It could also impact your life in a very positive way.)

then, I have devoted myself to a single passion:

I have invested the remainder of my time to say nothing of considerable financial resources to advancing life extension technologies. In other words, I understand the anti-aging industry. Over the past nine years, I helped build a world-class, star-studded scientific team.

As you will see in the following pages, there is a compelling case to be made for the potential rewards for individuals who embrace an appropriate and sound approach to this emerging growth market.

The Next Big Investment Sector Can Make Early Participants Very Wealthy

All it takes is one glance at the chart below to see where the biggest money will be made in the health care field in the years just ahead. Its going to be in treating and preventing diseases and conditions related to AGING.

U.S. Population Aged 80+

It is still some time before Wall Street will put the full force and power of their resources behind solutions to the aging problem.

But now, a world-class investment management team headed by the former CEO of Citicorps pioneer venture group (he built it into a $50 million fund that earned over $7 billion) has set its sights on the opportunity.

And the opportunity for you reading this Special Report today is twofold, because:

1) You can be part of an elite inner circle who are on the cutting edge of information and treatment as research postpones the debilitating effects of aging by years or even decades; and

2) You can participate financially with a group of unusually dedicated and extraordinarily credentialed investment professionals as they pursue maximum returns in this exploding field of research and development.

The prize is a longer and healthier life, coupled with what could become the most important and exponentially lucrative investment youve ever made.

Aging: An Impossible Problem. Or the Ultimate Opportunity?

We all consider aging to be lifes ultimate reality. On our birthdays, our friends often joke with us that its better than the alternative! Thats because, all our lives (and all throughout human history up to this point), there has been no alternative to aging and the symptoms and diseases of aging. But you and I are fortunate to be living at the precise moment in history when mankind is experiencing a veritable explosion of science and technology. Our entire world is changing virtually every day due to exciting, breakthrough innovations in every industry from telecommunications to travel from computers to cars from farming to pharmaceuticals and everything in between. But nothing is more exciting, in my view, than the technological advances that have already been made (and continue to be made nearly every day) in the rapidly growing science of anti-aging. What Does Anti-Aging Really Mean? First of all, dont let the term anti-aging (as its used and abused today) fool you. The science-based anti-aging industry emerging today is qualitatively different. It targets products that will substantially extend lifespan as well as make that lifespan healthier even for those with all the right lifestyle habits including eating right and exercising regulary with these Muscle Building Workouts. Today anti-aging is already a multi-billion dollar business even though most of the products have little or no basis in medical science. Many promoters mislead, exaggerate and make false claims to sell to a market eager to hang on to their youth. The anti-aging were talking about isnt about snake oil; its about the emerging (and serious) field of life-extension medicine. Anti-aging science is quickly coming of age and being taken very seriously by esteemed universities, respected research institutions, and giant pharmaceutical companies. Breakthroughs in Life Extension Are Already Here In fact, some new inventions and innovations in anti-aging medicine have already proven themselves behind the closed doors of our nations top research and testing agencies. Theyre already here. They just havent been released yet to the general public. Thankfully, however, many of these breakthroughs dont take as much time as do other health care innovations, such as new drugs. And because of the rapidly approaching urgency and the looming, overwhelming demand for anti-aging innovations, were soon going to see wave after wave of anti-aging products getting introduced to a TRILLION-DOLLAR world market of people who are literally dying to hold onto their health, youth, beauty and vitality. Its what we all want, actually. And now, thanks to the unique research and marketing strategy weve developed here at Maximum Life Foundation, you can learn about the development and distribution of the very innovations that will one day very soon benefit you directly and help you lead a longer, healthier, wealthier and happier life. SAP Training - Training and certification in over 30 different SAP career paths.

This white paper will take you on a journey into the exciting world of anti-aging science and show you the virtually unlimited opportunities that await savvy people like you who get on board the train to the future and do it now.

Welcome aboard. David A. Kekich President, Maximum Life Foundation January 2010

One final note before we begin: I want you to know that nearly all of my personal financial return from my activities goes to The Maximum Life Foundation. In other words, Im in this for the money but not the way you think.

