From the expert on Epigenetic age tests.
‘Don’t take them too seriously.’
And
‘Eat your vegetables.’
4 things that really do slow aging
Horvath says people hoping to boost their health and lifespan should focus on the simple, evidence-based things science has already shown us can slow down human aging. These actions can measurably lower a person’s biological age, and include:
- Not smoking
- Increasing vegetable intake
- Exercising
- Reducing chronic inflammation (which can eventually lead to issues like cancer and heart disease).
“Everything you know about a healthy lifestyle does seem to affect these biomarkers,” Horvath said.
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I am frequently startled to recognize my mother’s advice in the conclusions of today’s experts. Maybe I am suffering from some sort of disorder with my fixation on looking for the complicated and hidden secret to longevity and health. I’ve got so many 0.01% improvement ideas being implemented all at once that I’m probably reducing my longevity by 10%. I think the disorder is called “addiction”.
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Just focus on the big ones. 
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I struggle to find any value in these age tests.
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I agree if you’re trying to get an exact reversal of age biologically, they might not work.
However, they can provide some information that is helpful in our anti aging longevity quest.
When I was upping my dose of rapamycin by 6 times, using glycan testing through blood and DNA methylation testing through spit. I had a parallel issue of negative effect. Having results before change…after dose change and back to reduced dose again.
When tested after reducing to original dose…showed a correlation to being positive in both different biological tests.
In my case, these biological tests were helpful in providing answers to a negative change. For me too high a dose of rapamycin 36 mg weekly was bad. The norm 6-8 mg rapamycin weekly is my sweet spot.
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@Agetron I agree that your decision was sensible but if the age tests are only statistical associations then you can’t be certain that the higher dose wasn’t having some positive long term effect while also delivering a short term negative marker. Still, you were wise to maintain a level of cautiousness to balance the aggressive experimentation since none of us can get reliable feedback about effects. The decision I’m afraid of facing is when the age tests say I am getting younger but I suspect I’m pushing too aggressively.
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Happy Saturday!
My blog/rant for today is: (and don’t take it personally)
There are no “human” longevity experts. Period.
The human studies are all observational only.
The experts’ life extension studies are confined to fruit flies, worms, mice, rats, cats, dogs, etc.
With humans, it is purely observational.
While mice and rats are omnivores, both field and lab mice eat mainly seeds, nuts, and vegetables.
That is why you normally find rats and mice but no dogs, cats, foxes, or coyotes foraging for food in granaries or gardens. Take two cats and dogs, feed one cat and one dog nothing but vegetables, and feed one cat and one dog nothing meat. Which ones do you think are going to live the longest?
One of the cases against eating plants as food for carnivores is this: Animals fight, run, or hide for survival. Plants develop toxins, thorns, etc. for survival. Carnivores don’t like the toxins.
“Some plant foods evolve defense mechanisms to protect themselves from predators by producing inherent chemicals as secondary metabolites such as cyanogenic glycosides, glycoalkaloids, glucosinolates, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, and lectins. These metabolites are beneficial for the plant itself but toxic to other organisms, including human beings”
“Naturally Occurring Plant Food Toxicants and the Role of Food Processing Methods in Their Detoxification - PMC” Yeah, well it says raw vegies are not always better.
I have been on keto and low-carb Mediterranean diets for over two decades.
My experience is; the fewer carbs I eat, the better I feel.
Maybe it’s the Northern European ancestry, but grains and vegetables just don’t sit well in my gut.
Since the US government established the food pyramid we have become increasingly fatter and fatter.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I am a believer that most people are sheep and follow whatever the government and big pharma suggest. Though, even people with an agenda are occasionally right.
When the government and WHO start to push vegetarianism to help reduce climate change and countries like Ireland start killing cattle in the belief it is going to have any effect on climate change, I must go in the opposite direction.
I am a contrarian by nature.
So, if the masses are going vegan, then I am going carnivore.
As I have said, I have been on a relatively low-carb diet for decades and now I am going to try going carnivore for a while.
As long as it makes me feel good and my blood work looks good I will try to stay on the carnivore diet
My current bloodwork is very good for any age and I will see if going strictly carnivore will have any significant change.
The only difficulty I have with the carnivore diet is that it is a little monotonous. One advocate claims that if you only when you are hungry you will be fine. There is some truth in that.
I have had steak for my first meal of the day when I get hungry at about 1 o’clock and it tastes good. The one thing I can say is that so far my gut has never felt better. No carbs, no gas, or bloating.
I hope to see vegans and carnivores alike on the other side of 100.
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Careful with making such statements based on a mere correlation. There are dozens of factors that all play into the obesity crisis such as increased wealth, college education, food availability and prices, (sub-)urbanization and age.
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The epigenetic age tests are quite easy to ‘game’. However, I do think the GrimAge test has value as an indicator of an intervention efficacy. The other tests, especially the publicly available tests, are far less useful.
That being said… my money is on lifespan studies in heterogenous rats.
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Well, I consider what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. “Mere” human correlation studies are the main thing the life-extension experts use.
Also, look into the history of the food pyramid and you will see how stellar companies such as Kellogg were involved.
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I doubt you will find more than 2% of the population going vegan. If that, at least in the USA. That’s hardly masses. There are certainly more plant-based convenience foods available and more talk. But you hardly ever see them out in the wild.
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You’re right, the masses just eat junk food, but many of the governments of the world, including the U.S. are pushing veganism or vegetarianism.
The World Health Organization is pushing meat and dairy-free diets to save the planet.
Visit their website if you don’t believe me. It is not my intent to be political here, but I will eat what I want.
“Why is Ireland culling cattle?
The Government insists that Ireland needs to reduce its cow population in order to meet climate change commitments.” This is both laughable and disturbing to me.
A good article by a scholarly group.
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Not sure if this is what you meant, but canines are omnivores. All my dogs have loved fruits and vegetables. My border collie was ‘living rough’ in Hawaii and stayed fat and happy scrounging fallen avocados and bananas before I took him in. Plus wild turkey eggs, hence the omnivore… He continued to scavenge in the wild even with 2 square homemade organic beef meals a day. Here in Africa, the jackals (basically African coyotes, omnivores) and hyenas (opportunistic carnivores, aka omnivores) love protein-rich Prosopis seed pods, from a type of mesquite tree. As do warthogs (omnivores), porcupines (omnivores), guinea fowl (omnivores). Cats however are indeed obligate carnivores. Cheers from your omnivore fellow-poster and fan.
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