Want to Stay Young Forever? The Answer May Not Be As Far Off As You Think
LANA SMITH – If you’re reading this article, chances are your eventual death is a far enough milestone that you rarely think about it. But while aging isn’t something most college students worry about, a generation of middle-aged billionaires are attempting to slow down, or even stop the process of physical aging, and may be able to do so in time to preserve your youth.
Wealthy investors from around the world seem to be obsessing over this vanity project, and they’re happy to donate the money to make it happen. From Jeff Bezos to the Saudi Crown Prince, the mega wealthy are throwing their financial weight behind studies aimed at finding the magic pill. But will their money be enough to make it happen? It turns out, it may not only be possible, it may be right around the corner and possibly cheaper than anyone would have imagined. The vast majority of investors in anti-aging products and treatments are focusing on new medications, supplements, and therapies which could make for enormous payouts for their developers and investors. These treatments include everything from workouts to reprogramming human cells. But it seems that the most promising treatments may be ones that we have been aware of all along.
Metformin, an inexpensive diabetes medication developed in the 90’s, has recently come to the attention of scientists as having anti-aging effects which extend lifespan and overall health. Although it isn’t approved by the FDA to treat anything other than diabetes, metformin is shown to prevent many diseases which cause the body to age. Aside from its surprising effects of reducing inflammation and stimulating cells to repair themselves, studies show that metformin reduces the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and general decline in cognitive functions such as thinking and memory. With mild side effects and an extremely low price per dose (roughly six cents per pill), metformin has huge potential as a possible tool in slowing human aging.
Metformin is sometimes used off-label for a handful of conditions, but there is currently more research needed before it can be prescribed to specifically prevent aging. One of its biggest obstacles is that “aging” isn’t considered to be a medical condition by the FDA. Before any drug can be approved to slow aging, it must be proven, to the FDA’s liking, that aging is in fact a disease. Scientists working with the American Federation for Aging Research are hoping to use metformin not only to slow aging, but to prove to the FDA that aging can be treated with medication.
Other existing medications that have shown promise in anti-aging include a drug called rapamycin, which was originally developed to keep the body from rejecting organ transplants, but has since been approved to fight cancer and is being studied for its anti-aging benefits similar to those of metformin. Studies include one that was investigating whether taking rapamycin for a short period of time in early adulthood could have lifelong health benefits.
Scientists are now starting to test medications with anti-aging benefits in combination with one another. One study combining rapamycin and another drug, acarbose, increased the lifespan of lab rats by 28% in females and 34% in males. If effects were found to be similar in humans, this could translate to an average of over 22 extra years of life in American women and over 25 extra years of life in American men.
Of course, lab rats are not humans, and how other animals respond to various treatments does not always coincide with how humans do. Nonetheless, these studies show extreme promise in the field of anti-aging science, whether you are a rat or a college student.
Copy Editor – Jessica Schumaker