There are numerous herbs, diets, and things that have been recommended to us to do in order to extend our life, or slow down the aging process (which we guess is about the same thing). Have they worked? We suppose the results are a bit mixed, but it seems that scientists at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine could have discovered what does work.Basically as we age, some of our cells “retire”, or to be more scientifically accurate, enter into a state called senescence. It has been observed that the accumulation of senescent cells have contributed to various health problems as we get older, but what scientists Darren Baker and Jan van Deursen theorized is that by removing these “retired” cells, it could result in an extension of life.
So far they have managed to test their theory on mice, in which by removing said cells, the deterioration of the kidneys, heart, and fat tissue was slowed, thus extending the life of the mice who also managed to live healthier as well. This discovery was actually made by accident back in 2004, when they attempted to turn off a gene that they thought involved cancer.
Instead what happened was it revved up the body’s aging process, but it was only in 2011 that they managed to figure out a way of singling out and removing the senescent cells. Their initial experiment found that while the mice still died earlier, by removing the cells, the mice at least died while being bigger, fitter, and healthier.
Norman Sharpless from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, is pretty optimistic about these findings. “The usual caveats apply—it’s got to be reproduced by other people—but if it’s correct, without wanting to be too hyperbolic, it’s one of the more important aging discoveries ever.”
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