Category Archives: Human Longevity

Experts previously suggested that size was the key to longevity as smaller animals burn up energy quicker than their larger counterparts. This means they require a faster cell turnover, which causes them to decline faster. But new research from the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge suggests that the speed of genetic damage could be the key to survival.

They believe that long-living animals are able to successfully slow down their rate of DNA mutations regardless of their size.

It could explain how a five-inch long naked mole rat can outlive a giraffe.

That's because the team found that naked mole rats suffer 93 mutations a year and giraffes 99.

Meanwhile, mice experience up to 796 mutations a year which may explain why they live on average for 3.7 years.

Genetic changes, known as somatic mutations, occur naturally in cells.

Dr Alex Cagan, the first author of the study, said: To find a similar pattern of genetic changes in animals as different from one another as a mouse and a tiger was surprising.

But the most exciting aspect of the study has to be finding that lifespan is inversely proportional to the somatic mutation rate. This suggests that somatic mutations may play a role in ageing.

The team found, overall, that the longer the lifespan of a mammal, the slower the rate at which mutations occur.

READ MORE:NASA spots 'largest ever' comet racing Earthbound at 22,000mph: 'It's barrelling this way'

Dr Inigo Martincorena, the senior author of the study, said: Ageing is a complex process, the result of multiple forms of molecular damage in our cells and tissues.

Somatic mutations have been speculated to contribute to ageing since the 1950s, but studying them has remained difficult.

With the recent advances in DNA sequencing technologies, we can finally investigate the roles that somatic mutations play in ageing and in multiple diseases.

The research was published in the journal Nature.

Excerpt from:
Life expectancy: Experts think they've solved mystery of why humans live to around 80 - Express

Over the past decade, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel have all poured money into life-prolonging and anti-aging research. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk isn't buying in.

"I don't think we should try to have people live for a really long time," Musk recently told Insider. "It would cause asphyxiation of society because the truth is, most people don't change their mind. They just die. So if they don't die, we will be stuck with old ideas and society wouldn't advance."

That's a contrarian viewpoint, at least among Silicon Valley billionaires many of whom have a track record of investing in longevity research. So far, very few perhaps none of those investments have panned out.

In September 2021, the MIT Technology Review reported that Bezos invested an undisclosed sum of money in anti-aging start-up Altos Labs, which officially launched earlier this year. According to its website, the San Francisco-based biotech company focuses on "cellular rejuvenation programming," a theorized method of reversing disease, injury and disability.

Bezos and Thiel have also both invested in Unity Biotechnology, a South San Francisco-based company that researches "senescent cells," which stop dividing in humans as they age. The idea, according to the company's website, is to develop "transformative medicines to slow, halt, or reserve diseases of aging."

Unity Biotechnology raised more than $300 million in funding before going public in 2018. As of Monday afternoon, it has a market cap of $73.06 million, down significantly from its September 2018 peak of nearly $972 million.

Thiel is perhaps one of Silicon Valley's most well-known proponents of anti-aging research. One start-up Thiel helped fund, called Ambrosia, revisited a 1950s practice called parabiosis, which experimented with cutting open and stitching together circulatory systems in rats.

The studies didn't yield concrete conclusions, but the Monterey, California-based company still began similar trials in humans injecting blood from people under age 25 into participants aged 35 and older claiming rejuvenation effects.

"It's one of these very odd things where people had done these studies in the 1950s and then it got dropped altogether," Thiel told Insider in 2015. "I think there are a lot of these things that have been strangely underexplored."

In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning against parabiosis. Ambrosia appears to be nonoperational today.

That hasn't stopped other tech billionaires from pursuing similar end goals. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are co-founders of The Breakthrough Prize, which annually awards $3 million to scientists who make "transformative advances toward understanding living systems and extending human life," according to its website.

"I'm most interested in questions about people," Zuckerberg said at a 2015 Facebook Q&A event. "What will enable us to live forever? How do cure all diseases? How does the brain work? How does learning work and how we can empower humans to learn a million times more?"

According to The New Yorker, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has donated at least $370 million to anti-aging research. Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page helped launch biotech start-up Calico, an Alphabet subsidiary that researches aging-related diseases like diabetes and Alzheimer's.

In other words, it seems that Musk the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $265.4 billion, according to Forbes stands against many of his Silicon Valley peers. "I certainly would like to maintain health for a longer period of time," Musk told Insider. "But I am not afraid of dying. I think it would come as a relief."

Bezos, Thiel, Musk, Zuckerberg, Ellison, Brin and Page did not immediately respond to CNBC Make It's request for comment.

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Why billionaires Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel want to live longer and Elon Musk doesn't - CNBC

The worlds billionaires arepouringmoney into age-reversal investments.

Last September, it came out thatJeff Bezos had invested in Altos Labs, a company pursuing biological reprogramming technology. Reprogramming is the scientific term for turning old cells young again. It was discovered in 2012 by Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka, who called it a potential elixir of life. The Nobel Prize in Medicine Committeeseemed to agree.

Bezosand Altosarent the only ones.

Theres Google-backedCalico Labs, also focused on longevity via reprogramming. AndLineage Cell Therapeutics, backed by BlackRock, Raffles Capital Management, Wells Fargo, and others.

Coinbase Co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong recently invested in a company working to radically extend human healthspan using epigenetic reprogramming therapies. Altogether, the anti-aging industry isexpected to grow toover $64 billionby 2026, a 45% increase from its 2020 value ($44 billion).

