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Is Dara Torres Believable?
Some writers and others are questioning Dara Torres' Olympic feats at the age of 41. Today I read Mark Zeigler's article in the San Deigo Union-Tribune asserting that Torres is truly unbelievable and she is likely taking growth hormone.
Michael Phelps and his 8 gold medals is practically beyond belief. And yet, Zeigler does not question his accomplishments. The point is that Phelps and Torres are both very rare... bodies like theirs do not come along very often - to enable what they do - but they can, and this time they did. We may not see another Michael Phelps with the perfect body proportions and extraordinary workouts for another 100 years and along the same lines, we might not see another Dara Torres, who ages as slowly as she does, for some time to come.
I am likely one of the world's experts on growth hormone and aging, having recently testified before Congress on the subject, prior to the Roger Clemens hearing. Mark Zeigler's statement that the decline in athletic performance with age is due to growth hormone is not true and tremendously oversimplifies a very complex physiologic puzzle. Many well-conducted scientific studies also show that growth hormone replacement does very little if anything to enhance athletic performance. Also, in mice, growth hormone speeds up aging, increases risk for cancer and shortens lifespan.
So is Dara Torres' performance at her age natural (in conjunction with her extraordinary workouts)? I believe so. Just as believable as finding someone who has lived to 110 years old. And, I can tell you, as Director of the New England Supercentenarian Study (www.bumc.bu.edu/supercentenarian) that 110 yr olds exist also. In fact, we even had a 119 yr old in our study (the second oldest in the world, ever). These extraordinary people, like centenarians (age 100+) have a history of aging very slowly, markedly delaying any disability well into their 90s. For a supercentenarian, they can delay disability to say age 105+.
Centenarians are pretty rare, at about 1 per 6,000 in the population. Supercentenarians are a lot rarer, at 1 per 7,000,000, but they do exist! Dara Torres is very rare also, but to me, she is aging very slowly and doing so naturally is the natural history of centenarians and supercentenarians. OK, have I emphasized the word "natural" enough?
Michael Phelps and his 8 gold medals is practically beyond belief. And yet, Zeigler does not question his accomplishments. The point is that Phelps and Torres are both very rare... bodies like theirs do not come along very often - to enable what they do - but they can, and this time they did. We may not see another Michael Phelps with the perfect body proportions and extraordinary workouts for another 100 years and along the same lines, we might not see another Dara Torres, who ages as slowly as she does, for some time to come.
I am likely one of the world's experts on growth hormone and aging, having recently testified before Congress on the subject, prior to the Roger Clemens hearing. Mark Zeigler's statement that the decline in athletic performance with age is due to growth hormone is not true and tremendously oversimplifies a very complex physiologic puzzle. Many well-conducted scientific studies also show that growth hormone replacement does very little if anything to enhance athletic performance. Also, in mice, growth hormone speeds up aging, increases risk for cancer and shortens lifespan.
So is Dara Torres' performance at her age natural (in conjunction with her extraordinary workouts)? I believe so. Just as believable as finding someone who has lived to 110 years old. And, I can tell you, as Director of the New England Supercentenarian Study (www.bumc.bu.edu/supercentenarian) that 110 yr olds exist also. In fact, we even had a 119 yr old in our study (the second oldest in the world, ever). These extraordinary people, like centenarians (age 100+) have a history of aging very slowly, markedly delaying any disability well into their 90s. For a supercentenarian, they can delay disability to say age 105+.
Centenarians are pretty rare, at about 1 per 6,000 in the population. Supercentenarians are a lot rarer, at 1 per 7,000,000, but they do exist! Dara Torres is very rare also, but to me, she is aging very slowly and doing so naturally is the natural history of centenarians and supercentenarians. OK, have I emphasized the word "natural" enough?
Old Age
I tell my coworkers that I have at least 50 good years left and that's not counting the ones with a walker or such. Part of staying young is Attitude. Don't thinik old and keep moving. Keep up with what's going on in the world.
Old Age
I tell my coworkers that I have at least 50 good years left and that's not counting the ones with a walker or such. Part of staying young is Attitude. Don't thinik old and keep moving. Keep up with what's going on in the world.
Mayo Clinic
Has anyone had any experience with the Mayo Clinic? My husband has an appointment in October. Any suggestions on where to stay?
