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The Washington Post

Across the globe, more of us than ever are reaching old age due to advances in public health.
But this success comes at a cost: the surge in age-related chronic disease is burdening health care systems and leading to human suffering we are unprepared for.
The causes of ageing, and the therapies that might alleviate its effects, are increasingly at the forefront of public interest and intrigue.
Here are myths about ageing that persist.

1. Biological ageing can’t be slowed
Average life expectancy in the United States increased during the 20th century by a remarkable 31 years. Maximum human lifespan, on the other hand – marked by the 122 years achieved by Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment – did not grow significantly.
Recent work in Nature science journal suggests that this is because humans have an upper limit on longevity set by biology and inevitable wear and tear. As Dan Rafael wrote on ESPN when boxing champion Floyd Mayweather came out of retirement for one last fight, “Everybody gets old. It’s just a fact; Father Time will always be undefeated.”
Biodemographer Jay Olshansky put it this way in Nature : “You run into basic limitations imposed by body design.”
Yet a limit on what our bodies can currently achieve does not equate to the inevitability of ageing. Ageing is incredibly malleable. Though they have identical DNA, queen bees can live 10 times longer than worker bees.

There are countless examples of animals that can live hundreds of years (clams and whales) and some that show little sign of a greater risk of death in older ages (hydra and naked mole rats). Fundamentally, these animals do not differ from us; they use the same genetic code and damage-control mechanisms.
Some humans also age exceptionally well: centenarians live longer and better, compressing the usual end-of-life incapacity. The problem is that the science aimed at healthy ageing lags behind advances that have generated more elderly people.
The growing field of geroscience offers hope, showing that genetic alterations and drugs such as rapamycin can slow the rate at which animals age.

2. Live fast, die young
In a 1927 article in the Baltimore Sun titled “Why Lazy People Live the Longest”, American biologist Raymond Pearl tied variation in longevity to metabolic rates – the “rate of living” – and stated that this explained the longevity of women as compared with men. One might have hoped for this myth (and misogyny) to die as fast as Pearl’s energetic fruit flies, but it lives on.
US President Donald Trump, according to a biography by The Washington Post’s Marc Fisher and Michael Kranish, believed that the “human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depleted”.
The claim that longevity requires a slow metabolic rate was based upon only a handful of species, however, and now we know of many exceptions.
Naked mole rats live 10 times longer than their mice cousins and never get cancer despite a comparable metabolism. Recent work shows that regular exercise helps slow key signs of ageing, boosting immune function and curbing mental decline.
If anything, conserving our batteries as isolated couch potatoes ages us faster; successful ageing is enhanced by exercise, engagement with life, staying in the workplace and maintaining social connections. If Keith Richards, who says the Rolling Stones “defy gravity”, is anything to go by, perhaps we should all be speeding up, not slowing down.
Antioxidants may be dangerous to young people, Chinese study finds
3. Antioxidants slow ageing
Supposedly, oxidants – or “free radicals” – are running rampant in our cells, damaging all they touch. And we are told that antioxidants in superfoods and beauty products will mop up free radicals, protecting us from their ageing effects and keeping us young and disease-free. From celebrity endorsers like Gwyneth Paltrow with her website, Goop, and Dr Oz with blueberries and sweet potatoes, the message is clear: antioxidants are the elixir of youth.
It’s a viewpoint perpetuated by eternally youthful athletes such as American football quarterback Tom Brady, whose TB12 diet supplements claim to combat these “destabilising atoms that can contribute to ageing and illness”.
Free radicals, a class of molecules in cells that have unpaired electrons, can indeed cause damage in cells, but they have captured the public imagination as a source of old age with little scientific evidence.
There is in fact more negative data than positive examples. Growing evidence even suggests that genetic manipulations that slow ageing in animals like the nematode worm cause a small burst of free radicals that induces “mitochondrial hormesis”, preparing the worm for a stress to come and helping increase lifespan – science’s way of saying that what does not kill you makes you stronger.
Free-radical damage may be linked to chronic diseases, but as for the idea that it’s a driving cause of ageing, it’s the myth itself that seems immortal.
If a high-protein ‘Paleo’ diet made our ancestors lean and strong to help spread their genes to the next generation, any adverse effects it had on ageing would have gone unseen
4. Fewer calories mean a longer life
Calorie restriction has been shown to slow ageing and the onset of disease in monkeys, and it might have beneficial effects in people. The CR Society offers books like The CR Way, full of low-calorie meal ideas that support the less-is-more approach to longevity.
In truth, we just do not know that the benefit of strict diets lies solely in their calorie content. Increasingly, it seems that many of the positive effects of calorie restriction on ageing may be unrelated to caloric intake. Hungry animals and people tend to eat faster, and as a result spend more of their day eating nothing. These extended periods of abstinence are enough to slow ageing in mice, whether overall calorie intake is reduced or not. The science uncoupling the effects of fasting and calorie restriction on ageing is in its infancy.
Why processed food makes people fat: calorie density and taste
The same goes for our understanding of whether “a calorie is a calorie” when it comes to longevity. During our evolution, we were likely to die of infection, accidents or disease long before we reached old age; hazardous living masked any negative consequences diet might have had. So if a high-protein “Paleo” diet made our ancestors lean and strong to help spread their genes to the next generation, any adverse effects it had on ageing would have gone unseen.
High protein activates a sensor in our cells called mTOR, which builds body mass and is loved by weightlifters. But for healthy ageing, being catabolic (burning), not anabolic (building), seems key; suppressing mTOR prolongs life in animals. Among mice fed diets with identical amounts of calories, those that lived longest and aged best ate lower amounts of protein.