So, why are billionaires like Jeff Bezos investing in age-reversal or anti-aging tech?

Because they have aLongevity Mindset.

One way to understand the Longevity Mindset is by looking at its opposite.

Most people take the aging process for granted. If theyre disciplined, healthy, and lucky, theyll get 20 or so years of youth, start declining in their 40s, and die sometime between 60 and 80.

They accept that life expectancy is 81.2 years for females and 76.4 years for malesnothing they can do, just take the lemons and make lemonade.

And who can blame them? Nearly every human institutiongovernments, the insurance industry, medicine, religionis organized around this mindset.

The anti-Longevity Mindset is: mortality is inevitable, youth is fleeting.

So, the Longevity Mindset is: mortality is avoidable, youth is extendable.

If that sounds shocking to you, youre not the only one. For years, scientists supporting a Longevity Mindset were shunned, and as a result longevity studies were tabled for fear of losing grant funding.

But medicine has evolved.

Weve entered a period ofexponential medicine: Innovations like genome sequencing, RNA transcriptomics, Wnt pathway modifiers, vaccines, CRISPR, liquid biopsies, CAR-T cells, Gene Therapy, exosomes, and stem cells are just a sampling of the technologies that the worlds billionaires are fast-tracking.

Free from the narrow paradigm of academia, these scientists earn as much as five to tentimesa top professors salary by working for Altos and others.

Ultimately,aging is a diseasea disease that many of the most powerful people on the planet believe can be slowed, stopped, even reversed.

Thats the spirit of the Longevity Mindset.

Examine and assess the six basic areas of life that everyone, whether you live on the margins or in a mansion, must negotiate.

Laying the foundation of a Longevity Mindset doesnt take any capital investment. Everyone has beliefs, a media diet, and a community. Everyone has to sleep, eat, and move around.

In the background, billionaires like Bezos are accelerating the industry, working to bring cutting-edge longevity tech to human beings.

When they do, will you be ready?

This article originally appeared in Minutes and is reprinted with permission.

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How to have a longevity mindset for anti-aging technology - Fast Company

Part of the beauty of sourdough is that you dont have to go far to hunt down ingredients to bake it from scratch, nor do you have to be a professional pastry chef to nail it. At a minimum, you just need water, flour, starter, and a little patienceall of which helped it become the one of most popular pandemic pastimes.

According toDan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow and one of the world's leading experts on regions in the world where people live the longest (areas he has deemed the Blue Zones), sourdough bread also has some very important longevity-boosting benefits. In fact, according to Buettner, sourdough bread is consumed at almost every meal in the Blue Zone region of Ikaria, Greece. Some goes for Sardinia, Italy: In the Barbagia of Seulo region, in fact, a range of double-leavened fermented sourdough breads (including pane civraxiu and moddizzosu) are served daily.

How does sourdough bread play a role in healthy aging, exactly? Read on for expert intel from an registered dietitian below.

For starters (no pun intended), sourdough is a good source of carbohydrates, and therefore a readily-available energy source. For the most nutrient-rich version, make sure to look for whole-wheat sourdough, which will have more energy-boosting fiber and protein than refined white flour.

What makes sourdough truly unique among breads, however, is that it's considered a fermented food. Thanks to the probiotics (aka good gut bacteria) that result during the process of fermentation, this category of foods has many microbiome-balancing benefits to offer. For one, studies have shown that fermented foods like sourdough can help fight inflammation and boost your immune system, both important parts of healthy aging. Fermented foods are also great for maintaining a healthy digestive system,boosting your overall intestinal and respiratory health, and even slashing your risk for chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

The role that a well-balanced gut microbiota plays in human health is extensive," says Jinan Banna, RD, PhD. "Eating more fermented foods helps your digestive system absorb key vitamins and other nutrients, strengthens your body's immune response, and offers you protection from harmful pathogens. There is also supporting research that sourdough can actively slow starch digestibility compared to other non-fermented forms of bread, which leads to a lower glycemic response and therefore more stable blood sugar.

We already knew that bread makes us happy, but there's actual science to back this. This is due to what's known as the gut-brain connection. To break this down, we call on research published in Integrative Medicine: A Clinician's Journal that uncovered that our gastrointestinal system actually has its own "brain" known as the enteric nervous system (ENS). The ENS, the researchers found, communicates with your central nervous system (CNS)of which the brain is a partto influence your mood, cognition, and mental health. The gut-brain connection is additionally linked by way of your hormones and immune system.

In Sardinia, Buettner found that the oldest folks had half as many bone fractures than those in other Italian regions. Because maintaining bone strength is a key part of longevity, getting a daily dose of minerals like magnesiumwhich aids in the regulation of blood calcium, a vital nutrient for bone strengthonly boosts those efforts.

"When you consume fermented foods, it becomes easier for your digestive system to absorb important minerals such as zinc, magnesium, and iron that are key for maintaining healthy bones as you age. This is because the phytate present is broken down, and phytate impairs mineral absorption, says Banna. Studies have suggested that this mineral absorption bioavailability increased after consumption of sourdough bread specifically. While more research is needed, existing science does suggest that sourdough improves absorption.

The same, Banna says, can be said for the bioavailability of B vitamins. Yeast fermentation has been shown to increase folate content in the baking process of wheat and rye sourdough breads. Fermentation may also lead to an enrichment of the content of riboflavin," she says. But again, more research is needed on sourdough, as each starter is unique."