Living to 100
Last birthday I was 66 and have been told that I don't look my age. Probably because I don't act it either! Whenever I tell anybody my age and they give me that response I tell wait until you get to this age and if you can do the things I do now then people will tell you the same thing! They all think I am in my forty's.
bluesharkey
bluesharkey
Younger Next Year
Anyone here read the book "Younger Next Year" by Chris Crowley & Henry S Lodge? It is pretty good. ... truly inspires one to get off their butt and get out there and start moving! ... well, at least it did for me.
First post
Hi everyone. This is my first post to this group so I will keep it short. I just wanted to introduce myself and let everyone know why I want to participate.
The picture I have included is not me it is my mother at 101 years old. It was taken on the Rainbow beach on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. There are a few more pictures of her on the Geoff and Vicky Wells website.
Mother died in October 2008 at the age of 102. She was active and alert, had all her own teeth and never took much more than an Aspirin her whole life.
When asked, as she often was, to what she attributed her longevity she would talk about having Quaker Oats for breakfast every morning. Oatmeal is supposed to be very good at lowering cholesterol but I suspect it has a lot more to do with genes than anything else.
My Dad died at the age of 88 which isn’t bad so I guess my genes are pretty good. The Longevity Calculator gives me 101 so I will let you know.
Anyway that’s my intro.
Geoff
The picture I have included is not me it is my mother at 101 years old. It was taken on the Rainbow beach on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. There are a few more pictures of her on the Geoff and Vicky Wells website.
Mother died in October 2008 at the age of 102. She was active and alert, had all her own teeth and never took much more than an Aspirin her whole life.
When asked, as she often was, to what she attributed her longevity she would talk about having Quaker Oats for breakfast every morning. Oatmeal is supposed to be very good at lowering cholesterol but I suspect it has a lot more to do with genes than anything else.
My Dad died at the age of 88 which isn’t bad so I guess my genes are pretty good. The Longevity Calculator gives me 101 so I will let you know.
Anyway that’s my intro.
Geoff
Thin Monkeys Live Longer
I received this article from an acquaintance and thought I'd pass it on.
A study published in the July 9, 2009 edition of
Science
magazine reported the results of a twenty year study
with rhesus monkeys. You may have heard about it in the
news or read about it in your local paper because this
study was a BIG DEAL!
You see, we already knew that every species tested
from single cell organisms to fruit flies to worms to
mice lived longer when calories were restricted.
We knew that the same genetic regulators of aging were
found in primates, but no one had definitively shown
that caloric restriction prolonged life in primates.
So this study was the first of its kind!
And because rhesus monkeys live an average of 27 years,
it had to be a 20 year study - no small undertaking.
Back in 1989 Dr. Ricki Colman and Dr.Richard Weindruch
at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center began
their study with adult monkeys between the ages of 7
and 14 years old. Half of the monkeys were allowed to
eat as much as they liked, while the other half had
their calorie intake reduced by 30%.
Twenty years latter the results were striking.
37% of the monkeys who ate as much as they wanted had
died of age-related diseases such as cancer and heart
disease, while only 13% of the monkeys on the reduced
calorie diet had died from the same diseases.
Diabetes, which is normally common among rhesus
monkeys, was completely absent from the monkeys on a
reduced calorie diet. And the normal shrinking of the
brain that occurs during aging was slowed in the
calorie-restricted monkeys.
Now keep in mind this was not a Doritos versus salads
comparison. Both groups were eating the same good
diets. The only difference between the two groups was
in the caloric intake.
Nor were the free eating animals obese. They were
normal weight. It was just the opposite. The calorie-
restricted group of monkeys weighed less and were
thinner than normal.
The researchers can not yet estimate how much caloric
restriction will increase the lifespan of rhesus
monkeys because not all of the monkeys have yet died.
However, it is clear that the calorie-restricted
monkeys were healthier and had a clear survival benefit
over their peers who were eating at will.
So what does this all mean for you and me?
1) Humans live far too long to be able to design a
study proving that caloric restriction lowers the risk
of disease and extends life in humans. But our genetic
make-up is 99% identical to that of monkeys, so most
experts consider it highly likely that caloric
restriction will have the same benefits in humans that
it has in monkeys and every other species tested.
