Health Report: Eternal Youth?
The secret of eternal youth?
Advances in medicine mean we're living longer, but not necessarily enjoying a healthier life. Jerome Burne looks at the latest research that shows how simply altering our diet could help us do both
For centuries, mankind has
dreamed of being immortal, fixated on tales of fountains that
restore youth and the rejuvenating power of a vampire's bite or
a bath of asses' milk. More recently came claims that hormone
supplements or injections of monkey glands would make us live
longer.
But, so far, what have actually worked are medical advances, such as vaccines, and improved living conditions. Over the past century, these have boosted average life expectancy by far more than 50 per cent, from 50 to 88 years.
The problem is that this longevity doesn't necessarily mean a healthier life - thanks to chronic diseases such as diabetes and arthritis, we're becoming like the Struldbruggs, the miserable characters in Gulliver's Travels who were immortal but still suffered from all the diseases of old age. Gradually they lost their teeth, their hair, sense of smell and taste. All their diseases got worse and their memory gradually faded, so they had no idea who their friends and family were. And at funerals, they wept because they couldn't die.
But now a US geneticist is thought to have discovered the secret to a long life, full of health and energy. And the answer might be as simple as cutting down on carbohydrates.
Professor Cynthia Kenyon, whom many experts believe should win the Nobel Prize for her research into ageing, has discovered that in fact the carbohydrates we eat - from bananas and potatoes to bread, pasta, biscuits and cakes - directly affect two key genes that govern youthfulness and longevity. She made her remarkable breakthrough after studying small roundworms, specifically the C. elegans worm, which measures just a millimetre long and lives in soil in temperate climates all across the world.
By tweaking some of their genes, she has been able to help these worms live up to six times longer than normal. "Not only that, but we also know how to make them stay healthy all the time as well," she told an audience at the Wellcome Collection in London last year.
So, what do worms have to do with us? A great deal, it seems. Professor Kenyon's work has been successfully repeated in labs around the world - the genes she found controlling ageing in worms do the same thing in rats, mice and quite probably monkeys - and there are signs they are active in humans, too.
This work has revolutionised our understanding of ageing, says Jeff Holly, professor of clinical sciences at Bristol University. "Ten years ago we thought ageing was probably the result of a slow decay - you could say a sort of rusting," he explains. "But Professor Kenyon has shown that it's not about wear and tear, but instead is controlled by genes. That opens the possibility of slowing ageing down with the use of drugs."
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