(This from a thread by Leonid Gavrilov on sci.life-extension newsgroup.
It has been commonly assumed that Caloric/Dietary Restriction has been the only sure method to extend life-span. The abstract below is from the upcoming International Association of Biomedical Gerontology 10th Congress) and it takes a look at the life-extension effects of curcumin and green tea.
A quote from the thread says
...I look forward to the publishing of the papers [from abstracts at the congress] every year . These abstracts by the most immanent scientists in biogernontology touch on every aspect of aging and serve as both a good review of the past year and a preview of the year to come. I suppose those of most general interest will be once again published as a volume of the annals of the NYAS.
Link to submitted abstracts... Link to submitted abstracts... (LOTS!)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Interventions in aging and age-associated pathologies by means of nutritional approaches K. Kitani, T. Yokozawa, T. Osawa National
Institute for Longevity Sciences, 36-3, Gengo, Moriokacho, Obu-shi, Japan 4748522
The "Free Radical Theory of Aging" (FRTA) initially proposed by Harman [1]) half a century ago has been increasingly supported in
recent years. However, while there have been a number of studies demonstrating a significant effect of antioxidant treatment in
preventing experimentally induced pathologies that are believed to be at least partially caused by oxygen induced tissue damage, so-called antioxidant strategies have not been shown convincingly to be effective in increasing life spans of animals [2]). Accordingly, the general consensus of experimental gerontology in the last century was "The only reproducible means of prolonging survivals of animals is the calorie restriction paradigm." As a challenge against this dogma, we attempted to examine the effect of two potent antioxidants, one
tetrahydrocurcumin (TC), a biotransformed metabolite of curcumin contained in turmeric of Indian curry, and the other green tea
polyphenols (PPs). Male C57L/6JNia (Harlan-Sprague Dawley, Ind.) began to receive treatments at the age of 13 months. In the TC experiment, animals received TC containing pellets (0.2%) or standard pellets (MF, Oriental Ltd., protein 24%). In the PPs experiment, animals received normal diets (MF) and normal drinking water or water containing green tea water extract product (Sunphenon 100S, Taiyokagaku, Yokkaichi, Japan) containing various PPs ( ÅÑ70%) at a concentration of 80 mg/l both pasteurized by g ray irradiation. Survivals of animals were examined until deaths of these animals. Average life span (days) in TC fed mice was 11.7% longer (882.2 ±154.6, mean ± S.D.) than in control mice (797.6 ± 151.2, both n=50) (P<0.01). The 10% longest survival was also significantly greater (+6.5%, each n=5, P<0.05) in TC fed animals. The increase in average life expectancy after 24 months of age as calculated by including mice that died before 24 months as negative days was 125.9 %. Similarly, in PPs fed mice, the average life span increased by 6.4%, (801.1 ± 121.5, 852.7 ± 88.2, control vs. PP fed mice, each n=50, P<0.01). The increase in average life expectancy after 24 months was 72.6%. Body weights of TC fed animals were slightly (4~6%) but significantly (P<0.05) lower compared with those in control mice in the first 6 months of treatments. Thereafter the difference was totally lost. In PP fed mice, average body weights were almost identical to those in control mice throughout the observation periods. Most of past attempts including that by Lipman and coworkers [2]) by nutritional means have failed in achieving a statistically significant prolongation of life spans of animals. However, as shown in the present study, some nutriceuticals appear to have potential of significantly increasing life spans of animals. Both nutriceuticals have been shown to be effective in preventing a number of experimentally induced age associated disorders including cancer, atherosclerosis and others. Furthermore, the advantage of these agents is the least toxic nature to humans which has been confirmed in human experimentation of thousands of years. Since these agents are known to be effective in preventing atherosclerosis which does not involve wild type rodents but is the number one killer of elderly humans, it is expected that supplementation of these agents may be effective for prolonging the life span (at least health span) of humans possibly more effectively than observed in rodents. In conclusion, nutritional approaches in prolonging the health span (if not life span) of humans may be more promising than believed before and deserves further extensive study using nutriceuticals possessing antioxidant properties.
References 1) Harman D. J. Gerontol. 12:257-263, 1956
2) Lipman RD et al. Mech Ageing Dev 103:269-284, 1998
Key words: mice, life span, tetrahydrocurcumin, green tea polyphenol, antioxidants
