Category Archives: Longevity Medicine

A study conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Lausanne found that a diet rich in whey protein can reduce the amount of fat in the liver.

Researchers from the University of Lausanne found out that the supplementation of whey protein in a person’s diet can lower the risk of developing fatty liver disease in obese women by reducing the amount of fat in liver cells. The study was published in an issue of Clinical Nutrition. They also found that whey protein was able to improve the study participants’ blood lipid profile which is important in promoting a healthier heart. The participants were asked to take the whey protein supplements for a period of four weeks.

Lead researcher Murielle Bortolotti said that their study was uncontrolled and preliminary but it strongly suggests that whey protein supplementation helps reduce the risk of fatty liver disease and promotes cardiovascular health as a long-term benefit. The researchers gathered a group of obese patients with an average BMI of 37.6 and IHCL concentrations between 1.9 to 20.5 percent. The participants were also recorded to have noticeable resistance to insulin with an average insulin sensitivity score of 2.77. The researchers observed that, after four weeks of whey protein supplementation, the study participants’ average IHCL dropped by 21 percent while their plasma triglyceride levels also went down by 15 percent. Their overall plasma cholesterol concentration was down by more than 7 percent after about a month of taking whey protein supplements. Researchers said that the result of the study indicates that whey protein has the potential to improve triglyceride profiles and IHCL.

The Liver and Fatty Liver Disease

The liver is the largest and heaviest glandular organ in the human body with an average weight of 1.36 kilograms. It is divided into four lobes which are unequal in size and shape. It is located at the right part of the abdominal cavity and just below the diaphragm. The portal vein and hepatic artery are responsible for carrying nutrients from the small intestines and oxygen-rich blood to the liver, respectively.

The human liver serves numerous functions including the production of enzymes that break down fats and produce glycogen from glucose. It is also responsible for producing urea and certain amino acids, storing of vitamins like vitamins B12, K, D, A and some minerals. The liver also produces 80 percent of the cholesterol in the body. The common disorders of the liver are liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, hepatitis and Wilson’s disease. The most harmful habit that affects the proper function of the liver is the excessive drinking of alcohol which can potentially alter the metabolic processes in the organ.

The root cause of fatty liver disease remains to be unknown. But medical experts are looking at patients’ resistance to insulin as the primary cause of the condition. Insulin resistance is a metabolic disorder where the cells are no longer responding properly to insulin in order to metabolize glucose.  In other words, insulin is no longer capable of performing its natural task of regulating sugar levels in the body. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is characterized by the accumulation of fat in the liver without the presence of alcohol. It refers to a wide spectrum of liver diseases from steatosis or simple fatty liver, cirrhosis or the irreversible and advanced scarring of the liver, to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Fatty liver disease is common throughout any age group; children can start developing fatty liver disease at the age of 10.

Natural Ways to Promote Liver Health

The liver is a very important organ in the body. Though minor health conditions concerning the liver are often very treatable, it is still necessary to keep the liver functioning properly to promote overall health.

• Diet plays a very important role in keeping the liver in tiptop shape. Ignoring hunger pangs or sudden and unscheduled eating can literally surprise the liver. Every time this happens, the liver exerts effort to produce the necessary enzymes to digest and metabolize the food properly. Eating at different hours of the day will overwork the liver and cause it to become exhausted. When struck with a sudden desire to eat, choosing foods that are not too heavy to the stomach like salads and fruits is recommended. And it is also a good way of maintaining a healthy body weight.

• Drinking plenty of water helps in washing away impurities and toxins out of the kidneys and liver. But drinking too much water while eating can interrupt the normal digestive process. So remember to observe proper pacing.

• The body has a limited requirement for sugars. Eating too much sweet foods can be dangerous to the liver and the human body. Sweets, especially those made or composed of refined sugar, will result to the excessive accumulation of fats in certain body parts like the buttocks, abdomen, thighs and the liver. Too much refined sugar will also result to the production of more triglycerides in the blood which, in turn, can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Some artificial sweeteners had been found by different studies to be poisonous to the body and result to fatigue and hypoglycemia. Eating fruits or blackstrap molasses when you want to eat something sweet are excellent alternatives to artificial sweeteners, especially for individuals with diabetes.

• Foods rich in protein like eggs, chicken, whole grains and legumes can help promote better liver health by helping it maintain a normal protein level in the body since the liver is responsible for producing protein. Low levels of protein can be a strong indication of kidney and liver disease. Eating natural and organic foods that are free of artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors and preservatives can also help in keeping the liver healthy.

