Almost everyone, if we are completely honest, wishes they could live forever. Or at least live a healthy life for a very long time. I mean, who wouldn’t? At the very least, we would like to stay young and fit for a long time. What is there is a very good chance that you could stay young for, let’s say, ever? Okay maybe not. But stay with us here.
We stumbled on some research that claims to have discovered the causes of aging. And you know what they say? Knowing the source of the problem is the key to getting it solved. So, if we can identify the cause of aging, then trust that the solution to staying young is already brewing.
And you know how it is with sci-fi, once it has been considered, its already being made.
The Research into Staying Forever Young
A certain US company, BioViva USA Inc. claims its geneticists have discovered the “source of youth”. Okay, a bit of overkill there, we cannot be forever young just yet. They discovered that a certain part of the cell called TELOMERES are directly related to aging. These dudes are at the end of the chromosomes and the team discovered that babies have the longest, and vice versa.
Elizabeth Parrish, the 45year old director of BioViva has claimed that they have effectively engineered a way to safely increase the length of Telomeres. Telomeres are responsible for cell division and eventual destruction. So, apparently the average person is born with Telomeres length between 15,000-20,000 pairs and dies with about 5,000-7,000pairs. Erm lets leave the complicated stuff.
Basically, the length decreases with the number of per 50 cell division. This division sequence induces the aging process in cells. Yeah, that’s when you stop growing and start getting old and wrinkled. Keeping your cells dividing kinda keeps you young.
Check Out: 7 Foods That Will Make You Look Forever Young
The Result
The team discovered that the enzyme ‘Telomerase’ can help restore DNA and increase Telomere length. The researchers designed a modified RNA with a gene for reversing Telomerase Transcriptase (TERT). This RNA works for 1 or 2 days reversing the length of Telomerase to original length. That’s like making your cells young all over again. Then the RNA breaks down and gets lost.
In English: they can get to the telomeres now and elongate them effectively increasing the length. By doing this for about 1000 nucleotides you can make a person several years younger. The process is supposedly safe, wouldn’t lead to long term mutation or damage because it happens within 2 days.
Success
Parrish had about 6700 nucleotide pairs when tested before the therapy. By the end of one year of therapy, the leucocyte nucleotide count had gone up to 7330. This is equivalent to getting 10years younger. The results were confirmed by a Belgian non-profit organization, and British Biogerontology Research Foundation.
The results are however still subject to expert assessment. What is your take on this? Of course staying young is important especially if it can reverse problems signs of old age. Will you try it out regardless of risks that might arise in the future? or do we live our lives the limited-edition way?