The takeaway? Clearly, there are a few important sourdough bread benefits that can certainly play a role in longevity. However, to Banna's point, keep in mind that not all sourdough breads are created equal. The quality of the starter and grains used to bake the bread will determine both the overall nutritional composition as well as the flavor of your loaf. Time plays a role in sourdough's healthfulness, toofrom the age of sourdough starter (in Sardinian culture, starters are often shared between neighbors and families) to when it was last fed. Finally, the temperature in which a loaf ferments is key: One study highlights sourdough fermentation at 77 degrees is ideal for developing those gut-boosting enzymes.

At the end of the day, longevity aside, we'll keep appreciating the delicious flavor of sourdough breadit's certainly something worth living (to 100-plus years old) for.

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Why Sourdough Bread Can Boost Your Longevity, According to a Registered Dietitian - Well+Good

When Epik High took the stage in Toronto in mid-March, frontman Tablo had a few words for the audience. There are definitely some of you in there, hiding that you want to cry a little bit before you party. Sometimes in order to never cry again, you have to let yourself cry now, he said. We will help you throw out that one tear youve been holding back.

Messages like that from Tablo have long comforted the many fans that have followed him for over a decade and more. Sharing a lifetime with fans, I think, is a luxury that many musicians dont get to have, he said over a Zoom call a week later from Raleigh, North Carolina, where Epik High were in the middle of its North American tour. We appreciate it just as much as they do.

Before Korean acts like Big Bang and BTS, there was Epik High. Formed in 2001 in Seoul, South Korea, the triomade up bymembers Tablo, Mithra Jin and DJ Tukutzis widely credited for being one of the first acts to infuse hip-hop and rap into mainstream music in the country. Theyre also known for tackling themes such as mental health and depression in their music, something seen as rare in Korean society.

Tablo, also known as Daniel Seon-Woong Lee, was born in Seoul, grew up in Vancouver, and was educated at Stanford University. While his career has lasted over 20 years, there was a time when he thought he could lose it all. During the height of his career in 2010, an online smear campaign turned his life upside down when a group of anti-fans questioned the legitimacy of Tablos university education. The rumour led to him taking a two year hiatus. It had an impact on his own mental health and exacerbated his fathers deteriorating health until he died in 2012. The only weapon Tablo had against the anti-fans was simply the truth. Eventually, police ended up confirming Tablo did indeed graduate from Stanford, and that he was not lying.

Twelve years later, Tablo delves deep into this period of his life on a new VICE podcast called Authentic The Story of Tablo, which premiered February 24. Epik Highs latest studio album Epik High Is Here , Pt. 2 also references these moments. This weekend, the group will perform at Coachella for the second time since 2016, becoming the first Korean act to be invited back multiple times.In an interview with Complex Canada, Tablo opened up about mental health, the rumour that almost ended his life, and the fans that have stayed with him over the years.

(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)

Whats it like to perform for fans who have stuck with you for over a decade?Its interesting, because some of our fans have been with us for two decades, some have been with us for one decade. And when we first saw them, they were like, in middle school. Some of them were in elementary school. So as time passes, sometimes we will recognize a fan weve already seen. Theyll be with a boyfriend. And then, well do a show again a few years later, and then theyll be married, theyll be pregnant, and then one day, theyll come with a kid. We have a lot of fans like that.

We also have new fans coming in every year with our new songs. We always have middle school kids and high school kids at our shows in Korea as well.When I see them, its not like, Hey, we keep getting new fans! The first thought that I have is, I would like to be able to do music as long as possible so that I can see these fans also become dads and moms and also accomplish all the things that they are dreaming about at the moment.

Did you see yourself having this kind of longevity?Ah, no. I also didnt ever imagine that Id be doing what Im doing for more than three years when we started. You know, I thought this was just something that I was really passionate about, but wasnt sure that I wanted to make it a lifetime profession. It was just something perfect for me at the time in my early 20s. You know, I was still a kid when I started, and never did imagine that this would become like a career like this.

Weve dedicated 20 years of our lives to Epik High. Were not going to ever disband or stop doing music or stop being Epik High. This is just who we are now, but I think its OK to explore what more we can be.

Youve also been with Mithra Jin and DJ Tukutz for over 20 years. Do you remember your first meeting?Yeah, we met at a pho place in Korea. It was like finding other people that love the same music you do. At the time, it wasnt just about whether or not we would make it, it was about whether or not hip-hop could ever make it in Korea. Doing hip-hop was like a recipe for failure. It was nearly impossible to get mainstream attention. It was like, very underground, very low key. I mean, we were a very small minority of hip-hop lovers and now its the biggest genre in Korea.

Even more rare, is rapping about mental health in Korea. Is that something you see as unusual, or has it changed since?When we did it on our first album, I dont think people were ready for that kind of conversation. I think it was a shock at first, and some people just kind of didnt get it. Some people thought it was very fresh. We just did it because thats just who I am. Ive been interested in human emotion and the human condition for pretty much all of my life. Now its more commonplace. I think thats a good thing.

As Asians its hard to even talk about your emotions within the home. My personal experience, my parents, they got mad at me if I told them that I was depressed. Its almost as if it was like a fault or it was wrong to feel a certain way, or ungrateful. We cant control these things. I think its a great thing that celebrities young people can look up to can have open conversations about these topics with them.

