Health Expert Releases New Controversial Book That Says Aging Is 'Optional'
Growing old stinks. Your bones ache for no reason, the remote "goes missing" a little more regularly, and all that youthful energy that let you run laps around the track at one point all but vanishes. Well, if Harvard genetics professor David Sinclair has anything to say about it, we may just be able to stave off aging for a long, long time. While peers in his field have called David out for selling the impossible, the professor truly believes he found a piece in our genetic code that could make the walk with Father Time practically optional...
Global Average
Today’s average global life expectancy is around 72 years old, which is a big step up from around 65 years in the 1950s. But what if we told you one scientist thinks we’re still ending up six feet under long before we should be?
Gene Specialist
David Sinclair is a Harvard genetics professor who studies aging. He heads a research center at Harvard Medical School, and if his insights are correct, 72 may be a few decades premature for death. He thinks human bodies have an untapped potential to go on longer than we believe.
Back to the '90s
Professor Sinclair's research dates back to the 1990s. He was pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT at the time, and he found the beginning of the thesis that would eventually grow into his controversial book while studying an unusual suspect.
Yeast Science
As he inspected yeast under the microscope, David noticed a lot of similarities between the single-celled microorganisms and the cells of humans. More specifically, a certain protein within the yeast really stood out.
Certainly Sirtuins
The proteins were called sirtuins, and they’re what’s responsible for repairing DNA damage and managing the general health of our cells. Additionally, they make sure every part is doing what it’s supposed to.
Part Specific
Think about it this way: our cells have similar parts regardless of where they’re found in our bodies. No matter where in the body you look, you'll find mitochondria, cytoplasm, chromosomes, and membranes. So, sirtuins make sure that the brain cells act like brain cells and not liver cells. Unfortunately, they're imperfect proteins.
Overwhelmed Cells
According to Professor Sinclair, when sirtuins become overwhelmed, they fail to do their directing job efficiently, which, obviously, can have a huge impact on how cells behave. As sirtuins slip in their duties, we start to see and feel the effects on our body — that's what we perceive as aging. Sinclair elaborated.
Cell Failure
When you get wrinkles, for instance, part of the reason is that the sirtuin cells aren’t doing their jobs properly when it comes to producing collagen. The same can be said for kidney failure. The list goes on and on and on. Professor Sinclair made one last scientific note before sharing his prediction for how long humans can live.
Enter NAD
As we grow older, cells also fail because our bodies produce less and less NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, but you don't need to know that), which helps with metabolism. NAD molecules also activate sirtuins, so once we hit age 50 or so, we have less NAD and therefore, less active sirtuins. This relationship was where Professor Sinclair focused.
Background Check
To reiterate the pieces of Professor Sinclair's puzzle: the NAD molecule activates sirtuin, which tells our cells what to do. When we produce less NAD, we have less active sirtuin, which means our cells forget how to act — and we age.
Everyone Has to Die
Again, Professor Sinclair isn’t looking into immortality. He knows everyone has to die, but he's intent on helping humans increase their lifespans. In so many words, science has allowed us to consider aging differently. There’s no way to stop it, but there are ways to slow it down, and that's what Professor Sinclair's book explored.
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120 Years
More specifically, Professor Sinclair proposes that humans should be able to survive for about 120 years. In his book Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To, Professor Sinclair walks readers through years and years of his dedicated research. His basic theory created a ton of commotion in the science community.
Slow Down
Again, Professor Sinclair isn’t proposing that we can produce an unlimited number of NAD molecules or sirtuin, but we can slow down the loss of NAD, he says, and it has all to do with what he calls “healthy stressors.”
Healthy Stressors
Healthy stressors, according to Professor Sinclair, are a set of activities that activate the human body’s survival blueprint. His theory states that we are at our most powerful when we're simply trying to survive. Our body goes into overdrive fighting death — which can have some promising results.
Examples Include
Examples of activities that spark our survival reflexes are becoming really cold, exercising intensely, and allowing yourself to go hungry, even if rarely. In other words, anything that “threatens” your survival — even in a controlled environment — can help with NAD effectiveness. However, experts were quick to poke holes in his theory.
Animal Instinct
Humans are animals, critics said of Professor Sinclair's work, and if you think about how lions and giraffes function in the wild, it’s a far cry from our modern living. Therefore, shouldn't animals in captivity age much more quickly than animals in the wild? Wouldn't the constant fight for survival keep wild animals thriving?
Not Yet Proven
Because Professor Sinclair's theory makes sense at a granular level, people have started running with the idea that his studies do have legs. Still, nothing he's postulated has been tested in a controlled scientific setting. At the end of the day, his claims need research. And a lot of it.
AKA Diet and Exercise
That said, in a way, David pointed out what we already knew: that a healthy diet and consistent exercise helps us live longer. He reframed fact as a brand new theory, though his call for more research could make major headway in the aging department.
