Health/Longevity Bias

[Darryl Shaw]

Long-Term Physical Activity Has an Anti-Aging Effect at the Cellular Level.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2009) — Intensive exercise prevented shortening of telomeres, a protective effect against aging of the cardiovascular system, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers measured the length of telomeres -- the DNA that bookends the chromosomes and protects the ends from damage -- in blood samples from two groups of professional athletes and two groups who were healthy nonsmokers, but not regular exercisers.

The telomere shortening mechanism limits cells to a fixed number of divisions and can be regarded as a "biological clock." Gradual shortening of telomeres through cell divisions leads to aging on the cellular level and may limit lifetimes. When the telomeres become critically short the cell undergoes death. The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to researchers who discovered the nature of telomeres and how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.

"The most significant finding of this study is that physical exercise of the professional athletes leads to activation of the important enzyme telomerase and stabilizes the telomere," said Ulrich Laufs, M.D., the study's lead author and professor of clinical and experimental medicine in the department of internal medicine at Saarland University in Homburg, Germany.

"This is direct evidence of an anti-aging effect of physical exercise. Physical exercise could prevent the aging of the cardiovascular system, reflecting this molecular principle."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1130161806.htm

[Michael Miller]

1 2 3 CLEAR!!! Ok my lame attempt at reviving this thread :P

http://health.yahoo.net/articles/aging/how-live-be-101

Discuss?

[Gary Ohm]

I'm glad this is revived. Longevity is my primary motivation. But everything that comes out seems to keep saying the same thing. Eat the things that we know we should eat, keep moving the way we know we should, keep active the way we know we should, and take things in moderation. It's amazing how hard it is for me to follow these guidelines..

[Scott Hanson]

Bump to this old (no pun intended) thread. Interesting study done on some Ecuadoreans who are seemingly free of cancer and diabetes due to a genetic mutation that greatly reduces IGF-1, resulting from impaired reception of HGH. This is supportive of studies done in animals that increased longevity by impairment of this same gene or hormonal process. I haven't looked for the study report, but this is a NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/sc...me&ref=general

[Robert Callahan]

Originally Posted by Scott Hanson

Bump to this old (no pun intended) thread. Interesting study done on some Ecuadoreans who are seemingly free of cancer and diabetes due to a genetic mutation that greatly reduces IGF-1, resulting from impaired reception of HGH. This is supportive of studies done in animals that increased longevity by impairment of this same gene or hormonal process. I haven't looked for the study report, but this is a NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/sc...me&ref=general

The interesting thing in that study is that even though they had practically zero occurrence of heart disease and diabetes the overall mortality rate was the same. They just died of different things....

[Garrett Smith]

Originally Posted by Robert Callahan

The interesting thing in that study is that even though they had practically zero occurrence of heart disease and diabetes the overall mortality rate was the same. They just died of different things....

Yeah, the selling points of being 3.5 feet tall with a penchant for alcoholism and "accidents" probably won't go over too well with many people.

Except maybe those folks who espouse "Elite Fitness" and don't work out.

[Mark Cooper]

I think people are looking way to deep into this: An old age with quality is what we are all after, the beautiful death: walking through the meadow at 90 on a glorious summers day and bang dead before you hit the floor... Perfect. Very rare though.

I think it comes down to good luck & bad luck. Friend of mine a couple of weeks ago aged 57, fit, ate paleo, never had a day off work sick. Triathlete, out on a training ride, dead, ran over by an arctic lorry, driver fell a sleep.
Another mutual friend obese, eats crap put coke up his nose weekly until he was 55, drinks copious amounts of alcohol, just turned 63. Most jovial man I know. Apart from the obesity he has no medical problems at all. Bp and all that, is all ok. Just don't figure:-(

Good luck - Bad luck, as simple as that. Do what you enjoy.

[Scott Hanson]

Good story, though not news to people here:

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/21/133776...-pressing-iron

[Greg Battaglia]

Here's a really good blog that highlights information on centenarians from a wide range of disiplines (genetics, nutrition, fitness, psychology, etc.)

The link goes to a particular post on the "Blue Zones" but the blog as a whole has a ton of info on centenarians and longevity research.

The thing that always gets me is that virtually ALL of these centenarians that maintain their health and vitality eat very little meat. Certainly doesn't jive with the whole paleo concept and some research has implicated high protein intake with increased reactive oxygen species in mitochondria and increased mTOR activity. This may explain the overwhelming representation of vegetarians and near-vegetarians in the centenarian population. Perhaps a plant-based paleo approach would be best for longevity to avoid the complications associated with grain and legume intake we see in typical vegetarian/plant-based diets.

http://centenariansecrets.blogspot.c...lue-zones.html

[Gary Ohm]

Originally Posted by Greg Battaglia

The thing that always gets me is that virtually ALL of these centenarians that maintain their health and vitality eat very little meat. Certainly doesn't jive with the whole paleo concept and some research has implicated high protein intake with increased reactive oxygen species in mitochondria and increased mTOR activity. This may explain the overwhelming representation of vegetarians and near-vegetarians in the centenarian population. Perhaps a plant-based paleo approach would be best for longevity to avoid the complications associated with grain and legume intake we see in typical vegetarian/plant-based diets.

http://centenariansecrets.blogspot.c...lue-zones.html

Anutha bump....
I read recently someone postulating on this issue. They made the comment that perhaps the protein intake necessary for high strength based sport/lifestyle was contraindicated for longevity by definition.

Vegetarian leanings (not total, but not "paleo") seem to provide more consistent longevity. Perhaps a high strength, super active lifestyle is not most conducive to living a long time...
I'll need to look more into this before I draw conclusions. Though I am leaning more and more towards this conclusion...