The Japanese Continue To Outlive Most Of Us -
There is something about the Japanese society, culture or genetics that holds a key to an extended life. Perhaps it is simply the sushi or the sake that continually places Japanese atop the world’s life expectancy index. According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare the life span of average Japanese citizens continues to increase.
Average Japanese Life Expectancy
A recent report stated that in 2008 the average Japanese woman had a life expectancy of 86.5 years of age. This was a boost by .06 years from only the year previous in 2007. What this means is that Japanese female – for the twenty fourth straight year – sit on top of the list for longest living women. Hong Kong is in second place and France came in at number three.
The government Ministry data claims that for Japanese men, their life expectancy in 2008 was 79.29 years of age displaying an increase in .10 years in only one year from 2007. The Japanese males ranked in fourth place on the world chart behind Iceland, Hong Kong and Switzerland.
According to this report, the top causes of death in Japan were brain disorders, heart disease and cancers in no particular order. It also showed there remain numerous Japanese centenarians on this island of the aged.
American Average Life Expectancy
In case the readers were wondering, The American average life expectancy for women is 80.69 years as claimed by the CIA in the year 2009 and American males lived an average of 75.65 years of age. Japan was listed as third in top average life span while The United States came in at number fifty in 2009.
Old Mice Gain Extended Life Span When Given Drug
According to a report in the summer of 2009 in the prominent journal Nature, researchers from a number of US based research institutes claimed that rapamycin – a compound located on Easter Island and has many different clinical uses – actually increases the life expectancy in aging mice.
Clinical research centers in Texas, Maine and Michigan combined for the experimental study on longevity. Beginning with mice who were four months old, the scientists wanted to give rapamycin to the rodents via their food but the substance was deemed to unsound when placed in feed and when entering their digestive system. When the drug was eventually remixed to evade the stomach and metabolize in the intestine, the rodents were well into their little lives at twenty months of age – or sixty in human years.
The research teams were determined to carry on with the study using the aged mice and the conclusions were exciting for them. The rapamycin treated mice it was discovered had a life extension of between twenty eight and thirty eight percent over normal. In humans, if cancer and heart disease were nonexistent, this increase would be greater than could be expected from humans. The reason is believed to be the mechanism of the drug simulating caloric limitation.
According to most data, caloric restriction did not work when the therapy was performed on older animals. With this in mind, researchers did not believe it would work in their mice. The study results with rapamycin and older mice were totally unexpected for this reason.
One scientist involved in the study stated that he had been involved in the field of longevity research for thirty five years and in that time had seen many unsuccessful anti aging clinical intercessions. He did not believe there would be an anti aging pill for humans in his natural life but rapamycin has a great deal of potential and could become his first.
Thyroid Hormone Booster Linked To Longevity
In the spring of 2009, scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine found an important link with increased life extension and higher than normal quantities of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone or [TSH – which enhances the production of hormones via the thyroid gland]. As stated in their data, hypothyroidism is identified when serum TSH levels are high in the greater reference limit and free T4 remains inside the reference range. Hypothyroidism has been linked to extended life expectancy in certain mammals and also in certain human trials, what is not understood is if it has any healthful aging characteristics.
This particular research focused on serum TSH and free T4 [thyroid hormone] quantities in 232 Ashkenazi Jewish individuals with an average age of ninety seven, another one hundred eighty eight Ashkenazi folks whose age averaged seventy two years and a further six hundred five participants aged from sixty nine – seventy nine years of age. All without symptoms of thyroid illness had taken part in a National Health survey with [NHANES] from 1998 – 2002. The TSH was quite a bit higher in older Ashkenazi Jews when evaluated against the other two study controlled factions but T4 levels were similar in both Jewish groups
Based on the research, it appears that serum TSH levels and allocation rise progressively as subjects get older. This means either a thyroid function decrease or a new TSH position point that happens due to age. The study does not make clear the risk of adverse reaction concerning health due to free T4 or TSH or even slight hypothyroidism. However, this does not seem a likely problem for those persons who attain extended longevity.
Researchers claim it would be wise for elder patients to wait until these issues are resolved before beginning any treatment due to modest rises in TSH with the hormone levothyroxine.
Anti Aging, Anti Aging Theories, Bioscience, Health And Aging
Thu, Dec 31, 2009
Anti Aging, Anti Aging Theories, Bioscience, Health And Aging