Testosterone levels are affected 0.000% by a persons job.

: way to go. Nature has provided very nice ways of altering these set-
: points - exercise is one way. Change of one's diet is another. Perhaps

PARC Forum
Thursday July 8, 1993
Xerox PARC Auditorium, 4:00 PM

BIOLOGY OF HUMAN AGING

Leonard Hayflick
University of California, San Francisco

Our finding that normal human and animal cells age in laboratory cultures
just as they do in the animals or humans from which they were obtained
overturned the dogma held since the turn of the century that cultured cells
are immortal.  We proposed that aging results from intracellular events, a
proposal now widely confirmed.

Two of the observations that support this are: 1) The number of population
doublings of cultured normal human fibroblasts is inversely proportional
to donor age.  2) A direct proportionality may exist between population
doubling potential and the maximum lifespan of many animal species.

It seems that a molecular clock is present in cells.  One recent discovery
that merits attention is the loss of the telomeric sequences TTAGGG as
normal cells age in vitro and in vivo.  Could this be the molecular clock?

-----------------------

This Forum is OPEN to the public.  All are invited.

For more information contact Ralph Merkle at (415) 812-4422 (mer...@xerox.com)

Refreshments will be served at 3:45 P.M. for Forum Attendees only.

Requests for videotapes *Xerox Employees Only* should be sent to Susie Mulhern
(Mulhern:PARC:Xerox).

The PARC Auditorium is located at 3333 Coyote Hill Rd. in Palo Alto.  We
are in the Stanford Research Park, between Page Mill Road (west of Foothill
Expressway) and Hillview Avenue.  The easiest way here is to get onto Page Mill
Road, then turn onto Coyote Hill Road.  As you drive up Coyote Hill past the
horse pastures, PARC is the building on the left after you crest the hill.
Park in the large lot, and enter the auditorium at the upper level of the
building. (The auditorium entrance is located down the stairs and to the
left of the main doors.)

My 70 year old father has 50% to 85% blockage in many of his arteries.
His doctor told him to reduce the fat in his diet, avoid stressful
exercise, and take some prescribed medication.  What else might be
useful that a typical doctor would NOT be likely to think of recommending?
Can you provide references to studies that have shown efficacy of these
other, additional treatments?  If the studies are good enough to
convince his doctor, they'll likely convince my dad, too.

For example, I have heard that Vitamins C & B6 can help reverse
atherosclerosis, but do not have citations of recent studies to
prove that.  Beta carotene, Vitamin E, and even aspirin are other
possibilities that I have heard mentioned.  Also, what are the
contraindications?  (Will excess Vitamin C chelate out some minerals
that he needs?  Will the aspirin inflame any ulcers?)

You ask if vitamin C might reduce mineral-levels. As far as iron is
concerned, the risk is just the opposite. In fact, in some countries
doctors prescribe vitamin C supplements to patients suffering from
(some kinds of) anemia.

If there is a connection between serum ferritin and heart disease
(still an open question), then your dad's ferritin-levels should
probably be monitored if he starts taking large supplemental doses of
C. (On the other hand, I think the relation between C-intake and
serum ferritin weakens to the point of non-existence at dangerous
ferritin-levels, so the risk may be small.)

I actually think everyone taking supplements should check their
mineral-levels from time to time. Supplementation is tricky business.

If anyone has more information on the effect of vitamin-supplements on
mineral status, fire-away on a new thread. I'd be very interested.

-------------------------------------------------------
Articles on C & iron status (snatched from Medline):

4. Rymarenko TV; Spirichev VB.

     [The effect of excessive ascorbic acid consumption on the body
allowance of mineral elements].

   Voprosy Pitaniia, 1992 Sep-Dec(5-6):6-10.
     Language:  Russian.
     (UI:  93206465)
     Pub type:  Journal Article; Review; Review, Tutorial.

22. Bendich A; Cohen M.

      Ascorbic acid safety: analysis of factors affecting iron
absorption.
    Toxicology Letters, 1990 Apr, 51(2):189-201.
      (UI:  90232549)
      Pub type:  Journal Article; Review; Review Literature.

2. Hashimoto F; Fujii Y; Toba M; Okamatsu H; Kohri H.

     Determination of absorption and endogenous excretion of iron in
man by
     monitoring fecal excretion of a stable iron isotope (58Fe).
   Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology, 1992 Oct,
38(5):435-49.
     (UI:  93195583)

8. Mao X; Yao G.

     Effect of vitamin C supplementations on iron deficiency anemia in
Chinese children.
   Biomedical and Environmental Sciences, 1992 Jun, 5(2):125-9.
     (UI:  92352670)
---------------------------------------------------------

....and good exercise, diet, and continuous "brain work"....

Everyday my dad takes his vitamins (started 50 years ago because of his
eyesight   ....  continues now because, as an MD, he keeps up to date
as to what is good for him).  He gets solid cartivascular exersise 3 times
a week....and he has (since his triple-bipass surgery) become vegetarian
(with the exception of fresh fish on occassion)...The blockages in his
arteries were due to poor nutrition (ravenous meat-eater) for years and years..

He works full time (for the government, loves the job...HATES the beurocracy!!)
and is married to a woman (my mom) that is half his age...and there are _no_
complaints from her.  ;)

I am 18 and my dad is 81. (pretty odd having a dad older than your mom's
parents.)

Just though y'all might like to know.

He was very rarely ill, and never had an operation in his life. At the
age of 92 he refused a cataract operation on the grounds that he
wasn't going to start visiting hospitals at that age, and he was fed
up living so long anyway.

I looked at all my articles and books on CR, and could find nothing
indicating that rodents on CR have to be protected from eating each
other. Perhaps in some very extreme CR-regimens this may have happened
once or twice, but if so, I've not seen anything published about it.

   Keith has some odd, hostile feelings about CR, so
   if that's where you read it, it's safe to dismiss it, I'd say.

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        I am looking for a way to increase my slowing metabolism
without using dangerous hormones or anything like that.  Also
looking for a way to alter consciousness without using drugs
preferably a way to inducer dream states.  I am completely serious.
This is my first posting to life-extension.

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