Two strategies for population-level healthy aging – implemented in this order

Posted on 16th November 2019 by Georges

We should live in a world where everyone has the chance to age healthy. We can get there by investing in the following two strategies and implementing them in this order:

(1) Personalized health tracking and advice. Stop using antioxidant supplements, stop plastering exotic fruit extracts on your face, and stop that crazy zero-carb diet. Unless, of course, you’re tracking and know that it’s benefiting you. There’s a Dutch saying ‘meten is weten’ which means ‘measuring is knowing’ and that sums it all up. You need to understand your own body to understand if the things you are trying are working for you. That means knowing your genome, microbiome, blood sugar responses to meals, activity levels, heart rate variability, and sleep patterns, to name a few.

Why? Let’s take the case of ‘calorie restriction,’ Continue reading →

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Why your blood glucose levels matter for aging

Posted on 6th October 2019 by Georges

Your blood glucose (BG) levels rise when you eat a meal. Your body naturally responds to this, regulating BG levels by releasing insulin, which signals to various tissues in your body to absorb this extra glucose and return your BG levels to normal. How well your body is able to do this is dependent in large part on how sensitive it is to the insulin. If it’s a bit ‘insulin resistant,’ then it will take longer for your BG levels to return to normal after a meal, or it can even remain always a bit high (such as with diabetes).

The main reason you wouldn’t want high BG levels in general is that fasted BG levels are associated to increased mortality rates – the higher they are, the worse off you are1,2. Unfortunately, aging makes your fasted BG levels slowly rise (see below)1, and it rises less fast in people who end up living longer2. Not only that, but for any given age you have, having BG levels higher than average is also associated to even looking older3! In a study with 602 adults looking at facial images, per 1 mmol/L increase of blood glucose levels, perceived age of an individual increased by 0.40 years on average, already accounting for the age differences that naturally occurs3. Continue reading →

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The 617 million dollar question your parents want answered

Posted on 7th April 2019 by Georges

What is the 617 million dollar question? The aged population is increasing faster than any other on earth and soon–if not already–there’ll be even more people aged 65+ than under the age of 5. The 617 million dollar question comes when everyone aged 65+ gives a dollar to answer ‘how can we age healthy?’

Yes, there are 617 million people aged 65+ on the planet, and that’s just current estimates. By 2050, it’s expected that this number will more than double, while the world population will go up by only about a third. Europe will have roughly a quarter of its population aged 65+. And while the top 4 ‘oldest countries’ now are Japan, Germany, Italy, and Greece, by 2050 it’ll be Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. We’re all getting older, fast, and if you keep reading the numbers in the report from the US Census Bureau, you’d give a dollar for healthy aging too, no matter your age. Continue reading →

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Should I take metformin for aging?

Posted on 3rd March 2019 by Georges

The antidiabetic drug metformin has been gaining lots of attention. This fame is well deserved since it extends lifespan in worms, mice, and there’s a clinical trial going on for human aging1. If you feel you’re getting older you might ask yourself should I should take metformin too? There’s just one thing to consider. Continue reading →

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Men die, women suffer

Posted on 19th January 2019 by Georges

It is well known that men die earlier than women. The sad part is that women live longer than men, but in worse health1, a trend that exists across many different countries2. If we can understand why, we can do something about it. Can we get women to live with the health benefits of men, and men to live as long as women?

Continue reading →

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Can 23andMe tell me how long I’ll live?

Posted on 9th December 2018 by Georges

23andMe can tell you something about your ancestry and can scare the crap out of you from all the genetic disease risks you might have, but can it also say something about your longevity? Scientists have also looked at the same kind of data 23andMe generates about you, and happen to have found three very important places in your genome that might say something about how long you’ll live1.

These three places in your genome are in just two genes: the stress response related FOXO3 and the cholesterol related APOE. The genetic locations, called ‘single nucleotide polymorphisms,’ or ‘SNPs’ for short, were found to have certain nucleotides (which are Gs, Ts, As, or Cs, the famous genetic code) be more commonly present in people of advanced age throughout the world. That means they might help you reach that age if you have them too.

So what are they? Continue reading →

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How a Snicker’s bar is healthy

Posted on 14th May 2017 by Georges

Inside all of us, there is an enormous, passionate, slightly obese, Raccoon. Though quite sociable, Raccoon unfortunately has one main drive in life: Snicker’s bars. It is often going full-throttle on it. Obviously, the more Raccoon gets satisfied, the less you have of a healthy life expectancy. What you might not realize though, is that Raccoon’s passion is made up of only three things: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. In fact, all your food is mainly made of these. Raccoon doesn’t care about those measly little micronutrients, the vitamins and minerals, and right now, nor should you. This is about the big stuff, the so-called macronutrients that have an enormous effect on your life.

Continue reading →

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The what, why and how of aging

Posted on 9th April 2017 by Georges

What is aging, why does it happen, and how? Good questions.

What is aging?

Here it’s pretty well accepted, aging makes you more likely to die, and you are going to die of a disease. That simple. (Assuming you are lucky enough to not die from an accident or the violence of this world). You might want to read more about the top causes of death and what we should do about it. The next question starts to get a bit trickier now:

Why does aging happen?

This is basically asking ‘why does aging even exist’?! Well, why should we not age? The answers to ‘why’ questions in biology usually root themselves in evolutionary theories. For example, why don’t penguins fly? Or Ostriches? This might be because something else was more important for evolution than to have them fly, such as swimming better or running faster. For aging, something like this might be the case too. Why do we not live forever? Presumably, something else has been more important. For this answer, you’ll want to read more about the evolution of lifespans and watch a video on the differences between lifespans in mammals. And for the question that might have got you to this page:

What causes aging?

Continue reading →

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Your typical day on your way to 120

Posted on 21st January 2017 by Georges

Good morning, Matt. Digital birds are chirping as a soft alarm-clock light fills the room. You are waking up to the start of a new day, on the lovely road of longevity.

07h00: Rise and shine!

You leap out of bed to greet the day. You love those birdies Matt, no one is pushing you but yourself out of bed this morning. You know that just having a sense of purpose and meaning in life is already good for your lifespan1.

07h30: Breakfast

You forget about the frosty puffed-corn-wheat flakes and instead you go for longevity food: Continue reading →

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The (obvious) 6 questions for a longer life

Posted on 2nd January 2017 by Georges

Being obvious and impactful, it is important to not get these wrong in your life. Ask yourself these six questions. Continue reading →

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