A View of Mainstream Aging Research
A brief tour of the mainstream of aging research can be found at Courant.com - longevity genes, metabolism, drug development. "Once a field crowded with charlatans and hustlers, longevity research has turned up some remarkable insights into why organisms age. And a few scientists have already staked their claims to genes they say are crucial to healthy aging. Almost all of the most promising work on longevity so far has come from a single observation made decades ago - that hungry animals live longer and have fewer health problems than animals that eat more. Scientists studying how the severe restriction of calories imparts such health benefits have zeroed in on a few crucial genes that seem to have very large impacts. ... All the major diseases of aging - cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, cancer, diabetes - they all might fall under the sway of calorie restriction. If we knew which are the critical genes involved in calorie restriction, then we could develop new drugs. That is what we are doing now." I don't see any of this as the path to a future of far greater healthy longevity. The knowledge gained from this research will help, but tweaking metabolism isn't going to rejuvenate those already old. Developing the tools to reverse aging will be no more expensive; we need repair technologies, not metabolic tinkering.
Link: http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-longlife0801.artaug01,0,521167,print.story