Optimal Being

New findings reveal that the body undergoes significant, systematic changes across multiple organs during prolonged periods of fasting. The results demonstrate evidence of health benefits beyond weight loss, but also show that any potentially health-altering changes appear to occur only after three days without food. New findings reveal that the body undergoes significant, systematic changes across multiple organs during prolonged periods of fasting. The results demonstrate evidence of health benefits beyond weight loss, but also show that any potentially health-altering changes appear to occur only after three days without food. The study, published today in  Nature Metabolism,  advances our understanding of what's happening across the body after prolonged periods without food. By identifying the potential health benefits from fasting and their underlying molecular basis, researchers from Queen Mary University of London's Precision Healthcare University Research Institute (PH...

The accumulation of  senescent cells  in aged tissues is an important contributing cause of aging, but it is only one cause of many. Nonetheless, removing even just a third of lingering senescent cells in some tissues produces  a degree of rejuvenation in old mice  that is large enough to be very interesting. Much of this effect appears mediated by a reduction in inflammatory signaling and thus in the  chronic inflammation  that disrupts tissue function in later life. We can hope that clinical trials and the ongoing development of first and second generation  senolytic therapies  to clear senescent cells will demonstrate similar benefits to health in humans.   Chronic inflammation, one of the major  hallmarks of aging , is thought to be partly caused by senescent cells that may accumulate in older individuals. As we age, a small number of cells in tissues throughout our body become senescent. These cells undergo irreversible  cell c...

Supplementation with spermidine may slow down cardiovascular aging. This is suggested by a German animal study, published in GeroScience, in which researchers gave mice a fairly high dose of spermidine. Study German molecular scientists from Hanover Medical School gave middle-aged to elderly mice spermidine via their drinking water every day for 6 months. A control group was given drinking water without any additives. After 6 months of supplementation, the researchers compared both groups of mice with each other - and with a group of relatively young mice. Results Old mice lose some of their fur, but spermidine supplementation counteracted this. In the heart muscle of older mice in the control group, the researchers found signs of mild and severe degeneration due to aging. However, spermidine supplementation reduced the signs of severe degeneration. At the molecular level, aging leads to a decrease in the telomeres in the DNA of the cells. The more intense aging processes, the faster t...

  Calorie restriction or caloric restriction, usually abbreviated to CR, is a strategy proven to extend healthy, average, and maximum life span in many short lived species, including mice and rats, and at least healthy and average life span in primates. In research papers it is more usually called dietary restriction, abbreviated to DR, and rodent studies conducted over the past 20 years have reliably demonstrated up to a 40% increase in maximum life span through life-long DR. These benefits to health and longevity have been shown in animal studies to roughly scale with the degree of calorie restriction imposed, but there is good reason to believe that any gain in primate (and especially human) life span through CR is much more modest than that observed in mice. The calorie restriction response exists in near all species tested to date, and probably evolved very early in the history of life on Earth as a way to increase the chances of surviving seasonal famines or other periodic sh...