• Some disease-causing bacteria can breed in the intestines. These organisms can cause permanent damage to the liver. So it is important to keep the intestines clean by drinking enough liquids and foods rich in dietary fiber.

• Eating less to lose weight can result to an insufficiency of nutrients supplied to the body. This makes the liver weak and incapable of producing enzymes that are needed in the proper digestion of food. Stop worrying too much about gaining weight and instead direct your attention to the foods that you eat to keep your liver and body healthy. As a reward, your liver will be able to better digest food and contribute in managing your weight.

Sources
nutraingredients.com
gicare.com
medicinenet.com
fitness.ygoy.com

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A promising open access study: “Transplanting autologous renal progenitor cells (RPCs), (kidney stem cells derived from self-donors), into rat models with kidney damage from pyelonephritis – a type of urinary infection that has reached the kidney – has been found to improve kidney structure and function. … Advancements in stem cell therapies and tissue engineering hold great promise for regenerative nephrology. Our RPC transplant study demonstrated benefits for pyelonephritis, a disease characterized by severe inflammation, renal function impairment and eventual scarring, and which remains a major cause of end-stage-renal disease worldwide. … The researchers divided 27 rats into three groups, two of which were modeled with an induced pyelonephritis in their right kidneys, while the third group did not have induced disease. RPCs were obtained from the diseased animals’ left kidneys and injected into the right kidney six weeks later. Two weeks after injection, tubular atrophy was reduced. After four weeks, fibrosis was reduced and after sixty days, right renal tissue integrity was ’significantly improved.’ … We propose that kidney augmentation was mainly due to functional tissue regeneration following cellular transplantation. Kidney-specific stem/progenitor cells might be the most appropriate candidates for transplantation because of their inherent organ-specific differentiation and their capacity to modulate tissue remodeling in chronic nephropathies. … The researchers concluded that because renal fibrosis is a common and ultimate pathway leading to end-stage renal disease, amelioration of fibrosis might be of major clinical relevance.”

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-02/ctco-sct021411.php

There is clearly a point in Alzheimer’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases, beyond which the damage caused by the condition is irreversible. Neurons die, and in large enough numbers to destroy vast swathes of information held in the brain – the very foundation of who you are, and the vital components of systems needed to live a normal life. All is not gloom, however. Studies in past years have suggested that up to that point, much of the loss of function that accompanies Alzheimers is in principle reversible:

Some evidence suggests that the worst effects of Alzheimer’s disease can be repaired – that memories are not destroyed, but rather become inaccessible.

Another recent study adds to this picture:

Amyloid-beta and tau protein deposits in the brain are characteristic features of Alzheimer disease. The effect on the hippocampus, the area of the brain that plays a central role in learning and memory, is particularly severe. However, it appears that the toxic effect of tau protein is largely eliminated when the corresponding tau gene is switched off.

Researchers from the Max Planck Research Unit for Structural Molecular Biology at DESY in Hamburg have succeeded in demonstrating that once the gene is deactivated, mice with a human tau gene, which previously presented symptoms of dementia, regain their ability to learn and remember, and that the synapses of the mice also reappear in part. The scientists are now testing active substances to prevent the formation of tau deposits in mice. This may help to reverse memory loss in the early stages of Alzheimer disease – in part, at least.

For yet another consideration of early to mid-stage Alzheimer’s as a form of dynamic blockage of memory access, you might also look at the effects of some newer anti-inflammatory treatments:

The [study from 2008] documents a dramatic and unprecedented therapeutic effect in an Alzheimer’s patient: improvement within minutes following delivery of perispinal etanercept, which is etanercept given by injection in the spine.

Putting aside a discussion of the mechanisms by which this happens, the very fact that it can happen demonstrates the possibility of reversing the worst aspects of Alzheimer’s. Thus memories and the working structures of the brain must remain largely intact until fairly late in the progression of the disease.

