Health vs Longevity Revisited

[Guest guest]

A week or so ago somebody asked if we do CRON for " Health " or

" Longevity " ; the majority of people thought that these were the same.

So far as CRON is concerned, I think they are the same. But

there are some people pushing " anti-aging " regimens that may or may not

extend your life; the paradigm here is different from CRON -- it's all

about taking supplements, hormones, and pharmaceuticals.

A good example of this kind of thinking is " International

Anti-Aging Systems " , a company based in Britain that sells

supplements, hormones and pharmaceuticals by mail. They are an honest

outfit, in the sense that they'll really ship the stuff you order, and

you'll get something consistent with the description, but they play it

fast and loose when it comes to long-term consequences and side-effects.

Estrogen supplementation is mainstream for women, but you'll find

doctors who shoot up older men with Testosterone and other

androgenic/anabolic steroids. Barry Bonds certainly saw steroids as a way

to salvage his career in his 30's. Some doctors are shooting up both men

and women with human growth hormone.

There are a large number of agents that can improve people's

function in the short term -- somebody might look and feel younger, be

able to lift more weights, and perhaps perform better mentally; these

might " turn back the clock " in some people's minds, but it's not so clear

that these things extend life; they might possibly shorten it. The fact

is that we don't know a lot about the long-term effects of these drugs: we

know that anabolic steroids lower HDL levels (college athletes who take

steroids often have an HDL level less than their age), and can point to a

number of football players and pro wrestlers who have died young, but

there's no solid evidence that these drugs are harmful to the heart.

For instance, people over 80 have a very low rate of cell

division: this means that injuries take a long time to heal, but it also

means that cancer grows slowly. It may well be that humans are optimized

for long-term survival, and trying to increase " vitality " at advanced age

may shorten life.