Some research into longevity attempts to deny the reality of death, according to Dr Malcolm Parker, Senior Lecturer in Ethics and Professional Development with The University of Queensland’s School of Medicine.
According to Dr Parker, there was a need for both “honesty in the face of individual death”and a rejection of “guilt over end-of-life decisions”.
Dr Parker will explore this issue when he presents “Virtues, values and the void: An ethical appraisal of life extension” at a Life Extension Symposium to be held at in Brisbane this weekend.
The symposium brings together health experts from various disciplines to examine a range of life extension issues. Topics will include new genetic discoveries, the influence of hormones, antioxidants, exercise, obesity, complementary medicine and mental health, as well as general health issues. (A collection of abstracts is attached.)
Life Symposium 2003 – “Adding years of healthy, happy living scientifically” will be held at the Brisbane Convention Centre on Saturday, 24 May from 9am to 5pm.
The symposium has been organized as a partnership between the UQ’s Australasian Centre on Ageing, headed by Professor Helen Bartlett, and Professor Brian Morris of the University of Sydney’s Department of Physiology and the Institute for Biomedical Research.
For more information and a program of speakers, visit www.life-extenders.com.au and click on the Brisbane event.
ENDS
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT FACULTY COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER MARLENE MCKENDRY ON 3346 4713 OR 0401 996847.
ABSTRACTS – 24 May 2003 - Life Extension Symposium
ANTIOXIDANTS AND AGEING
Jeff Coombes,
School of Human Movement Studies,
University of Queensland.
Oxidative stress is defined as an imbalance between prooxidants and antioxidants. Severe oxidative stress progressively leads to cell dysfunction and ultimately cell death and has been linked to diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer, brain dysfunction and cataracts.
Antioxidants comprise both endogenous (enzymes, thiols) and dietary (vitamins E and C) and participate in metabolic processes aimed at decreasing oxidative stress. The major nutritional antioxidants are found primarily in fruits and vegetables along with other compounds such as phytoestrogens and isoflavones that may have biological antioxidant capabilities.
The free radical theory of ageing states that the accumulation of oxidative stress underlies the fundamental changes that occur in ageing and has lead to the investigation of the effects of enhancing antioxidant systems, with dietary supplements, on ageing and diseases associated with ageing.
Current data indicate that dietary antioxidant supplements cannot prolong maximal life span. Furthermore, although early observational epidemiological studies indicated a beneficial effect of antioxidant supplementation on age-related diseases recent prospective controlled studies have not supported the previous findings.
In summary, the current lack of sufficient data does not permit the systematic recommendation of antioxidants to protect against diseases associated with ageing. Nevertheless, a wealth of data supports the use of antioxidant-rich diets of fruits and vegetables as protectors against degenerative diseases associated with ageing.
Genetics of Longevity
Dale R. Nyholt, PhD
Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory
Queensland Institute of Medical Research,
Brisbane, Australia
Siblings of centenarians (people who live past 100) live longer than others. Male siblings of centenarians are at least 17 times as likely to attain age 100 themselves, whereas female siblings are 8 times as likely than people in the general population (Perls et al. 2002).
Genetic factors play an important role in exceptional longevity. Possible because they influence basic mechanisms of aging, which in turn broadly influence susceptibility to age-related illnesses. Obviously, lacking genetic variations that predispose to disease, and/or having genetic variations that provide disease resistance (longevity enabling genes), are probably both important to such a remarkable survival advantage.
Recently, a genome-wide linkage scan for such predisposing loci was conducted utilising 308 individuals belonging to 137 sibships demonstrating exceptional longevity. Significant evidence for linkage was noted on chromosome 4, at marker D4S1564, with an MLS (maximum lod score) of 3.65 (P = 0.000043) (Puca et al. 2001). These linkage results indicate the significant likelihood that there exists a gene or genes that exert a substantial positive influence upon the ability to achieve exceptional old age.
Our current knowledge on the genetics of longevity will be reviewed along with the direction of future work.
