Anti-aging movement

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The anti-aging movement is a

cosmetic surgery which ameliorate the effects of aging rather than delay or defeat it.[3]

There are many scientists of this movement with different approaches. Two of the most popular proponents of the anti-aging movement include Ray Kurzweil, who says humanity can defeat aging through the advance of technology, allowing us to reach the longevity escape velocity,[4] and Aubrey de Grey, who says that the human body is a very complicated machine and, thus, can be repaired indefinitely.[5] Other scientists and significant contributors to the movement include molecular biologists, geneticists, and biomedical gerontologists such as Gary Ruvkun, Cynthia Kenyon, and Arthur D. Levinson. However, figures in the gerontology community in 2003 tried to distance their research from the perceived pseudoscience of the movement.[6]

Anti-aging medicine

Anti-aging medicine has become a budding and rapidly growing

medical specialty as physicians who initially sought treatment for themselves have received training and certification in its practice[1] by organizations such as the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) co-founded by Dr Robert M. Goldman
and Ronald Klatz.

Human growth hormone

Central to anti-aging medicine is administration of

LDL cholesterol) and affects the quality of life without significant side effects.[8][9][10] However, it is also said to have potentially dangerous side effects when used in injectable form, if proper protocols are not followed. It is not approved for use in healthy aging patients, though the restriction is occasionally sidestepped by means of a diagnosis of some injury, organic condition, or adult growth hormone deficiency[11] which supposedly has resulted in reduced secretion of the hormone.[12]

Menopausal hormone drugs

Administration of

postmenopausal osteoporosis, but increase the risk of stroke, heart attacks, endometrial cancer, and breast cancer.[16] Hormone therapy is generally only recommended for postmenopausal women who are at a high risk of osteoporosis when non-hormonal treatments are not suitable.[16] Hormone therapy is not suitable or advised for treating cardiovascular disease, dementia, or for preventing cognitive decline in postmenopausal women.[16] The risks of long-term hormonal therapy for women under 50 years of age have not been determined.[16]

Senolytics

A senolytic (from the words senescence and -lytic, "destroying") is among a class of small molecules under basic research to determine if they can selectively induce death of senescent cells and improve health in humans.[17] A goal of this research is to discover or develop agents to delay, prevent, alleviate, or reverse age-related diseases.[18][19] Removal of senescent cells with senolytics has been proposed as a method of enhancing immunity during aging.[20]

A related concept is "senostatic", which means to suppress senescence.[21]

Scientific approaches

Biogerontology is a scientific discipline which has the same area of interest but, as a branch of gerontology, takes a more conservative approach.[22] Caloric restriction is a phenomenon introduced in anti-aging techniques which focuses on depletion of calories and taking the right amount of nutrients necessary for growth.[23]

Calorie restriction

Calorie restriction (CR) refers to a dietary restriction that focuses on less calorie intake to increase longevity and reduce

age-related disease in humans. Calorie restriction maintains a low calorie intake that helps to regulate the rate of aging and increases the youthfulness of an individual or animal.[24] Low calorie intake has directly been correlated to negative energy balance which promotes low body mass index (BMI) and comparatively high plasma dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) for improved life expectancy.[25] Calorie restriction has widely been practiced by pregnant women and people with pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes. The right amount of calorie restriction help pregnant women to achieve positive weight gain whereas a significant drop in calorie intake can lead to hypothalamic alterations leading to long-term effects in the offspring.[26] Moderate CR in diabetic patients increases insulin sensitivity and reduces the amount of hepatic fat in obese individual and type 2 diabetes.[27] Long term CR in older animals results in stem cell function similar to that of the younger groups. The active stem cell function helps in enhanced recovery of the damaged skeletal muscle tissue, which is slower in older individuals compared to younger individuals.[28] CR in the United States has shown a prolonged life span in women compared to men as women tend to consume 25% fewer calories than men in their lifetime.[29]
The statistical analysis of CR available for anti-aging movement in humans is not sufficient enough to prove the prolonged lifespan associated with CR.

Mass movement

A substantial fraction of older people, taking their cue from

herbal supplements and other products which promise relief from the incidents and dangers of aging. However, many such products are unregulated, and can instead pose serious health risks.[30]

Reception

There are at least two opposite views on the prospects of anti-aging research and development. One group states that there is a great deal of over-heated rhetoric in use with respect to life extension with over-optimistic projections by its advocates. They also claim that there is little evidence that any significant breakthrough has been made, or is on the horizon.[31] Some state that this is largely due to a current lack of funding or interest in the issue.[32] A study of the commonly-used supplements and hormone treatments published in 2006 in the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine showed that none of them are effective for extending life.[33] Another group notices that recent scientific successes in rejuvenation and extending the lifespan of model animals[34][failed verification] and discovery of a variety of species (including humans of advanced ages) having negligible senescence give hope to achieve negligible senescence (cancel aging) for younger humans, reverse ageing, or at least significantly delay it.

Though some scientists think curing aging is impossible, there are some criticisms of both the time frame life extensionists envision (the first, perhaps somewhat crude, treatments within the next several decades, or at least before the beginning of the 22nd century) and of whether curing aging is even desirable. Common criticisms of the idea of life extension are fears it will cause the world to be more

space colonies.[35]

See also

References

  1. ^
    PMID 16040177
    .
  2. . There have been a number of social movements associated with the reappraisal of age-based social categories in the last thirty years. Two such developments are the focus of this chapter. They are the Third Age movement and the Anti-aging movement. These movements present contrasting perspectives on the culturally devalued status of old age; the former seeks to celebrate old age, the latter to eliminate it.
  3. ^ Landman, Beth (12 December 2016). "The Future of Forever Young: 12 of the Latest Anti-Aging Treatments You Can Now Try". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 28 December 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
  4. ^ Hamilton, Craig. "Chasing Immortality—The Technology of Eternal Life". EnlightenNext. Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  5. ^ "Who is Aubrey de Grey?". Singularity Symposium. Archived from the original on 2012-05-02. Maybe it is because of his background in computer science that Dr. de Grey perceives the human body as a very complicated machine. Therefore, he argues that aging is primarily an engineering problem. Thus once we grasp all the finer details of our biological structure then the problem of aging becomes one of maintenance and just like today we are capable to maintain vintage cars or airplanes indefinitely he believes that eventually we'll be able to do so with our bodies.
  6. PMID 12604740
    . Leading members of the gerontological community have recently launched a war on anti-aging medicine, seeking to discredit what they judge to be fraudulent and harmful products and therapies, and to distinguish their research from what they regard as the pseudoscience of the anti-aging movement.
  7. .
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  10. Business Week
    March 20, 2006
  11. ^ Wilson, Duff (April 15, 2007). "Aging: Disease or Business Opportunity?". The New York Times. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
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  13. ^ "Findings from the WHI Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy Trials". Women's Health Initiative. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Archived from the original on 2016-06-17. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
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  28. GAO
    September, 2001
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  30. ^ Pelletier, Dick. "Advances in medical technologies predicted for this decade". Positive Futurist. Archived from the original on March 18, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  31. ^ Kamel, Nabil S; Julie Gammack; Oscar Cepeda; Joseph H Flaherty (2006). "Antioxidants and hormones as antiaging therapies: high hopes, disappointing results". Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. 73 (12): 1049–1056, 1058.
    PMID 17190308
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  32. ^ "Scientists' Open Letter on Aging Research". CureAging.org: Independent Open Letter in Support of Aging Research. Archived from the original on 2015-04-29.
  33. PMID 20426616
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Further reading