Special Report on Life Extension Technology By David A. Kekich

AGING: A Growing Problem Becomes an Enormous Opportunity

Its happening all over the world

Imagine the potential profit if you participated in even one of these! And our research is uncovering dozens of similar opportunities. Its no accident venture capitalists and major medical companies are investing billions of dollars annually in research leading toward the treatment and cure of incurable diseases. Why? They readily recognize the upside to such investment. Today, the biggest returns both to investors and to individuals who want to live longer, healthier, and therefore more productive lives will come in the field of anti-aging medicine. And heres why: Back in the year 2000, the number of Americans (for example) aged 65 or older reached an estimated 35 million and accounted for almost 13 percent of the total U.S. population. The rapidly aging U.S. population is very significant especially when you consider the number of older Americans has increased more than ten-fold since the turn of the last century. This trend is mirrored in other developed countries. And, its projected to accelerate even faster over the next 30 years. This is both a problem and an opportunity. Its a problem because the diseases associated with aging will put a tremendous burden on our health-care system (along with the younger taxpayers who will have to foot the bill).

The table below lists just a few of the adverse health events that our older population is now experiencing

Health events that increase with aging

These aging-dependent chronic diseases and conditions are now the most common forms of illness in the United States. Heart disease and stroke alone account for almost 40% of all deaths.

Consider this chart

Altogether, the groups of degenerative diseases we link to aging are directly responsible for the deaths for roughly 75% of all deaths in the United States.

Whats more, the list of diseases above has contributed to a quadrupling of health care expenditures per person in the U.S., rising from $1,067 in 1980 to $4,358 in 1999.

By 2010, those expenditures are expected to double again. Total national health expenditures are projected to equal $2.6 trillion and reach 15.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product by 2010, up from 13 percent in 1999.

Why?

Its pure demographics. You see, the burgeoning number of baby boomers in our society will begin to turn 65 in 2011. And by 2030, the proportion of the population 65 or older will be one in five or 70 million U.S. citizens.

In the United States, the population 80 and older is currently 9.2 million (3.35 percent of the U.S. population). This age segment is projected to grow to 14.9 million (4.4 percent of population) by the year 2025 and to 31.6 million (7.82 percent of population) by the year 2050.

In other industrialized countries around the world, the percentage of the population age 65 or older is even higher than in the U.S. The percentage of population over 65 in the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan is 24%, 44% and 34% higher than in the United States, respectively.

This is truly a growing problem, worldwide. And it cries out for a solution.

Fortunately, timing is on our side because science MAY NOW HAVE solutions to some of the age-related diseases listed above.

Happily, the catastrophic effects of such a huge percentage of our population getting old and getting sick all at the same time can now be virtually eliminated IF the science of anti-aging proceeds on the fast track and quickly develops the treatments and cures to life-threatening (and life-shortening) diseases we now passively accept.

And thats what we at the Maximum Life Foundation are all about: Helping to get anti-aging science into the mainstream before its too late for you.

Whether youre young or old, herein lays one of the major investment opportunities of the 21st century.

ANTI-AGING MEDICINE: An Emerging Solution

Think about it

If the illnesses and deaths weve been talking about were preventable, shouldnt we stop them if we can?

Let me put it another way: If a loved one (or yourself) had a major medical condition such as cancer, heart disease or suffered a stroke., wouldnt you ask that they (or you) receive the very best medical care for those conditions?

If there was a treatment that could reverse Alzheimers, Parkinsons, osteoporosis, arteriosclerosis or diabetes who in their right mind would turn it down?

What ties all these diseases together is the underlying processes of aging.

But now, science is gradually coming to the realization that aging itself could be classified as a disease. Why? Because its not necessarily normal or inevitable for the bodys vital organs to stop functioning properly. Scientists now know that our cells could live and grow in the same healthy manner as when we were in our 20s!

Am I just blowing smoke?

No.

Heres the hard-core evidence that gives everyone involved in anti-aging science so much cause for optimism

How the EXPLOSION of Scientific Progress Is Revolutionizing Our Lives

To properly understand what Im about to share with you, you need to know that the pace of scientific advancements today far outstrips what you and I have been accustomed to during our lifetime.

Whereas science used to proceed at a snails pace, thats not the case anymore. Now its approaching the speed of light!

Its all because several sciences and technologies are finally coming together and working synergistically on the problems that face mankind.

For instance, medical researchers are now able to use supercomputers to speed up experiments that used to take years. The key? Theyre using a new technology known as bioinformatics.

