Now That's What We're Talking About!

Now this is the kind of research we need that doesn't blame the "couch potato" in all of us. It comes from the University College London and Professor Dominic Withers: “Blocking the action of the S6K1 protein helps prevent a number of age-related conditions in female mice,” explained Professor Withers. “The mice lived longer and were leaner, more active and generally healthier than the control group. We added ‘life to their years’ as well as ‘years to their lives’.”

The pill form that mimics this genetic manipulations is currently available - but unlike the current flu shot we're not in a hurry to run out and sign up for it. We applaud this wonderful first step but we'll still wait and see. We've seen THINNER (we didn't read the book but the movie was the same thing wasn't it?) and we know how losing weight can be a curse.

Drugs that activate AMPK are already in use in human patients to treat type 2 diabetes – metformin, a widely-used drug for the disease, is thought to work by activating AMPK. A recent study in the journal Nature showed that the drug rapamycin also extended the lifespan of mice. Rapamycin is used in humans to prevent organ rejection after transplants, and could not be administered as an anti-ageing drug in its current form. However, rapamycin blocks the activity of S6K1 and may therefore extend lifespan through its effects on S6K1. Together these studies provide evidence that this is a drug-sensitive pathway controlling ageing in mammals and suggest new approaches for the treatment of age-related diseases. We are suddenly much closer to treatments for ageing than we thought,” said Dr David Gems, one of the study’s authors. “We have moved from initial findings in worm models to having ‘druggable’ targets in mice. The next logical step is to see if drugs like metformin can slow the ageing process in humans."

It's just good to know that some researchers are moving in the right direction instead of the normal blaming the victim studies that tell us we need to eat right and exercise. We know we need to eat right and exercise. That's why we pay those monthly gym memberships that we never use.