Online
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Longevity News and
Review provides readers with the latest information in breakthroughs
pertaining to the extension of the healthy human lifespan. These
news summaries are compiled by the American Academy of Anti-Aging
Medicine (A4M; www.worldhealth.net),
a non-profit medical society composed of 20,000 physician and scientist
members from 90 nations, united in a mission to advance biomedical
technologies to detect, prevent, and treat aging-related disease
and to promote research into methods to retard and optimize the
human aging process. Ronald Klatz, MD, DO, A4M President and Robert
Goldman, MD, PhD, DO, FAASP, A4M Chairman, physician co-founders
of the anti-aging medical movement, distill these headlines and
provide their insightful commentary.
Human Skin Cells Reprogrammed
to Act Like Stem Cells
Two separate teams, one from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
(USA), and the other from Kyoto University (Japan), reported that
they had successfully reprogrammed human skin cells to act like
embryonic stem cells. The University of Wisconsin team, led by James
Thomson, who first developed the initial human embryonic stem cell
line almost ten years ago, employed somatic cell nuclear transfer
to use four factors to reprogram human skin (somatic) cells to pluripotent
stem cells. In the Kyoto University work, Shinya Yamanaka and colleagues
inserted four genes into human skin cells to reprogram them into
"induced pluripotent cells," which look and act like stem
cells.
Yu J, Vodyanik MA, Smuga-Otto K, Antosiewicz-Bourget J, Frane JL,
Tian S, Nie J, Jonsdottir GA, Ruotti V, Stewart R, Slukvin II, Thomson
JA. Induced pluripotent stem cell lines derived from human somatic
cells. Science. 2007 Nov 20; [Epub
ahead of print].
Takahashi K, Tanabe K, Ohnuki M, Narita M, Ichisaka T, Tomoda K,
Yamanaka S. Induction of pluripotent stem cells from adult human
fibroblasts by defined factors. Cell.
2007 Nov 30;131(5):861-72.
Dr Klatz remarks: "This is a pair
of landmark advancements that circumvents a number of ethical and
practical obstacles to stem cell therapeutics. These researchers
have identified a potentially abundant source of stem cells for
therapeutics that can treat a wide variety of aging-related disorders."
Cancer Risks of a Carb-Related
Carcinogenx
Increased dietary intake of acrylamide, a carcinogen created when
starchy (carbohydrate-rich) foods are baked, roasted, fried, or
toasted may raise the risk of endometrial cancer by 29%, and ovarian
cancer by 78%. Janneke Hogervorst and colleagues from Maastricht
University (The Netherlands) analyzed data from more than 62,000
women in the Netherlands for a 11.3-year period. Where the average
acrylamide intake was 8.9 mcg per day, the highest intake, at 40.2
mcg per day, was associated with the greatest increases in risks
of both endometrial and ovarian cancers. Dr. Hogervorst’s
team found that the risks were even more pronounced in people with
no history of smoking, where the highest acrylamide intakes were
associated with a 99% increase in risk of endometrial cancer and
122% increase in risk of ovarian cancer.
Hogervorst JG, Schouten LJ, Konings EJ, Goldbohm RA, van den Brandt
PA. A prospective study of dietary acrylamide intake and the risk
of endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers
Prev. 2007 Nov;16(11):2304-13.
Dr. Goldman observes: "This is
one of a few long-term, human studies that correlates dietary factors
to increased cancer risks. Acrylamide first made headlines five
years ago when scientists at the Swedish Food Administration first
reported that high levels of acrylamide caused cancer in laboratory
animals. Since then, animal studies continue to show the risks associated
with the compound. This observational study points to the importance
of making prudent dietary choices, to reduce or eliminate one’s
consumption of highly processed carbohydrates."
Bulky Biceps, Trim Waist
Correlate to Longevity in Men
The size of a man’s waistline and the muscle mass of his biceps
provide s snapshot of mortality risk in aging men. S. Goya Wannamethee
and colleagues from Royal Free and University College Medical School
(London, United Kingdom) studied more than 4,100 men ages 60 to
79 and found that those with a waist circumference less than 40
inches (102 centimeters) and above-average muscle mass in their
upper arms were up to 36% less likely to die over a six-year period
(as compared to those with bigger waists and smaller arm muscles).
The researchers also found the combination of waist size and arm
muscle mass provided a far more accurate gauge of death risk as
compared to body mass index (BMI) measurements, which the team found
was linked to mortality only among very thin men.
Wannamethee SG, Shaper AG, Lennon L, Whincup PH. Decreased muscle
mass and increased central adiposity are independently related to
mortality in older men. Am J Clin Nutr.
2007 Nov;86(5):1339-46.
Dr. Klatz comments: "These findings
emphasize the role of life-long fitness in longevity. Fitness is
a key element in the anti-aging lifestyle, and men who choose this
lifestyle can indeed live longer and better lives."
From Longevity News
and Review; Volume 2007, Issue 8
Anti-aging medicine is the fastest-growing
medical specialty throughout the world and is founded on the application
of advanced scientific and medical technologies for the early detection,
prevention, treatment, and reversal of age-related dysfunction,
disorders, and diseases. It is a health care model promoting innovative
science and research to prolong the healthy lifespan in humans.
As such, anti-aging medicine is based on solid scientific principles
of responsible medical care consistent with those applied in other
preventive health specialties. The goal of anti-aging medicine is
not to merely prolong the total years of an individual's life, but
to ensure that those years are enjoyed in a productive and vital
fashion. Visit the A4M's World Health Network website, at www.worldhealth.net,
to learn more about the A4M and its educational endeavors and to
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