5. Short telomeres explain ageing
As our cells divide, the chromosomes within them that carry the recipe for all cellular functions progressively shorten, because the replication machinery cannot get right to their tips. To prevent loss of information, these tips have protective caps known as telomeres, often likened to the plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces. But they can do only so much.
With age (or continuous cellular division in a Petri dish), telomeres become too short to be protective, and cells go dormant. Because cells in older people have shorter telomeres, telomere length is cited as a predictor of good or bad ageing and even the central cause of the ageing process. Lifestyle advice including more sex, meditation and yoga proposes to protect or even lengthen telomeres.
“This is no snake oil. This is no humbug,” says a review of the popular book The Telomere Effect, co-authored by Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn, in Psychology Today.
Ageing is not caused by one event, however, as compelling as fraying telomeres may be. Some of our cells do not divide at all, and they age without shortened telomeres.
Many animals have telomeres much longer than ours, yet they age faster than we do. Shortening telomeres may even be useful, protecting against unchecked cell division, which is a hallmark of cancer.


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Wellness

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The world’s oldest woman, Jeanne Calment, then 120 years old, is kissed by two young girls during a special ceremony at a retirement home in Arles, southern France, in 1995. There are more questions than answers about the secret to a long life. Photo: Reuters

MN12TY Elderly Thailand woman in her 80s. Asian senior people. Thailand, Southeast Asia

CXM20Y New York, NY, USA, Groups of  Old Chinese men Sitting playing Chinese Checkers Board Game outside,  in Public Park, in Chinatown, Manhattan

B2JTGK Two Honey Bees (Apis mellifera) drinking water from a bird bath on a 100 degree summer day. Oklahoma, USA.

G1570D Illustration of telomeres on a chromosome; depicted are the chromatid, centromere and telomeres. Chromatid, one of two strands of DNA that makes up a chromosome. Centromere connects the two chromatids and is the location where fibers attach during cell di

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Age-related muscle loss reduces mobility and strength and increases fatigue. Diet and exercise are essential in the fight against it. Photo: May Tse

EDX20E "Muscle strain"  Old aged thai man grasp his arm. And blank area at right side

Pooja Vig, a functional-medicine nutritionist at The Nutrition Clinic in Singapore, says that it’s crucial to consume adequate amounts of protein, the main constituent of healthy muscle tissue.

Gwyneth Hung, physiotherapy lead at Matilda International Hospital in Hong Kong, recommends progressive resistance exercise training (RET) for the major muscle groups.

M51GD5 Exuberant old man training in the gym

E5JR9T Healthy Diet food group, source of protein, include meat (chicken or turkey), cheese, eggs and nuts.

EHXED6 Old man in armchair squeezing stress ball

Dr Vincent Lau, chief physician at Matilda Clinic in Central, says sarcopenia is caused by multiple factors. It’s commonly observed in people who are physically inactive, although other contributing factors might include inadequate nutrition, lowered sex hormone levels, a reduced ability to synthesise protein, and mitochondrial dysfunction, an often inherited disorder that refers to the inability of the mitochondria (the energy-producing component of cells) to completely burn food and oxygen to generate energy.

How to look younger than you are: biomarkers – which to track and how to step in if needed

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DXBFA2 A Metformin tablet shot against its packaging

FXW8EF Ageing hand has developed a texture all of its own

Dr. Lauren Bramley, anti-ageing specialist at Pacific House in Central. 16JUL19 [FEATURES] SCMP / Jonathan Wong

M7PRFT A woman (65) wearing a fitness device stretching out in preparation for a workout.

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Five gadgets to make life easier for the elderly, from phones with big buttons to a hip protector. Photo: Alamy

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Lifestyle

Health & Wellness

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Does a slow metabolic rate mean longer life? Can we extend life by slowing down, or resetting, the body clock? See what the experts say about ageing myths
It’s true that more people worldwide are living longer than their forebears, but scientists don’t yet know why



Does a slow metabolic rate mean longer life? Can we extend life by slowing down, or resetting, the body clock? See what the experts say about some widely held beliefs about ageing.


Ageing society

How to age well

Five myths about ageing: why taking antioxidants and calorie counting do not mean you’ll live longer

Does a slow metabolic rate mean longer life? Can we extend life by slowing down, or resetting, the body clock? See what the experts say about ageing myths It’s true that more people worldwide are living longer than their forebears, but scientists don’t yet know why

Does a slow metabolic rate mean longer life? Can we extend life by slowing down, or resetting, the body clock? See what the experts say about ageing myths

It’s true that more people worldwide are living longer than their forebears, but scientists don’t yet know why