Every year, scientists discover genes associated with the aging process in the body. However, global studies show that human life expectancy depends not only on genetics. Good nutrition and lifestyle are sometimes more important than poor heredity.
Eat less, live longer
Nearly thirty years ago, two independent groups of scientists from the National Center for Primate Research in Wisconsin and the National Institute of Aging in Dickerson (USA) launched the same experiments: they recruited groups of rhesus monkeys and began to feed them low-calorie foods, limiting portion sizes. The results obtained after two decades of observation turned out to be exactly the opposite.
In the first case, monkeys on a low-calorie diet lived significantly longer than animals from the control group and less often died from diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Their relatives from the National Institute of Aging were less fortunate - although they were also healthier than the primates from the control group, the monkeys lived about the same.
The dispute was resolved when the scientists joined forces. It turned out that macaques who were put on a low-calorie diet in adulthood reached old age. On average, they lived two to four years longer than their control group. Some individuals even crossed the forty-year mark, which is about one and a half times the life expectancy characteristic of these primates in captivity. The same monkeys, which were limited in nutrition since childhood, lived about the same as ordinary animals.
Researchers suggest that these results can be applied to humans - homo sapiens still refers to primates.
Percentage of rhesus monkeys with cancer, cardiovascular disease, and insulin resistance. Comparison of animals from the experimental and control groups / Illustration by RIA Novosti.
Promotional video:
Therapeutic fasting
Scientists from the T. H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health in Boston (USA) recommend intermittent fasting. According to their recent research, temporary refusal to eat improves energy metabolism in cells and allows you to stay in good shape for longer. In other words, regular short-term fasting slows down aging.
The researchers came to this conclusion after thoroughly studying the metabolism in the body of the roundworms Caenorhabditis elegans. It turned out that one of the reasons for the rapid aging of nematodes (these animals live no more than two weeks) is disruptions in the work of mitochondria, which are responsible for the cell's energy. Over time, mitochondrial networks wear out and start producing free radicals that poison cells and disrupt metabolism. However, if you periodically reduce the amount of calories consumed to a minimum, then mitochondria will be able to work longer in the correct mode, which, in turn, will slow down age-related changes (after all, cells will not suffer from free radicals) and will increase life expectancy.
Scientists have studied the aging process on the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans.
One hundred fifty minutes of physical education
An effective way to live longer is to lead an active lifestyle and try to walk as much as possible, according to scientists from McMaster University (Canada). For a long time, they monitored 130 thousand people from 17 countries of the world, constantly updating data on their health, social and economic status and lifestyle.
Seven years later, it was found that those who spent half an hour a day on exercise were twenty percent less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, and the risk of premature death in this group was 28 percent lower than among the rest of the study participants. Those volunteers who spent 750 minutes a week on sports fared even better - their risk of dying at a young age was reduced by 36 percent.
If time for daily training is sorely lacking, then you can just walk very quickly. Scientists from the University of Sydney, after analyzing the results of medical examinations of fifty thousand people, found that people who prefer leisurely walks have a 24 percent higher risk of premature death than those who walk briskly. This difference is even more pronounced among the elderly - after sixty, the chances of dying from a heart attack or stroke are 53 percent less for those who walk fast.
Learning is life
In 2017, British biologists decided to find out how much the duration of a human life depends on genetic and social factors. By this time, many genes had been discovered that were not only directly responsible for the aging process, but also associated with a predisposition to alcoholism, aggressive behavior, schizophrenia and other factors that somehow shorten the life span.
Scientists had at their disposal a huge array of data on the genomes of six hundred thousand people from different parts of Europe who had ever taken part in genetic research. As a result of careful analysis, it was found that almost all harmful habits that undermine health are determined not only by DNA. Moreover, the negative effect, for example, from smoking, quickly disappears when you switch to a healthier lifestyle.
It turned out that life expectancy is highly dependent on the level of education. Each year of college or university studies adds an extra eleven months to a person's life. Scientists believe that higher education helps people to eat better and not depend on bad habits.
The magic pill for old age
Humanity has been dreaming of the elixir of youth for more than one hundred years, and now scientists are very close to its creation. This summer, two scientific papers were published at once on substances that slow down the aging process in animals.
In July, researchers at Marshall University (USA) spoke about a specific enzyme, injections of which increased the lifespan of laboratory mice. We are talking about sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase, a substance that plays an important role in the synthesis of reactive oxygen species (ROS). For a year, biologists fed rodents with fatty foods high in carbohydrates (such a diet leads to the rapid appearance of external signs of aging). At the same time, some of the animals regularly received injections of sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase, and at the end of the experiment they looked much younger than the experimental relatives who did not receive therapy.
In August, scientists from the University of Minnesota announced new advances in anti-aging. They found that a mixture of two senolytics - the anticancer drug dasatinib and the flavanoid quercetin - promotes the selective destruction of cells with senile phenotypes and reduces inflammation. As a result, the risk of premature death is reduced by 65 percent.
Alfiya Enikeeva