Bioinformatics is a computer-assisted data management discipline that assists in accumulating, analyzing and representing biological processes. Emerging in the 1990s, this field is accelerating the drug discovery and development process through in vitro (in test tubes) and in vivo (in animals or humans) testing processes. Now theyre adding in silico (computer simulations) to turbo charge anti-aging science.

The major task of bioinformatics is utilizing the power of supercomputers to convert the complexity of the genetic codes of the human genome into useful information and knowledge that can be harnessed to understand the aging process and its attendant diseases.

The result? Faster and faster progress in the anti-aging sciences

Its not a surprise. In the modern era, our knowledge has been advancing by quantum leaps compared to most of human history. For instance, scientific knowledge doubled from the year 1 A.D. to 1500 A.D. But by 1967, it doubled five more times... and each time, faster than before.

And several experts estimate that today, biotech knowledge doubles about every 48 months. Some computer scientists project that by 2010, scientific knowledge in general will double every 100 days!

Part of the reason? As I said, supercomputers, like the kind now being used in bioinformatics. These computers can do experiments in 15 seconds that used to take years. Its no wonder were gaining on the aging problem so fast!

Heres another anti-aging advance: Newly developed research tools called gene chips can do tissue studies in hours or even minutes that used to take years of animal studies. These gene chips are actually laboratories on a chip. Theyre simply amazing.

But perhaps the most profound observation is the rate of change itself is accelerating. This means the past is not a reliable guide to the future. The 20th century was not 100 years of progress at todays rate but, rather, was equivalent to about 20 years, because weve been speeding up to current rates of change. And, well make another 20 years of progress at the year 2000 rate, equivalent to that of the entire 20th century, by 2014. Then well do it again by 2021.

Because of this exponential growth, the 21st century will equal 20,000 years of progress at todays rate of progress 1,000 times greater than what we witnessed in the 20th century, which in itself was no slouch for change.

And youre probably aware that the power of technology per dollar doubles every 12 months. This means our tools could be 1,000 times more powerful in just 10 years and a billion times more powerful by 2035.

On top of that, scientists just launched an emerging discipline known as nanomedicine that will revolutionize cell repair.

In a nutshell, nanomedicine, the medical application of nanotechnology, could eventually build or repair almost every cell in the body, from the bottom up, atom-by-atom. It promises to give us complete control of matter and a very efficient way to cure aging damage, injuries and diseases.

More Anti-Aging Breakthroughs

For your information, here are some of the anti-aging and life-extension breakthroughs that took place just in the last few years

That means someday, we could completely understand how the human body works at the most basic level. This will greatly speed up the time it takes to develop new treatments for all diseases.

By understanding how eating less calories works to extend life in something like yeast, scientists can use this information to figure out the same pathway in humans. Then, we could develop drugs to do the same thing. In fact, Dr. Guarente co-founded Elixir Pharmaceuticals to do just that, and now, several caloric restriction mimetics have been discovered.

This is the first time drugs dramatically extended the lifespan of a complex form of life. This could perhaps result in a pill that would greatly extend your lifespan and your healthspan.

Once again, turning the right genes on or off can extend lifespan.

Stem cell research could eventually lead to a cell-by-cell replacement of the human body, substituting old cells with new young cells.

With good gene therapy techniques, the same type of thing might add about 30 years to our lives. Thats not an exaggeration.

Resveratrol is now available as a supplement for human consumption.

Theres more.

Recently, a group at the University of Wisconsin developed a technique to locate many genes that are involved in the aging process in mice. This may soon allow us to control the aging process itself.

At Sierra Sciences, a biotechnology company, researchers have been working on shutting off the cellular aging clock, the telomere.

There are far too many examples to list them all.

What does all this research mean?

Very simply this: With todays astonishing pace of scientific progress, well most likely develop technologies in the next 5 to 10 years in the lab that could eventually slow aging to a crawl.

Maybe halt it.

Maybe even reverse it by 2029.

And even before these technologies are translated to humans, they will be worth BILLIONS.

Where the Money Will Be Made in Life Extension Technology

Aside from the sheer humanitarian benefits of anti-aging science and the promise of a disease-free, healthy and happy society, theres also a lot of money to be made in this sector for those who are savvy enough to see the trend and invest early.

Link:
Funding Aging Research for Life Extension and Human Longevity