Now on the topic of mental health, a new podcast delves into the controversy you were put into over your Stanford education. What was it like to revisit those darkest moments?Much of whats on the podcast, Im sharing for the first time with all of you. Many of the details are surprising to me as well. It was a tough decision to decide at all to participate. Its not an easy story for me to tell. As a result of the story, I almost lost my life. I lost a family member, and all of that is irreversible. I had spent more than 10 years not wanting to talk about it.

But, I felt like first and foremost, my daughter is 11, about to turn 12. She is living in a world where its impossible for her to not be online. I just wanted to make sure that there was a body of work that she could listen to, if God forbid, something even remotely similar to that, or even a tiny fraction of that happens to her. I would hope that she could listen to her dads story, and maybe itll help guide her through it. Then also to all of my fans who have a huge presence online, I wanted them to be able to prepare because its called Authentic: The Story of Tablo. But sadly, its not the story of me. Its literally the story of everyone living in 2022. Even if it seems like something that just couldnt possibly happen to you, it very well could.

My memories of Vancouver are very, I mean, its a rainy place to begin with. But even if it wasnt, it would be raining for me.

By doing this podcast, did you think it could help save someones life?Yes. I thought that my losses would go to waste if it didnt end up helping at least one person. At the same time, Im also hoping that some people who may go on to do these evil things, will listen to the podcast and think, Hey, you know, what is a joke to me, what is just a meme to me, can really damage a persons life, and possibly even take someones life. Hopefully, theyll just stop.

Certainly, on your latest album, you do reference a lot of these darker moments in your life. Would you consider this one of your most personal pieces of work?This album didnt start off being a personal album. But I think during COVID, we all had some time to look back and reflect about our lives and also plan for the future. It was impossible not to be personal. Like, theres a song called I Hated Myself on the album where I talk about how I was growing up, there were huge expectations on me academically, and I was beat to keep up. I dont think Ive ever mentioned that part of my childhood in any of my songs. So when it came out of my mouth as I was trying to write the verse for the song, I think I was surprised. Do I really want to be mentioning these things? But its just what is real.

You also end the album saying Epik High was here and it kind of feels like an ending. Whats next for Epik High? Is 10 albums a good body of work that you feel like you could try other things?Were wondering the same. We dont know whats in store for Epik High, but we feel like 10 albums is a good record of who Epik High is, and at the same time, who Epik High was. Moving forward, were hoping that we can explore other sides or other facets of like, who Tablo can be, who Mithra can be, who Tukutz can be. But more importantly, who Daniel Seon-Woong Lee is, Jin Choi and Jeong-sik Kim can be. Weve dedicated 20 years of our lives to Epik High. Were not going to ever disband or stop doing music or stop being Epik High. This is just who we are now, but I think its OK to explore what more we can be.

You spent a lot of your life in Canada. What do you remember about your time growing up in Vancouver?I was pretty miserable when I was in Vancouver because my parents moved every year and they put me in a new school every single year that I was there. And so, I was always the new kid and as soon as I had some friends that I didnt want to say goodbye to, I had to. It was just this constant, hello and goodbye to the point where I eventually stopped wanting to make friends because I knew that I would have to lose them very soon. Then eventually, I went to a boarding school, and my entire family was elsewhere. My brother and sister were in the United States in college, my mom and dad went back to Korea. I was completely alone in a dormitory. I think thats where I sort of became who I am. Thats when I started writing a lot. My memories of Vancouver are very, I mean, its a rainy place to begin with. But even if it wasnt, it would be raining for me.

Youre playing Coachella for the second time. Is it wild to see Korean acts being invited to play at a music festival?I think its kind of crazy that were being invited again. And to be invited again, that means that not just Korean acts, but Asian acts have way more demand now, right? I think thats great.

And I see other names like Peggy Gou, like Tokimonsta on the roster, and I love it. I would love to see more Asian American musicians and Asian musicians at these festivals because, face it, people love it and were good at what we do. Were great at entertaining, and were great at putting on a show, and we deserve to be there.

A lot of fans say, your music has helped them get through school or life because of the themes you discuss. Is there anything you would like to say to someone, a fan who might be going through a difficult time now?Yeah, at our meet and greets, I get that a lot. It makes me very happy to hear that.

I think its very important to know what is important and isnt. Not everything a lot of adults say is important. And by adults, Im including their parents, teachers, priests, pastors, social leaders. A lot of what they say is important, really, is just important to them. Its not even about you. A lot of what they say is good for you, is simply just good for them. So learn to ignore some of it, learn to look at things and recognize that some things are just bullshit.

More:
Epik Highs Tablo on Longevity, Mental Health, and the Truth About His Stanford Controversy - Complex

April 12, 2022

Analysis of data from 140 countries suggests many rich countries could use less energy per capita without compromising health, happiness or prosperity. Countries struggling with energy poverty may be able to maximize well-being with less energy than previously thought.

By Josie Garthwaite

A good, long life requires energy: to illuminate hospitals, homes and schools, and make it possible to work, cook meals and study without inhaling toxic smoke or spending a full day collecting fuel. But at some point, energy stops being the limiting factor for well-being.

A child studies by lantern light. Globally, 1.2 billion people live without access to electricity. (Image credit: Triloks/iStock)

New research from Stanford University suggests that point the threshold beyond which greater energy use loses its link to national-level improvements in measures of health, economy and environment is surprisingly low.

