Of course, I think the “future” is already here, its just unevenly distributed… as shown in this earlier thread: Never Too Late To Start Exercising - The Amazing Results of one 93 year old
But - for the broader population, I think this news story is positive:
Each morning after breakfast, Scott Broadbent takes a plastic bottle from the refrigerator in his home in Alameda, Calif., pops the top, and drinks the contents, 2.5 ounces of milky liquid. “It has sort of a pineapple creamy flavor,” he says. “It’s really not bad.”
The bottle might contain ketone ester, a supplement meant to help the body burn fat instead of carbohydrates. Researchers are now testing whether it might also slow the aging process. Or Broadbent might instead be getting a placebo. He is part of a clinical trial at the nearby Buck Institute for Research on Aging to assess the supplement’s safety and side effects in older adults.
A retired chemist who used to work for pharmaceutical companies, Broadbent is 70 and in excellent health today, but he worries about the future. He’s not necessarily afraid of dying, but he doesn’t want to be sick and in pain as he grows older. His dad had Parkinson’s disease. Broadbent survived prostate cancer and recently developed tinnitus, which spooked him and sparked anxiety attacks. “I thought if I had to live like this the rest of my life, I don’t know if I’d want to do it,” he says.
Some scientists think there’s a better way. These researchers — part of a burgeoning field called “geroscience” — aren’t seeking immortality. The focus is much more pragmatic: By addressing the root causes of aging, they hope to stave off the disability and diseases that can make old age so miserable. They want to help people feel healthy for longer, compressing the years of illness that often accompany old age into a much shorter time frame.
