For some time, people have recognized a biochemical similarity between aging and cancer. For very much longer, we have known that cancer is not only related to growth but actually is uncontrolled growth. Dr. Andrzej Bartke has led the way in showing why slowing growth will slow aging.
Understanding the work of Dr. Andrzej Bartke, our Featured Guest on Wednesday’s Expert Series teleconference is essential to knowing how to practice calorie restriction. Back in the 1990s when wrong ideas about how to practice the lifestyle abounded, Dr. Bartke and his colleagues came up with this study:
Dwarf mice and the ageing process. Nature 384:33, 1996.
It shows that mice with severely retarded growth have greatly extended lifespans.
Subsequent studies followed and it became clear, that “growth” is inextricably linked to aging. But why does slowing growth extend life?
The work of Andrzej Bartke and colleagues again provides answers. Calorie restriction and the slowing of growth hormones preserve stem cells. Consider the conclusion of this 2010 study:
A novel insight into aging: are there pluripotent very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs) in adult tissues overtime depleted in an Igf-1-dependent manner? Aging (Albany NY) 2010;2:875-883. Ratajczak MZ, Shin DM, Ratajczak J, Kucia M, Bartke A
“[W]e present for the first time a hypothesis that reconciles aging, longevity, insulin factor signaling, and high caloric uptake with the abundance and function of pluripotent VSELs [Very Small Embryonic-Like stem cells] deposited in adult tissues. A decrease in the number of these cells will affect pools of TCSCs [Tissue Committed Stem Cells] and have an impact on tissue rejuvenation and life span.
Several months ago we wrote:
The CR Way is a Stem Cell Diet
In the months to come, new stem cell strategies will be revealed that help usher in the new age of extended lifespan. The work of Dr. Andrzej Bartke is a beacon that lights the way.
See also:
Hormones and how they relate to aging, disease risk and CR
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