Cold is beneficial for healthy aging, finds new study
Cold activates a cellular cleansing mechanism that breaks down harmful protein aggregations responsible for various diseases associated with aging. In recent years, studies on different model organisms have already shown that life expectancy increases significantly when body temperature is lowered. However, precisely how this works has still been unclear in many areas. A research team at the University of Cologne's CECAD Cluster of Excellence in Aging Research has now unlocked one responsible mechanism. The study appears in Nature Aging . Professor Dr. David Vilchez and his working group used a non-vertebrate model organism, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, and cultivated human cells. Both carried the genes for two neurodegenerative diseases that typically occur in old age: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Huntington's disease. Both diseases are characterized by accumulations of harmful and damaging protein deposits—so-called pathological protein...