Squaring The Decline Curve

Is real longevity treatment just around the corner?

People blessed with anti-ageing genes tend not to get seriously ill but die suddenly at the end of their lives, Prof Barzilai pointed out.

‘I’m seeing 100-year-olds who are not only 100 years old but in great shape,’ he said.

‘They’re driving and painting, and they say life is beautiful.

‘I have this bias that makes me believe we have the ability as a species to get to 100 if we prevent some of these age-related diseases.

‘The cost of treating 100-year-olds in their last two years of life is a third of what it costs to treat somebody aged 70 to 80. At the end of their life they die, basically, all of a sudden.

‘People who die between 70 and 80 are sick in the last few years of their life. Centenarians are dying healthy.’

Studies had revealed a strong association between reaching 100 years of age and very high blood levels of HDL, which appear to run in families, said Prof Barzilai.

Not only were HDL levels important, but also the size of the cholesterol particles. Centenarians with this HDL profile were powerfully protected against Alzheimer’s, one of the greatest causes of disability and death in old age. A similar effect was being sought by the drug companies targeting CETP.

Prof Barzilai described his “vision” as a once-daily pill which staved off the effects of old age and would probably be taken when a person reached their 40s or 50s.

Works for me. I hope, anyway.

5 thoughts on “Squaring The Decline Curve”

  1. and would probably be taken when a person reached their 40s or 50s.

    Well, I hope that we can find mutual ground on them needing to hurry up on this one.

    Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and massage the newly arthritic joint in my little finger.

  2. “Studies had revealed a strong association between reaching 100 years of age and very high blood levels of HDL”; which is why we must treat them for those high cholesterol levels so they don’t live so long, and become a burden on society../sarc

    Seriously, cholesterol is very important for your health and gets even more important as you age.

  3. Thomas: HDL being good for you and needed has never been an issue. The problem is most people only have high HDL because they have insanely high LDLs.

    High HDLs won’t help if your “bad” cholesterol causes a blockage somewhere.

    There’s plenty of natural statins out there if you don’t like the doctors ones which will hammer the LDL and leave the HDL alone. Plus eating more nuts, fish, avocado and the like will help them.

    My mothers cardiologist reckoned he reduced emergency coronary incidents in the over 70s by 50% by insisting that everybody who had high LDL numbers went onto statins. Go figure.

  4. Prof Barzilai described his “vision” as a once-daily pill which staved off the effects of old age and would probably be taken when a person reached their 40s or 50s.

    Or, you know, stop stuffing your pie hole with sugar, white flour and vegetable oils, and get out of your La-Z-Boy and go for a walk occasionally.

    Daveon, I’m not aware of any statistics that show statins improve any results at all. They lower LDL (a number), but don’t improve heart attack or mortality numbers (the result). If you listen closely to their advertising they won’t even say they do these things, because they’ve never been shown to in FDA studies.

    The sole exception to that is that men over 50 who have already had one heart attack have a slightly reduced chance of a second one, at the cost of serious side effects.

  5. Brock: I didn’t think I suggested they impact survival rates. The data I’ve seen and my Doctor insists on quoting to me relates to heart attack incidence.

    When you get to the point you’re having a coronary emergency it’s all a little too late really.

    And while anecdote isn’t the plural of data, in a straw poll of physicians I know over dinner the other night (an anesthetist and 2 ER docs) all three take statins and started to pretty much as they hit their mid 40s.

    Now, they tend to turn to me to ask me questions about mobile technology design and engineering stuff and I tend to listen to their opinion on healthcare related issues over, say, what some guy told me down the pub (or on a blog).

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