The results, published April 12 in Ecosphere, suggest nations with high per capita energy use, such as the United States and Canada, could scale back consumption while maintaining or even improving well-being. Countries where energy poverty remains a challenge, meanwhile, may be able to maximize national health and prosperity with far less energy than scholars once thought.

The authors found todays average global energy consumption of 79 gigajoules per person could, in principle, allow everyone on Earth to approach the maximum health, happiness and environmental well-being of the most prosperous countries today, if distributed equitably.

Other scholars have sought for decades to pin down the bare minimum of energy supply required per capita to achieve a decent quality of life. Early estimates suggested a range of 10 to 65 gigajoules per person. Its one thing to identify where people dont have enough energy; its another to identify what our target might be, said lead study author Rob Jackson, professor of Earth system science at Stanfords School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth). How much additional energy needs to be provided?

Answering this question is not just an academic exercise. It is central to mapping out how the world can achieve international climate goals while building out modern energy services for the 1.2 billion people who live without electricity and the 2.7 billion who cook on stoves linked to 3.5 million premature deaths each year from household air pollution.

We need to address equity in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Among the least sustainable ways to do that would be to raise everyone to the levels of consumption we have in the United States, said Jackson, who is the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Provostial Professor at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and at the Precourt Institute for Energy. Even using renewables, that would have serious, possibly catastrophic consequences for the environment, because of the materials, land and resources required to supply hundreds of gigajoules per year for each of the 8.5 billion people projected to inhabit Earth in 2030.

Reducing global population size would also tamp down total energy and resource needs, Jackson said. But there are other ways to close the global energy gap with fewer emissions. The new research provides a gauge for measuring some of the human impacts of one of them: reducing per capita energy use in what Jackson called energy profligate countries, while raising the rest of the worlds energy supply to comparable levels.

The new conclusions derive from statistical analysis of energy-use data for 140 countries from 1971 to 2018, as well as global data for nine metrics related to human well-being. Many of those metrics align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a set of objectives aimed at ending an array of inequities while taking the risks of climate change into account.

The researchers looked at the primary energy supply, which includes all energy production minus exports, international marine and aviation bunkers, and changes in the amount of fuel held in storage, for each of the 140 countries. They then separated out the total energy that goes into increasing well-being from the energy that is wasted or employed for other purposes, such as trade.

Recognizing that well-being is likely to be limited by multiple factors, including income and GDP, the authors examined whether per capita energy use could decline in some countries while maintaining quality of life.

Across most metrics, including life expectancy, infant mortality, happiness, food supply, access to basic sanitation services and access to electricity, the authors found performance improved steeply, then peaked with annual energy use averaging 10 to 75 gigajoules per person. Thats less than the 2018 world average of 79 gigajoules per capita, and, at the higher end of the range, about a quarter of the U.S. average of 284 gigajoules per person.

U.S. energy use per capita has fallen slightly since the late 1970s, largely because of improvements in energy efficiency, but it remains high in part because of the nations outsize demands for energy for transportation.

In most countries that consume much more energy than the global average, further increasing energy use per capita might only marginally improve human well-being, said coauthor Chenghao Wang, a postdoctoral scholar in Jacksons lab and also a research fellow at the Stanford Center for Longevity.

The new study reveals at least 10 countries punching above their weight, with greater well-being than most other countries using similar amounts of energy per capita. The high performers include Albania, Bangladesh, Cuba, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, Norway and Sri Lanka.

Air quality stands apart from the other metrics examined by the authors, in that across 133 countries, it continued to improve with per capita energy use as high as 125 gigajoules. Thats on par with the annual per capita energy use of Denmark in 2018, and slightly higher than that of China. One reason may be that the early stages of energy development have historically been dominated by dirtier fossil fuels.

In the U.S., energy use rose steeply after World War II decades before federally imposed limits on pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks spurred improvements in the nations air quality. Wealthier countries like the U.S. tend to clean up their air only after they have built up wealth and the populace demands action, Jackson said.

Past research has shown that higher income doesnt necessarily lead to better and happier lives, said study co-author Anders Ahlstrm, a climate scientist at Lund University who worked on the research as a postdoctoral scholar in Jacksons lab at Stanford. Energy supply is similar to income in that way: Excess energy supply has marginal returns.

Co-authors are affiliated with Stockholm University, Princeton University and Jadavpur University.

This research was supported by Stanfords Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and the Stanford Center on Longevitys New Map of Life initiative.

To read all stories about Stanford science, subscribe to the biweeklyStanford Science Digest.

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Stanford study finds high energy use provides little benefit for health and well-being in richer nations - Stanford University News

Could it be that a delicious Taiwanese dessert holds the key to unlocking the alleged Asian secret to longevity? It might sound too good to be true, but thats what American rapper and songwriter Cardi B (born Belcalis Marlenis Almnzar Cephus) is proposing on social media.

On March 23, the star shared an Instagram story encouraging her fans to try the bubble tea and tofu pudding from Taiwanese dessert specialist Meet Fresh.

This video pic.twitter.com/HdJB2itsR5

(@melonconsumer) March 23, 2022

In the video, she vouches for Meet Freshs products by saying, Meet Fresh from UCLA got really good milk tea, bubble tea, and I love the skinny packaging.

She goes on to highlight tofu puddings health virtues, including its low-sugar recipe, which she claims is are you ready for it the secret to Asian longevity.