ATHEROSCLEROSIS AND AGEING
Julie H. Campbell,
Director, Centre for Research in Vascular Biology,
University of Queensland;
Director, The Wesley Research Institute
Atherosclerosis, as a single disease, is responsible for more deaths in Western society than any other disorder. It can affect people of all ages, but is particularly prevalent in persons over 65 years of age. It affects large and medium-sized arteries throughout the body, and basically consists of the deposition of cholesterol within, and a hardening of, the artery wall. The lesions of atherosclerosis are dangerous because they narrow the lumen of artery and induce the formation of blood clots that can completely block the artery. This, in turn, leads to death of the tissue that the artery normally supplies with oxygen and nutrients.
The location of the vessels in which the atherosclerotic lesions form determines the clinical disease. For example, if a lesion develops in an artery supplying the heart, it can lead to coronary occlusion and myocardial infarction; if lesions occur in an artery supplying the brain, stroke may occur; if a lesion occurs in an artery supplying the leg, gangrene and amputation may result; and if it occurs in the abdominal aorta, weakening of the wall can lead to aneurysm (blow-out) and massive internal bleeding resulting in death within minutes. Surgical treatment for these disorders includes angioplasty, stenting, and bypass or inter-position grafting with either autologous vessels or polymer prostheses.
While the clinical syndromes usually occur in the aged, the underlying disease of atherosclerosis begins in childhood as “fatty streaks” that evolve over decades into fibro-fatty plaques with unstable caps that ulcerate and split. It is a multi-factorial disease that is basically an inflammatory/injury process combined with the deposition of cholesterol. The major risk factors for atherosclerosis apart from advanced age are family history (genetic), male gender, diabetes, high blood pressure, high plasma cholesterol, cigarette smoking, obesity and physical inactivity. Micro-organisms (eg. from poor oral hygiene) may also play an important role.
As well as the impact on the individual, cardiovascular disease in the elderly places a major burden on the nation’s health system and economy with an estimated expenditure of $1,700 per annum for each person over 75 years of age.
VIRTUES, VALUES AND THE VOID: AN ETHICAL APPRAISAL OF LIFE EXTENSION
Dr Malcolm Parker, MBBS, M Litt,
Senior Lecturer, Ethics and Professional Development,
School of Medicine,
The University of Queensland
Distinctions can be made between weak and strong life extension, and between geriatrics and anti-aging medicine. Historical and conceptual inquiry into the relationships between aging, time, disease, medicalisation, mortality and death suggest that these distinctions are blurred, and do not provide adequate grounds for distinguishing between legitimate healthy aging research and practice, and unethical scientific hubris in extending life.
Increases in both healthy years and maximum lifespan are achievable and legitimate. An ethical distinction is best made between practices which accept, and those which attempt to deny, that all lives will end. There is no evading our extinction. When identity, relationships and meaning have gone, death is the natural order of the day.
Both conventional end-of-life care and dreams of radical life extension can offend against the need for honesty in the face of individual death. We should resist the neurosis of radically extending life in order to deny death, and reject the guilt over end-of-life decisions which derives from another time and view of the world.
CALORIC RESTRICTION AND LIFE EXTENSION IN HUMANS
Assoc Prof Arthur V Everitt PhD,
Centre for Education and Research in Ageing,
Concord Hospital,
Depts of Physiology and Anatomy & Histology ,
University of Sydney
A sedentary lifestyle in developed countries has led to overeating, which is life shortening.
Our intake of calories should be reduced from early life. When the food intake of rats or mice is restricted by 40% from childhood, body growth is inhibited, many physiological ageing processes are retarded, the onset of most diseases is delayed and the duration of life is extended by 40%. Rhesus monkeys on 30% calorie restriction for 16 years have reduced risk factors for cardiovascular disease (blood pressure, plasma cholesterol) and diabetes (blood glucose, insulin).
In the 1990s a 2 year study of 8 healthy human subjects on 20% calorie restriction revealed similar anti-ageing effects on cardiovascular and diabetes risk factors. These same changes are also seen in rats where the life duration is extended by 40%. The effects of calorie restriction in humans are similar to those of drugs which lower blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose and in so doing delay the onset of vascular disease and diabetes and extend life.