Research into Laron dwarfism in a population in Ecuador has been taking place for a few years now: “People living in remote villages in Ecuador have a mutation that some biologists say may throw light on human longevity and ways to increase it. The villagers are very small, generally less than three and a half feet tall, and have a rare condition known as Laron syndrome or Laron-type dwarfism. … though cancer was frequent among people who did not have the Laron mutation, those who did have it almost never got cancer. And they never developed diabetes, even though many were obese, which often brings on the condition. … [this is] an opportunity to explore in people the genetic mutations that researchers [found] could make laboratory animals live much longer than usual. … The Laron patients’ mutation means that their growth hormone receptor lacks the last eight units of its exterior region, so it cannot react to growth hormone. In normal children, growth hormone makes the cells of the liver churn out another hormone, called insulinlike growth factor, or IGF-1, and this hormone makes the children grow. If the Laron patients are given doses of IGF-1 before puberty, they can grow to fairly normal height. This is where the physiology of the Laron patients links up with the longevity studies that researchers have been pursuing with laboratory animals. IGF-1 is part of an ancient signaling pathway that exists in the laboratory roundworm as well as in people. The gene that makes the receptor for IGF-1 in the roundworm is called DAF-2. And worms in which this gene is knocked out live twice as long as normal.”

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/science/17longevity.html

From the Monterey Herald: ” Within a Northeast Ohio lab, a hairless mouse is growing an ear from the cells of a Wadsworth, Ohio, preschooler. Dr. William Landis, the G. Stafford Whitby Chair of Polymer Science at the University of Akron, is leading groundbreaking, tissue-engineering research to grow human cartilage – first in the lab, now in animals and, eventually, in patients. His work is part of a fast-developing field that could help millions of patients repair injuries, replace worn body parts or fix birth defects with tissue grown from their own cells in the not-so-distant future. … Kyle Figuray’s parents agreed to be the first area participants and donors of his otherwise useless cartilage. The healthy, friendly 5-year-old was born with a congenital defect that caused the exterior ear and ear canal on his right side to develop improperly. Typically, the malformed ear cartilage is discarded as medical waste after it’s removed during the first of three procedures to craft a new ear out of rib. Instead, the tissue removed [was] placed inside a vial and shared with Landis’ research team, who carefully cleansed the cells and fed them special nutrients to coax them to proliferate in the lab. A few weeks later, enough cells were available for researchers to ’seed’ them onto a biodegradable, biocompatible polymer scaffold. A few days later, the seeded ear scaffold was implanted under the skin of a hairless mouse … The mouse will be studied over the next year to determine how the cells are behaving and progressing toward normal cartilage. If all goes well, the biodegradable polymer scaffold should disappear, leaving behind only Kyle’s cartilage cells in the shape of an ear. The hope is that an affected person’s cells someday can be harvested, seeded onto similar polymer scaffolds and implanted under the patient’s own skin in the abdomen or back until they grow into replacement tissue. At that point, the new tissue could be removed and used to replace the patient’s injured or defective tissue.”

Link: http://www.montereyherald.com/science/ci_17411698

The Science for Life Extension Foundation is a Russian organization consisting of advocates and aging researchers. They are similar to the SENS Foundation in that they undertake a mix of fundraising, directing research, organizing events, advocacy for longevity science, and publishing on potential methodologies to extend the healthy human life span. These two groups even share some members and advisors in common – it’s a small world these days, after all, and aging research is not a large community to begin with. That is one of many things we like to see change over the next decade or two: if you want rapid progress, there need to be many researchers at work.

The Science for Life Extension Foundation has published a number of professional quality documents that can be downloaded in PDF format from their website. Unfortunately not all of them are available in English, and automated translation of PDFs remains somewhat hit and miss. I did want to direct your attention to one of the documents, however, which is entitled “25 Scientific Ideas of Life Extension.” It is a very elegantly designed, very clear booklet aimed at investors. The PDF packages up a series of scientific research programs aimed at extending human life into compelling elevator pitches – but just saying that doesn’t do it justice. It really is very well done indeed, and you should take a look:

I picked out one of the twenty-five that focuses on a research theme you might be familiar with, as I’ve mentioned it in the past. If you look back in the Fight Aging! archives, you can read more about Cuervo’s work on autophagy and lysosomal receptors:

• A Little More On Preventing Decline in Liver Function With Age
• An Update on Cuervo’s Autophagy Research

In experiments, livers in genetically modified mice 22 to 26 months old, the equivalent of octogenarians in human years, cleaned blood as efficiently as those in animals a quarter their age. By contrast, the livers of normal mice in a control group began to fail. … While her paper does not show increased survival rates among the mice, le Couteur, who has advised her recently on the research, says Cuervo does have data on improved survival rates which she intends to publish.