Practical Measures to Prolong Healthy Life Now
Isn’t that what health care is all about? I know it is for me. I lost my health when I was being treated for lymphoma with chemotherapy and radiation. I was 43 and I was a mere shell of myself. I couldn’t do anything that I really enjoyed. At the end, I did not much care if I lived or died. So, I know what it is to be feeble and broken down. I don’t want to extend that. I have a living will. But if I can enjoy my life and my family, I am all in. I would like to be here longer. For the first time, prolonging healthier life can be a reality. Chronic diseases and aging are caused by the same biology. Researchers have worked enough of that out to make practical interventions possible . Optimal medical treatment prolonged healthy life by eight years in very high-risk patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease over 20 years of follow-up. That is proof that prolonging healthy life is possible. We could do even better now because we have learned much more about the harms of high insulin levels and the benefits of blocking the effects of aldosterone and cortisol at the MR receptor. (Upper right corner of the diagram) SGLT2 inhibitors like Jardiance impact the same biology and have dramatic effects on outcomes. They prolong life by two years in patients with heart failure.
There are many scientists who are convinced longer healthier lives are possible. Dr. Cynthia Kenyon made me aware of this connection in this great TED talk. If you have any interest in living a longer healthier life, you need to take 15 minutes and watch this video. Dr. Kenyon shows how a genetic mutation that makes insulin or insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) less effective doubles the healthy lifespan of a worm. Humans who have this same mutation also live longer. She says, “a sixty-year-old women could look and behave like a thirty-year-old woman.” Insulin resistance in obesity leads to high insulin levels which increases IGF-I production. Aging rates are genetically programmed. High-insulin and IGF-1 levels accelerate aging and chronic disease development. Researchers from across the world who focus on aging and related chronic disease believe we can make progress now.
The diagram shows the critical signaling that accelerates aging and chronic disease development. The receptors for insulin and IGF-1 could both go in the epidermal growth factor (EGFR) box in the middle of the diagram. All the red boxes increase oxidant exposure which activates EGFR and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF is involved in ovarian cancer, diabetic retinopathy, and macular degeneration. Obesity increases insulin and IGF-1 levels. Oxidants switch on other growth factor signaling. These factors and excess calories switch on mTOR and switch off AMPK which are a final common pathway in chronic diseases and aging. The green boxes interfere with it all to extend healthy life while reducing costs—that is optimal medical therapy and that is what this site is all about.