Ghost Stories
The science of anti-aging is about as consistent as the ghost stories you collect at summer camp. Some of them are legit, but plenty of them are just marketing scams. Recently, some of the oldest people in the world shared what they believed to be the reason for their longevity. The answers were all different — and all surprising.
Elizabeth Sullivan (106 years old)
The Texas Rangers fan attributed her century-long life to her favorite soft drink, Dr. Pepper. She started drinking it when she was in her 60s, and knocked back three cans a day!
23 Bold Flavors
"People try to give me coffee for breakfast," she said. "Well, I'd rather have a Dr. Pepper. Every doctor that sees me says they'll kill you, but they die, and I don't, so there must be a mistake somewhere."
Jeanne Calment (122 years old)
Having the longest confirmed human lifespan at 122 years and 164-days-old, Jeanne claimed olive oil helps keep her feeling and looking young. Not only is her diet rich with olive oil, but she used it on her skin as well.
Olive Oil
Olive oil must really work wonders because Jeanne also drank wine everyday, ate over two pounds of chocolate each week, and smoked cigarettes for 96 years of her life. Still, she took up fencing at 85, rode her bike until 100, and lived alone until 110.
Alida Victoria Grubba Rudge (113 years old):
She was born in Jaragua do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil in 1903 and credited her long life to keeping her mind sharp by playing any card game or brain teaser she could find.
Dry Wine
She also claimed that having a healthy diet was to credit for her century-long life. She didn't eat any fried foods or sweets, but she made sure to drink a glass of dry wine before meals.
Emma Morano (117 years old)
At the time of her passing, she was the last known living human born during the 19th century. Born in 1899, Emma was alive during three different centuries. This strong woman who kicked out her husband in 1938 and never married again, owed her long life to a WWI doctor.
Raw Eggs
Living in Verbania, Italy, during WWI, a doctor diagnosed Emma with anemia. He gave her suggestions on how to increase her red blood cell count, so she added eggs to her diet. She ate two raw eggs in the morning with a biscuit, and then a small one omelet for lunch, every day until her death.
Pearl Cantrell (105 years old)
This senior citizen said bacon was to thank for her long life. Now, most people try to stay away from the greasy treat, but Pearl ate it daily and claimed to feel so much younger than her age suggested.
Riding the Wienermobile
In fact, her love of bacon landed her the role as spokesperson for Oscar Mayer. As a reward, the company gave her a lifetime supply of bacon and let her ride in the Wienermobile.
Susannah Mushatt Jones (116 years old)
For much of her life, Susannah swore off men. She claimed to have lived such a long life due to her staying single and lack of stress revolving around relationships.
More Bacon
But the more likely reason that she has lived for so long was that she never smoked or drank. She also never wore makeup or dyed her hair. She did claim to be a bacon aficionado, though.
Batuli Lamichhane (113 years old)
Starting when she was just 17-years-old, Batuli smoked a pack and a half of cigarettes per day. She stopped smoking commercial cigarettes eventually, and smoked beedis (tobacco wrapped in tendu leaf) instead.
Stress!
She also believed stress takes years off of your life. She said, "People of this modern age have too much stress. And those who do not work or are idle in their old age won’t live long. So you have to be active and stress free."
Emiliano Mercado del Toro (115 years old)
During his lifetime, Emiliano held many different world records because of his age. For six weeks, he was the oldest verified person alive and from 2004 to 2007, he was the world's oldest man alive.
Cornmeal and Codfish
When asked how he came to live for so long, the jokester replied with three things: His sense of humor, love of women, and funche (Puerto Rican cornmeal and codfish dish)!
Agnes Fenton (112 years old)
At the age of 58, she said doctors advised her to drink beer three times a day. So for the next 70 years of her life, she drank three Miller High Lifes a day. She started to add in a shot of scotch as she got older.
Jessie Gallan (109 years old)
Hailing from Scotland, Jessie first responded to the question of longevity by saying it's because she swore off men. She said, "[They're] just more trouble than they're worth." She added she eats a warm bowl of porridge every morning.
Nabi Tajima (117 years old)
Living in Kikaki, Japan, Nabi has never spoken publicly about her age. Her caretakers let us in on a little secret: her diet of ramen noodles and rice mackerel sushi were responsible for her longevity! She has approximately 160 different descendants.
Clara Meadmore (108 years old)
She owed her long and utilitarian life to abstaining from intercourse. At 108-years-old she died a virgin and is believed to be Britain's oldest virgin. She saw intimacy as "a lot of hassle."
Orvile Rogers (101 years old)
Born in Texas, 1917, and raised in Oklahoma, Orville had the typical characteristics of a Southern gentleman: he's generous, kind, patient, romantic, and optimistic. In March 2018, Orville set a slew of records in 200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1,500-meter races. A few years before that, he “slaughtered the world record in the mile,” as he described it. That wasn't an easy feat since his 100th birthday passed in 2017!
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