Thats why these Asian motherfuckers, they live long. Why would they be reaching like 140 years old [or perhaps 114, the audio isnt exactly the clearest]? Because they dont really use a lot of sugar, she gushed, praising the dessert for its inclusion of beans and recommending it for children.

The shout-out caught the attention of the Taiwanese dessert franchise, which reposted the rap stars story on Instagram andWeibo. Meet Freshs 290,000 followers on the latter were prompted to follow Cardi Bs lead.

Chinese netizens enthusiastically responded to the news. Cardi B has the stomach for Chinese food, reads onecomment.

Another goes, Time to choose an overseas ambassador.

This is far from the first time the American rapper has sounded off on Asian cuisine. In the past, Cardi B has openly shared her impressions ofAsian snacks, fried noodles, and bubble tea.

One of her laudable culinary exploits was samplingchicken feet, a delicacy in many East Asian cultures that many in the West cannot stomach.

Im I the only one that likes them chewy Chinese ginger candy ?

Cardi B (@iamcardib) December 13, 2020

Cardi B has been embraced by Chinese netizens in recent years. In 2020, the chart-topping artist openly praised Chinafor its quarantine practices and how the country handledCovid. In addition, the hip hop star has been a vocal critic of xenophobiain America.

She has become so well-known in China that aShenzhen news stationfeatured a clip of her expressing her concerns about Covid. In response, the star excitedly shared anInstagram postwith the caption, BITCH I DEAD DONE MADE IT IN THE CHINESE NEWS!

We have no idea whether tea, beans, and conservative use of sugar in tofu pudding impact the human lifespan (were not doctors or nutritionists), but Cardi B sure seems excited at the prospect.

Cover photo designed by Zhuohan Shao

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Cardi B Spills the (Bubble) Tea on the Alleged Secret to Longevity - RADII

unwinding at the end of the day, with a nice hot bath may have more benefits than you think. A new study published in the medical journal Heart found that taking a hot bath may lower your risk of death from heart disease or stroke. Researchers collected data from more than 61,000 adults ages 40 to 59 with no history of cancer or cardiovascular disease. In japan, they found a lower risk of heart disease and lower risk of stroke among men and women who took a hot bath daily compared with participants who took a hot bath once or twice a week or none at all. Typical Japanese baths involved people soaking up to their necks in water that is up to 107 F, according to Market Watch. This helps because you're forced to take deeper breaths when you're immersed up to your neck. Plus hot water can increase body temperature. Heart rate and blood flow like exercise can hot baths also relieve muscle aches and soreness. That said, this isn't for everyone. Hot baths or saunas can cause heat strokes and are also dangerous for pregnant women, especially during their first trimester, according to health line. Before you try heat therapy, you should consult your doctor

Two servings of fatty fruit per week can reduce risk of heart attack, study says

Updated: 6:28 AM CDT Mar 30, 2022

Eating avocados reduced the risk of heart attacks in both men and women, including when eaten in place of butter, cheese or processed meats, a new study found.Cardiovascular disease is a leading killer worldwide, taking nearly 18 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States alone, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says heart disease takes a life every 36 seconds.Eating at least two servings of avocado a week reduced the risk of having a heart attack by 21% when compared to avoiding or rarely eating avocados. However, there was not an equivalent benefit in reducing the risk for stroke, according to the study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.A serving of avocado, which is a fruit, was defined as " avocado or cup of avocado, which roughly weighs 80 grams," said study author Lorena Pacheco, a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston."Although no one food is the solution to routinely eating a healthy diet, this study is evidence that avocados have possible health benefits," said Cheryl Anderson, chair of the American Heart Association's Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, in a statement. Anderson was not involved in the study."We desperately need strategies to improve intake of AHA-recommended healthy diets such as the Mediterranean diet that are rich in vegetables and fruits," said Anderson, who is also professor and dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego.Long-term studyThe study followed more than 68,000 women and 41,000 men who were enrolled in two long-term government studies on risk factors for chronic disease: the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. All participants were free of cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke at the start of the studies and completed dietary questionnaires every four years over a 30-year period.In addition to looking at the overall impact of eating avocados, researchers did statistical modeling and found consuming half a serving of avocado ( cup) a day instead of the same amount of eggs, yogurt, cheese, margarine, butter or processed meats (such as bacon) lowered the risk of heart attacks by 16% to 22%."The full benefit of routine avocado consumption observed here derives from swapping avocado into the diet, and less healthful foods out," said Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine and nutrition, who was not involved in the study.However, the study did not find a difference in risk reduction when a half-serving of avocado was replaced with an equivalent serving of nuts, olive and other plant oils. That makes sense, Katz said, because the health benefits are dependent on what food is replaced."If, for instance, the common swap were between avocado and walnuts or almonds, the health effects would likely be negligible since the foods have similar nutritional properties and expected health effects," said Katz, the president and founder of the nonprofit True Health Initiative, a global coalition of experts dedicated to evidence-based lifestyle medicine.But if the avocado replaced butter and margarine as a spread, or was eaten instead of processed meats or cheese on a sandwich, "the nutritional distinctions are sizable" and would be expected to change the health outcome, he added.Although avocados are "particularly rich sources of monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and fiber," they can also be pricey and therefore not readily available to all, Katz said. Similar substitutes could include walnuts, almonds, olives, olive oil and a variety of seeds such as pumpkin and flax, he said.Other foods to include that have major health benefits at "much lower price points," include beans, chickpeas and lentils, "and perhaps whole grains and related seeds like quinoa," Katz said.Preventing heart diseasePreventing heart disease means keeping your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol under control, getting plenty of good-quality sleep and regular exercise, managing stress, limiting alcohol and avoiding tobacco use, and eating a healthy diet lower in sugar, processed foods and saturated fats, according to the National Library of Medicine.The American Heart Association says your body needs fat to boost energy, protect organs, produce hormones and help with nutrient absorption. However, fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are the heart-healthy choices. Olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, safflower oil and sesame oil are sources of monounsaturated fats, along with avocados, peanut butter and many nuts and seeds.Saturated fat and trans fats raise levels of LDL, known as "bad cholesterol," the AHA said. Saturated fats, such as butter, are typically solid at room temperature and are found in full-fat dairy products, eggs, coconut and palm oils, and fatty cuts of beef, pork and skin-on poultry.Artificially made trans fats, also called partially hydrogenated oils, raise bad LDL cholesterol and lower good HDL cholesterol, which can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. Those can often be found in "fried foods like doughnuts, and baked goods including cakes, pie crusts, biscuits, frozen pizza, cookies, crackers, stick margarines and other spreads," according to the AHA.

