Is there a future for anti-aging medicine?
Beyond my years
Anti-aging medicine: a worldwide panacea
or a relatively honest way of taking money from the population?
Elena Sigmund, "Results" No. 17-2012
One of the most controversial and at the same time one of the most progressive trends in human health science – anti–aging medicine - is turning 20 years old. On the occasion of the round date, a very representative congress was held in Las Vegas, which gathered about six thousand doctors from all over the world, who argued with foam at the mouth about the undoubted and dubious achievements of anti-aging. The discussions proved that the formula "Fewer diseases – a longer and more beautiful life" is indisputable, but difficult to implement. So is there a future for anti-aging medicine?
Undoubted advantagesThe founders of this super-popular direction were about forty American doctors who created the Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) in 1992.
One of them, Robert Goldman, says: "We wanted to change the approach to the age of a person: we began to separate the biological age (the state of his vital organs and systems – biomarkers of age) and the calendar. We are still confident that by studying such biomarkers, it is possible to suggest in each case how to postpone aging." Specialists in the prolongation of youth have adopted the knowledge that is available today about what, strictly speaking, aging is and what are the causes of the withering of the body. This process is explained by several theories and hypotheses, none of which has yet been confirmed or refuted by science. At the top of this list is the theory of oxidative stress. It, in turn, is based on the theory of free radicals, which has been around for more than half a century. According to her, the body, bombarded by free radicals from the environment and metabolic products, gives up at some point. Radicals destroy mitochondria – the "energy stations" of cells that are responsible for our biological age, which in turn triggers age-related diseases. Doctors who adhere to this theory in every possible way extol the antioxidant properties of some vitamins – E, C, beta-carotene, selenium. So, in antiaging, the boom of nutraceuticals-antioxidants obtained from plants - began and continues to this day. Instead of traditional vitamins E and C, curcumin (a bioflavonoid that protects skin cells from aging), pycnogenol – an extract of Mediterranean pine that neutralizes the effects of tobacco smoke, citrinol, which reduces cholesterol levels, began to be used in antiaging.
The second most popular explanation of the causes of aging is associated with immunological theory. According to some studies, life expectancy is almost 90 percent dependent on our genetics. How to prolong youth in this case? It is worth supposedly influencing the immune system with the help of cell therapy, and the body will remember the rejuvenating effect for some time. Previously, scientists have found that some drugs, for example, based on peptide compounds of the thymus, can restore immune cells in an aged body and prolong the life of animals. And in advanced clinics, immunomodulator extracts obtained from mammalian organs began to be used with might and main to revitalize cells. In some places, wealthy citizens for 20-30 thousand dollars try "wonderful" injections on themselves.
Telomeric theory has branched off from the immunological theory of aging. It is known that in the cell nucleus there are chromosomes consisting of DNA chains (information carriers). When dividing their number doubles, the genetic information doubles at the same time. However, it turned out that after each cell doubling, the telomeres (end sections) of chromosomes become slightly shorter. And at some point they shorten so much that the transmission of genetic information is disrupted and the cell can no longer divide. So it gradually loses viability. Hence, the idea arose in antiaging to "reanimate" telomeres, that is, to encourage them to share, thereby delaying aging. The way they are stimulated is actually the preservation of an organism that is beginning to wear out. So, scientists from the biotech company Geron in New York received and certified a drug that is an activator of the telomerase enzyme that stimulates telomere growth - this is a laboratory–purified extract of the Chinese plant astragalus. In the USA, a one-year course of rejuvenation with this drug is practiced, which will cost 12 thousand dollars. This course is preceded by a blood test showing the state of the telomeres of two key cells of the immune system – lymphocytes and phagocytes.
Perhaps a rational grain is also present in psychological theories, such as the cognitive one put forward by scientists at the University of Bonn. They believe that changes in behavior, perception, motivation and fitness for life lead to aging. And American psychologists, in turn, put forward the theory of activity: the more intense a person leads a life, the less susceptible he is to aging. Psychologist Eric Erickson suggests that the key to active longevity is "ego integration": those who calmly accept old age and the inevitability of death, philosophically treat the life they have lived and do not regret anything, remain "in the saddle" longer. But no matter how strong the psychological background of our longevity, "physics" still dictates its own.
Mixed resultsFor 20 years of the existence of antiaging, it has also become obvious that specialists working in this field are able to sell their services perfectly.
