I mentioned Voyager Pharmaceuticals in 2004 in the context of another new theory of aging. Here, JS Online presents a good article on both this theory of aging and the forthcoming trials for a related - and as yet unproven - Alzheimer's therapy. "In their paper published last year in the journal Gerontology, Atwood and co-author Richard Bowen titled the idea 'Living and Dying for Sex.' Simply stated, they say hormones that regulate sexual reproduction early in life can act in a harmful manner later in life, generally when people reach their 40s. That happens because in an attempt to maintain reproduction, the hormones futilely stimulate cells in the body to divide, resulting in cell damage and disease." It's unclear as to how much of age-related degeneration could be due to this mechanism, but it's clearly worth further investigation.

Link: http://www.jsonline.com/alive/news/sep05/356670.asp