Eating avocados reduced the risk of heart attacks in both men and women, including when eaten in place of butter, cheese or processed meats, a new study found.

Cardiovascular disease is a leading killer worldwide, taking nearly 18 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States alone, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says heart disease takes a life every 36 seconds.

Eating at least two servings of avocado a week reduced the risk of having a heart attack by 21% when compared to avoiding or rarely eating avocados. However, there was not an equivalent benefit in reducing the risk for stroke, according to the study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

A serving of avocado, which is a fruit, was defined as " avocado or cup of avocado, which roughly weighs 80 grams," said study author Lorena Pacheco, a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

"Although no one food is the solution to routinely eating a healthy diet, this study is evidence that avocados have possible health benefits," said Cheryl Anderson, chair of the American Heart Association's Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, in a statement. Anderson was not involved in the study.

"We desperately need strategies to improve intake of AHA-recommended healthy diets such as the Mediterranean diet that are rich in vegetables and fruits," said Anderson, who is also professor and dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego.

The study followed more than 68,000 women and 41,000 men who were enrolled in two long-term government studies on risk factors for chronic disease: the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. All participants were free of cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke at the start of the studies and completed dietary questionnaires every four years over a 30-year period.

In addition to looking at the overall impact of eating avocados, researchers did statistical modeling and found consuming half a serving of avocado ( cup) a day instead of the same amount of eggs, yogurt, cheese, margarine, butter or processed meats (such as bacon) lowered the risk of heart attacks by 16% to 22%.

"The full benefit of routine avocado consumption observed here derives from swapping avocado into the diet, and less healthful foods out," said Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine and nutrition, who was not involved in the study.

However, the study did not find a difference in risk reduction when a half-serving of avocado was replaced with an equivalent serving of nuts, olive and other plant oils. That makes sense, Katz said, because the health benefits are dependent on what food is replaced.

"If, for instance, the common swap were between avocado and walnuts or almonds, the health effects would likely be negligible since the foods have similar nutritional properties and expected health effects," said Katz, the president and founder of the nonprofit True Health Initiative, a global coalition of experts dedicated to evidence-based lifestyle medicine.

But if the avocado replaced butter and margarine as a spread, or was eaten instead of processed meats or cheese on a sandwich, "the nutritional distinctions are sizable" and would be expected to change the health outcome, he added.

Although avocados are "particularly rich sources of monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and fiber," they can also be pricey and therefore not readily available to all, Katz said. Similar substitutes could include walnuts, almonds, olives, olive oil and a variety of seeds such as pumpkin and flax, he said.

Other foods to include that have major health benefits at "much lower price points," include beans, chickpeas and lentils, "and perhaps whole grains and related seeds like quinoa," Katz said.

Preventing heart disease means keeping your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol under control, getting plenty of good-quality sleep and regular exercise, managing stress, limiting alcohol and avoiding tobacco use, and eating a healthy diet lower in sugar, processed foods and saturated fats, according to the National Library of Medicine.

The American Heart Association says your body needs fat to boost energy, protect organs, produce hormones and help with nutrient absorption. However, fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are the heart-healthy choices. Olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, safflower oil and sesame oil are sources of monounsaturated fats, along with avocados, peanut butter and many nuts and seeds.

Saturated fat and trans fats raise levels of LDL, known as "bad cholesterol," the AHA said. Saturated fats, such as butter, are typically solid at room temperature and are found in full-fat dairy products, eggs, coconut and palm oils, and fatty cuts of beef, pork and skin-on poultry.

Artificially made trans fats, also called partially hydrogenated oils, raise bad LDL cholesterol and lower good HDL cholesterol, which can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. Those can often be found in "fried foods like doughnuts, and baked goods including cakes, pie crusts, biscuits, frozen pizza, cookies, crackers, stick margarines and other spreads," according to the AHA.

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Two servings of fatty fruit per week can reduce risk of heart attack, study says - WAPT Jackson

Our mission is to improve mobility and quality of life through research, education and clinical excellence.

Gardner Orthopedics and Shalby Advanced Technologies recently announced an Indo-US collaboration to form Advanced Orthopedic Centers of Excellence at Shelby Hospitals in India and Shalby Orthopedic Centers of Excellence in Fort Myers and across India.

