Can we live more than a hundred years? Where are the limits? Four international longevity specialists update us on the scope and limits of their work.
Richard Miller is Professor of Pathology at the University of Michigan and Director of the Nathan Shock Center for Basic Biology of Aging in the US His work focuses on looking for the genetic factors that determine life expectancy and the effects of organic deterioration.
João Pedro de Magalhães leads a research laboratory at the University of Liverpool (United Kingdom) whose objective is to discover ways to reverse senescence. His website on aging (senescence.info) receives almost 30,000 visits per month and is a reference for students and scientists.
Gustavo Barja is a professor at the Faculty of Biology at the Complutense University of Madrid, where he directs the research group on free radicals derived from oxygen. It focuses on the role of mitochondrial oxidative stress as a cause of physiological deterioration. Among others, he has received the Pfizer Award for Research on Aging.
Jay Olshansky teaches at the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Explore the social consequences of aging and its implications for the healthcare system. In addition to knowing the means to delay senescence, he is also interested in investigating the limits of human longevity.
1. Is it possible to delay aging?
“Unfortunately, not yet, although there have been enormous advances in animal models through genetic manipulation, diet or the use of specific drugs,” De Magalhães answers. And in humans? So far no intervention has managed to slow it down, although Olshansky says, without hesitation, that it is not science fiction: “We know that we can do it because everything indicates that the secret of the centenarians is a decelerated rate of deterioration that delays the appearance of many diseases.”
2. What is the biggest challenge that experts face?
Miller sees an irrational predisposition to consider this branch of science dangerous: “Taking an interest in a disease related to old age, such as cancer and diabetes, is seen as something wonderful. But trying to stop them at the same time, stopping the senescence process, it causes rejection. As if we wanted to fill the world with unhappy and unproductive people! It is difficult to make people understand that the objective is the opposite. This fear is the greatest obstacle. “
3. How can we be centenarians?
“You have to choose fairly long-lived parents and grandparents,” Olshansky answers in an amused tone. “Lifestyle influences to some extent, but not drastically. Those who reach centenarians owe it to their genes, ” says Miller. Despite this, Barja adds that the only source of youth we know today is exercise : “You have to move, eat varied and avoid obesity and stress. None of these factors slows down aging, but they prevent premature death.” Miller suggests that “funding those who do research in this area is the best bet.”
4. Will there be longevity pills?
“The goal of gerontology is the extension of health, not simply increasing the years of life. I think it is possible,” warns Olshansky. Miller argues: “If we’ve been able to develop it for mice, I don’t see why we won’t do it in humans.” Barja adds that we already know some possible elixirs of youth: “Rapamycin increases longevity in mammals, although it has not been tested in humans.”
5. When will they be ready?
While Olshansky believes that we will soon find a way to achieve them, and De Magalhães ventures to predict that we will have them within a decade, the other experts are not so convinced. Barja prefers not to venture, and Miller points out the way forward: “The drug would have to be developed and its efficacy and safety demonstrated, and that is a scientific question, but also an economic and health policy question.”
6. Which approach promises the most?
“Caloric restriction works in animals, although I do not think it is feasible to apply it to us. His thing would be to find a way to mimic the effects it has in some species using drugs,” says Miller. In Olshansky’s opinion, “rapamycin is very promising, the results in mice are exceptional.” However, “we do not know if it is safe and we will have to wait to see the fruits of several trials that are being carried out,” adds De Magalhães.
7. Can life expectancy be predicted?
Miller explains that “the age we reach depends on many factors and can change depending on the lifestyle and environment. Genes influence, but do not condition aging . They do establish the risk of suffering from some diseases. The options we make, such as Smoking or exercising can influence this risk. ” Olshansky adds that today “the best criterion available to predict life expectancy is education.” Although it is not known exactly what factors determine this relationship.
8. Why do women live longer?
We are facing an enigma. Miller says that “there are many elements at stake, but no one knows them for sure, and it is a highly relevant research topic” because, as Olshansky explains, “the majority of centenarians are women.” “Hormones can have a protective function. Actually, they do not age slower than men, what happens is that they are more protected against some illnesses. It is curious, but there are studies that indicate that the same happens in eunuchs , who they are not as prone to disease as other men, “says De Magalhães.
9. If aging were cured, could we live forever?
Olshansky answers categorically: “This is not what we are looking for, it would not even be possible.” De Magalhães is clear about the limits: “Immortality is impossible. Even if we eradicated all diseases and there were no more accidents or natural disasters, we have to accept that we would end up dying. But there is no reason to think that we cannot reverse or even stop altogether. the aging”.
10. Will medicine help lower dependency expenses?
“Without a doubt. We last for more and more years, and the horizon is a world of older people, so it is key that we find ways to improve health during the last decades of life,” says Olshansky. “We are dedicating more and more resources to health and dependency. This process will be unstoppable until the speed of human aging is truly reduced”, argues Barja. And he adds: “Only then can there be eighty-year-olds who are in good functional condition, physiologically young, which is what it is all about.”