This business is set on a grand scale: over the past ten years, the revenues of anti-aging medicine around the world have jumped sharply and amount to about $ 88 billion a year, although rough calculations show that only ten percent of the population in Europe and the United States use anti-aging medicine at best. Maybe those who are in no hurry to chase eternal youth are right? Journalist Arlene Weintraub, who wrote a book called Selling the Fountain of Youth, visited American anti-aging clinics, met with manufacturers of dietary supplements, patients who believed that doctors had discovered the secret of longevity. After her book, many who gathered to turn back the biological clock, thought hard. For example, the issue of the use of bioidentical hormones, which are so advocated in anti-aging clinics, remains extremely controversial. According to one of the heroines of the book, Mary Gallenberg, a gynecologist from the Mayo Clinic network of American private hospitals, bioidentical estrogen and progesterone obtained from soy or rapeseed, "can be even more dangerous to the body than conventional synthesized in laboratories. There is no evidence that bioidentical hormones are effective in antiaging, and the fact that they are obtained from plants does not in itself guarantee their safety. Just read what is written in the instructions for their use: "Put an indicator piece of paper attached to the drug on your tongue, and you will get an answer exactly what hormones you lack." But there is no way to determine the level of hormones in the blood by the composition of saliva."
Recent studies conducted at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila have also questioned the effect of antioxidant vitamins on reducing oxidative stress: perhaps this is just a myth. Hyman Roberts of the Institute of Medical Research in West Palm Beach, Florida, notes that more than half of the American adult population takes vitamin E as a cancer-preventing agent. However, Roberts believes that this is the result of skillful marketing in the food additives industry.
And here's another fresh study. A group of scientists led by Christian Gluud from the University Clinic of Copenhagen compared data from 78 studies involving 300,000 volunteers. About 60 percent of the study participants received dietary supplements with antioxidants (vitamins A, E and C, beta-carotene (provitamin A) and selenium) for two years. Mortality among them was 1.5 percent higher than among those who did not take supplements.
The cellular therapy used in some Swiss anti-aging clinics remains questionable. As a former employee of a very well-known clinic in Montreux told the Results, it may not be by chance that after the examination, patients who are going to undergo a course of revitalization (for example, with a certain bioextract) sign a document that they will not have claims in case of side effects. The doctor, who developed his own method of revitalizing the liver, kidneys, heart, and thyroid gland using extracts from the corresponding mammalian organs back in the mid-30s, used the names of famous patients to attract new ones. But this method has not received scientific confirmation. However, this does not prevent hundreds of patients from all over the world from coming to Vevey or Montreux every year. It is also significant that representatives of a very well-known and popular Swiss clinic among Russian patients flatly refuse to meet with journalists, preferring to keep their methods secret.
And what's next?Is there a future for anti-aging medicine?
Opinions on this matter radically differ. According to another founding father of antiaging, Professor Ronald Klatz, today medical technologies change almost every 2-3 years, and in 20 years specialists will be able to slow down aging at the level of DNA and RNA: "I am sure: personalized genomics is waiting for us. So, for example, if genetic screening shows a tendency to diabetes, the doctor will be able to "repair" the desired section of DNA so that the disease will not arise in principle." In addition, Ronald Klatz has no doubt that by 2050 scientists will grow artificial organs identical to our "native" ones. By about the same time, tissue banks will appear, where samples of cells of each organ of people living on Earth will be stored.
But Professor Laura Fratilloni, director of the Research Center for Aging at the Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University, shared with the "Results" considerations of a completely different plan: "There is no anti-aging medicine, but there is one reasonable direction – geriatric medicine, or gerontology. Only she is engaged in research designed to answer how to improve the health and improve the quality of life of older people. Although huge progress has been made in this research area, we still do not understand how all the links in the chain of reactions that lead to aging of the body and brain work. I declare authoritatively: there are no magic pills for aging."
In turn, the press service of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine A4M readily agreed to answer some typical reproaches against them from gerontologists: "Modern geriatric medicine, for example, claims that even if we exclude all concomitant diseases that are usually fixed during autopsy, prolong human life for more than 15 years it won't succeed. Recall that in 1900 the average life expectancy was 47.3 years, while in 2011 in a number of European countries it exceeded 80 years. And if we proceed from this logic and take into account the discoveries in the field of biotechnology, why not assume that by 2050 people will be able to live for more than 100 years?"
Perhaps anti-aging medicine will become mainstream in 25-50 years. In the meantime, everything revolves mainly around plastic surgery and dermatological procedures designed to rejuvenate the appearance.
At the same time, for some reason, patients often forget that internal organs also age. And even if you do not believe in anti-aging one hundred percent, then it is impossible not to admit that the approaches of this direction in medicine differ from the traditional ones. For example, in the matter of the effect of toxins on the body. Doctors of the traditional direction do not pay attention to this as long as they do not threaten a person's life, while the doctor of the anti-aging clinic would advise detoxification. And this is quite understandable – ordinary doctors treat diseases, specialists trying to prevent aging act ahead of the curve – they look for signs of an emerging problem and try to stop it. In this sense, antiaging has a great future. Just don't wait for miracles.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru23.04.2012