The team will conduct educational seminars for medical engineering professionals to advance knowledge transfer between India and the US. Short-term traveling fellowships between the two countries will provide direct experience at the surgical centers pioneering new learning and training tools.

IML research findings will be presented in November 2022 at the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas.

About The Institute for Mobility and Longevity: Established in 1987 by Dr. W. Andrew Hodge, IML is a world-wide not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Fort Myers, FL dedicated to improving mobility and the quality of life through orthopedic research, injury prevention, human motion studies, education and patient centered treatment.

About Gardner Orthopedics: Gardner Orthopedics in Fort Myers, Florida, is dedicated to educating and treating adult patients with orthopedic needs. The medical staff is led by Ronald Gardner, MD, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in orthopedic surgeries and sports medicine.

About Shalby Advanced Technologies:Shalby Advanced Technologies is a subsidiary of Shalby Limited, established by Dr. Vikram Shah in 1994 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, which operates 11 multispecialty hospitals across India with more than 2,000 hospital beds. Shalby commands 15 percent market share of organized joint replacement surgeries in India.

URL:https://institute-mobility-longevity.org

SOURCE The Institute for Mobility and Longevity

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The Institute for Mobility and Longevity Partners with Indo-US Collaboration to Pioneer Orthopedic Research and Education - PR Newswire

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 29, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Homicide, opioid overdose, and suicide contribute to the widening life expectancy gap between the U.S. and other wealthy countries. Negative Population Growth, Inc's newly published Forum paper, titled: Life Expectancy Drives U.S. and World Population Growth, by Edwin S. Rubenstein, explains the nuances of population growth in tandem with life expectancy. With such a large scope at hand, Rubenstein starts with comparisons between the 1918 flu and the COVID-19 pandemic before discussing the many contributing factors that tie into the world's Total Fertility Rate, the history of life expectancy, and possible outcomes in the future.

Beginning his narrative with data covering the 1918 influenza pandemic, Rubenstein compels readers to look critically at the differences between the 1918 flu and the COVID-19 pandemic, starting with how many deaths occurred during each worldwide scenario. "The best estimates," he shares, "suggest as many as 100 million people died from the Spanish Flu that eventually circled the world. To put that in context, as of January 14th, 2022, 5.5 million people have died from all COVID variants, on a planet with four times as many people." During the 1918 flu life-expectancy "plunged by 12 years, from 51 in 1917 to 39 in 1918," before returning to pre-pandemic life-expectancy estimates in 1919.

Rubenstein then zeros in on the different factors that play into life expectancy in the U.S., sharing that opioid overdoses, suicide, homicide, and infant mortality are causes of death that affect young people (which, in turn, dramatically affect life expectancy trends). Expanding to include the world in his analysis, Rubenstein highlights another part of the life expectancy equation: the impact of the Total Fertility Rate (TFR). He illustrates the significance of its impact with an example, sharing: "Even slight changes per woman translates to around 500 million more individuals on the planet in 2100." Rubenstein tells readers the population will peak, decline, and stabilize in the future, noting: "World population will likely peak at 9.7 billion in 2064, and then decline to about 8.8 billion by 2100 about 2 billion lower than the latest UN projection."

Touching on life expectancy history, Rubenstein notes that data was not collected on the subject until the 1600s, fueled by the curious elite. Then, the smallpox vaccine allows everyone to live longer lives until industrialization develops and negatively affects human health. Along with industrialization came the prevalence of another lethal blow to young lives: milk. It would take decades for widespread acceptance of pasteurized milk to take hold in the early 1920s. Soon after the advancement of milk processing, science confirms that chlorine (in microscopic doses) in water eliminates water-borne diseases. By the 1950s, there was safe milk, clean water, and vaccines for the most lethal diseases all positive gains for human health and longevity.

At this point, another critical medicine was added to our collective human arsenal: penicillin. "This antibiotic," Rubenstein states, "triggered a revolution in human healthThe mass production of antibiotics, the Green Revolution, the rise of international health organizations lifted global life expectancy especially in the world's poorest countries." Given this wide birth of positive outcomes (longer life expectancy) over the last 100 years, Rubenstein points to what can only be called the elephant in the room, saying: "the last century was marked by nearly unbroken increases in life expectancy. This century may not be as kind. The problem is human population growth." Rubenstein ends with a concise quote from journalist Steven Johnson: "All those brilliant solutions we engineered to reduce or eliminate threats like smallpox created a new, higher-level threat: ourselves. Many of the key problems we now face as a species are second-order effects of reduced mortalityRunaway population growth and the environmental crisis it has helped produce should remind us that continued advances in life expectancy are not inevitable."

Founded in 1972, NPG is a national nonprofit membership organization dedicated to educating the American public and political leaders regarding the damaging effects of population growth. We believe that our nation is already vastly overpopulated in terms of the long-range carrying capacity of its resources and environment. NPG advocates the adoption of its Proposed National Population Policy, with the goal of eventually stabilizing U.S. population at a sustainable level far lower than today's. We do not simply identify the problems we propose solutions. For more information, visit our website at NPG.org, follow us on Facebook @NegativePopulationGrowth or follow us on Twitter @npg_org.

Media Contact

Craig Lewis, Negative Population Growth, 703-370-9510, media@npg.org

SOURCE Negative Population Growth

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New NPG Forum Paper Chronicles the Ebb and Flow of Life Expectancy - 69News WFMZ-TV