2) Resveratrol activates the same longevity genes as
caloric restriction and also extends lifespan in every
species tested through mice.
An experiment to determine unambiguously whether
resveratrol can extend lifespan in rhesus monkeys is
currently underway (You only need to wait another 18
years for the results).
That kind of experiment will never be feasible in
humans because of our long lifespan.
However, clinical studies have already shown that
resveratrol positively impacts many of the same disease
risk factors (eg. inflammation, insulin resistance,
oxidative damage) in humans that it affects in mice.
For all of those reasons, many experts consider it
likely that resveratrol will have the same effects on
health and longevity in primates, including humans,
that it has in mice.
To your health!
Dr. Stephen Chaney, PhD
A study published in the July 9, 2009 edition of
Science
magazine reported the results of a twenty year study
with rhesus monkeys. You may have heard about it in the
news or read about it in your local paper because this
study was a BIG DEAL!
You see, we already knew that every species tested
from single cell organisms to fruit flies to worms to
mice lived longer when calories were restricted.
We knew that the same genetic regulators of aging were
found in primates, but no one had definitively shown
that caloric restriction prolonged life in primates.
So this study was the first of its kind!
And because rhesus monkeys live an average of 27 years,
it had to be a 20 year study - no small undertaking.
Back in 1989 Dr. Ricki Colman and Dr.Richard Weindruch
at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center began
their study with adult monkeys between the ages of 7
and 14 years old. Half of the monkeys were allowed to
eat as much as they liked, while the other half had
their calorie intake reduced by 30%.
Twenty years latter the results were striking.
37% of the monkeys who ate as much as they wanted had
died of age-related diseases such as cancer and heart
disease, while only 13% of the monkeys on the reduced
calorie diet had died from the same diseases.
Diabetes, which is normally common among rhesus
monkeys, was completely absent from the monkeys on a
reduced calorie diet. And the normal shrinking of the
brain that occurs during aging was slowed in the
calorie-restricted monkeys.
Now keep in mind this was not a Doritos versus salads
comparison. Both groups were eating the same good
diets. The only difference between the two groups was
in the caloric intake.
Nor were the free eating animals obese. They were
normal weight. It was just the opposite. The calorie-
restricted group of monkeys weighed less and were
thinner than normal.
The researchers can not yet estimate how much caloric
restriction will increase the lifespan of rhesus
monkeys because not all of the monkeys have yet died.
However, it is clear that the calorie-restricted
monkeys were healthier and had a clear survival benefit
over their peers who were eating at will.
So what does this all mean for you and me?
1) Humans live far too long to be able to design a
study proving that caloric restriction lowers the risk
of disease and extends life in humans. But our genetic
make-up is 99% identical to that of monkeys, so most
experts consider it highly likely that caloric
restriction will have the same benefits in humans that
it has in monkeys and every other species tested.
2) Resveratrol activates the same longevity genes as
caloric restriction and also extends lifespan in every
species tested through mice.
An experiment to determine unambiguously whether
resveratrol can extend lifespan in rhesus monkeys is
currently underway (You only need to wait another 18
years for the results).
That kind of experiment will never be feasible in
humans because of our long lifespan.
However, clinical studies have already shown that
resveratrol positively impacts many of the same disease
risk factors (eg. inflammation, insulin resistance,
oxidative damage) in humans that it affects in mice.
For all of those reasons, many experts consider it
likely that resveratrol will have the same effects on
health and longevity in primates, including humans,
that it has in mice.
To your health!
Dr. Stephen Chaney, PhD
Tennis Player
Last night on ABC news they intervied a 100 year old man
who plays tennis! Not just plays, but competes in senior
tournaments and wins! I was impressed and inspired.
Does anyone remember where he lives? What State?
OH, and he walks standing up straight and drives his own car.
who plays tennis! Not just plays, but competes in senior
tournaments and wins! I was impressed and inspired.
Does anyone remember where he lives? What State?
OH, and he walks standing up straight and drives his own car.
My first post
I am new to Eons and newer to this group. I wanted to see what people in the group are doing to keep in shape. How do you exercise? How do you eat?
Pass along any tips that you may have.
Pass along any tips that you may have.
