badbobby Loc: texas

Can you imagine living a healthy life well into your 120s? That could be a reality sooner rather than later, after the US Food and Drug Administration recently gave the go-ahead for clinical trials to be conducted on the world’s first anti-aging drug.

The drug, called metformin, has already been proven to extend animal lifespans, and the FDA has, as a result, decided that trials should be conducted to see if it has the same effect on humans. It is already the most widely used drug in the world for treating Type 2 diabetes.

Furthermore, anecdotal evidence was found last year by researchers at Cardiff University, who observed that patients with diabetes taking metformin were living longer than others who were not diabetic, in spite of diabetics having an average life expectancy that’s eight years shorter.


drug, aging
Successful clinical trials would mean that 70-year-olds could have the biological health of 50-year-olds. Scientists also believe that stopping aging could eventually consign aging-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, to history.


We age because our cells divide themselves in order to keep our bodies in the best state of health, however problems begin to occur the more times cells divide, meaning that damage to our bodies eventually can no longer be repaired.

The theory is that if the aging process is slowed down, then all the diseases and pathology associated with aging can be slowed down as well. Scientists believe that this can be achieved because all of our cells contain a DNA blueprint that could keep our bodies functioning correctly forever.




drug, aging
Metformin is believed to have life-extending possibilities for humans because of its ability to increase the number of oxygen molecules released into a cell. This process is believed to boost cell robustness and longevity.


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American scientists are currently looking for 3,000 volunteers aged between 70 and 80 who either have, or are at risk of, cancer, heart disease and dementia, to take part in the clinical trial of metformin, which is scheduled to begin next winter.

According to the World Health Organization, the average global life expectancy currently stands at 71.0 years, but if scientists manage to replicate the results observed in animals during the clinical trials, human lifespan could increase by almost 50%. Amazing!

pafret Loc: Northeast

Metformin has numerous side effects ranging from embarrassing to life threatening. Most Physicians in my area (Northeast) get their patients off the drug as quickly as possible. Metformin has even been the subject of those ambulance chaser TV ads, looking for people who have been harmed by the drug. This may just be another attempt to extend the sales life of this particular drug.

bilordinary Loc: SW Washington

Not a good drug to pursue, for many reasons, side effects for one but the big problem is over population!

badbobby Loc: texas

mayhaps Paf
but just think about it
living into your hundreds

pafret Loc: Northeast

Bobby if I could live into my hundreds with the same health and vigor I had at forty it might be interesting. Other than that, I am content with wh**ever my allotted time will be.

bilordinary Loc: SW Washington

I would take it if it helps COPD, don't know if I want to live to 120 with it though.

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

I am thinking about it. All my friends dead, all their children dead and me still alive with no one to talk to that can relate to anything I know about. That sounds like HELL ON EARTH. No thanks!!!!

badbobby Loc: texas

mayhaps I'm not normal
but I want to go on and on
as long as I can

badbobby Loc: texas

new friends can be made n p
I'm gettin quite proficient at it
since most of the old friends have left

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

New friends would not have the frame of reference or would they want to learn what this old codger wants to teach them.
Of course the constant pain of scolios and severe arthritis does color my perception of the world. This old gimp will keep fighting, however, simply because there are things I havn't finished doing yet.

pafret Loc: Northeast

Exactly, the biggest distress is that none of the people left in my circle have grown up with the same conditions we did and just a few years difference make them residents of another planet. I tried joining the senior citizens group in my town and gave it up. I have enough ailments of my own and didn't need to listen to the constant litany of aches, pains and bad doctor stories.

badbobby Loc: texas

it sumtimes behooves me to look at anothers frame of mind

debeda

Yep. 50 + years of smoking messed with my lungs, too. Im sure i would be dust by now if i hadn't quit. Can't do what I want but make myself do more than I should. Walking, cleaning, carrying stuff is pretty hilarious, step, step, huff, puff, repeat. Sit down, wait for spots in front of eyes to go away and heart to stop pounding. I take my daughter's asthma meds to keep going but am finally gonna go see a doc after the first of the year. Maybe they have some new miracle drug. A doctor told my oldest daughter about 20 years ago that I was the most stubborn woman he ever met after I had to go to the ER for an unrelated issue. LOL. But in all seriousness, these severe breathing problems affect every bit of life. If i could do something to make it significantly better i would. Im sorry if you suffer with this

debeda

But we do go on and on. Just in a different way. Tho you've got a good sense of fun, Bobby. That'll keep you around

debeda

And purpose keeps us going, too, NPP! Look at Steven Hawking. He should've never lived even into his 40s with his disease.