Four steps toward the control of aging: following the example of infectious disease

Abstract

The biotechnological task of controlling human aging will evidently be complex, given the failure of all simple strategies for accomplishing this task to date. In view of this complexity, a multi-step approach will be necessary. One precedent for a multi-step biotechnological success is the burgeoning control of human infectious diseases from 1840 to 2000. Here we break down progress toward the control of infectious disease into four key steps, each of which have analogs for the control of aging. (1) Agreement about the fundamental nature of the medical problem. (2) Public health measures to mitigate some of the factors that exacerbate the medical problem. (3) Early biotechnological interventions that ward off the more tractable disease etiologies. (4) Deep understanding of the underlying biology of the diseases involved, leading in turn to comprehensive control of the medical problems that they pose. Achievement of all four of these steps has allowed most people who live in Western countries to live largely free of imminent death due to infectious disease. Accomplishing the equivalent feat for aging over this century should lead to a similar outcome for aging-associated disease. Neither infection nor aging will ever be entirely abolished, but they can both be rendered minor causes of death and disability.

Pycnogenol: A Miracle Component in Reducing Ageing and Skin Disorders

“…Owing to ageing, muscles usually lose strength and tone resulting less coordinated or have trouble balancing movement which ultimately leads to muscle atrophy [49]. Body immunity is decreased with ageing as result infections have become more prominent that eventually cause death [50]. Environmental factors as well as chemical exposures during life may lead in progression towards the end of functional reproductive phase.…”