Immortality comes a step nearer with new longevity test

The first blood test to measure more accurately how fast our DNA is ageing has been launched in the UK.

The TAT (Telomere Analysis Technology) test, measures the length of telomeres, the tiny caps at the top of our DNA.  It’s already been scientifically proven that the shorter they become the closer we come to the end of life and/or likely to be suffering from life-threatening  diseases or accelerated ageing.
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Until now the only commercially available tests have measured the average length of telomeres – not how many are ageing or the percentage that are getting shorter. The results from the test are used to measure chronological age against biological age, as indicated by the damage to telomeres. The patient would then work with his doctor to correct damage with various lifestyle and diet changes, taking another test in a year’s to check changes.
Telomere damage can be stopped and even reversed by making lifestyle changes such as taking more exercise, a healthier diet and vitamins. There are also some substances which are known as ‘telomere activators’ and promote telomorase, the enzyme which helps lengthen them. These incude some anabolic steroids and TA65, a supplement made from a plant source.
In humans, as cells replicate, the telomere length decreases, as part of the natural process of ageing. But those suffering from diseases will have far shorter than average telomeres which eventually leads to faster or total cell death.
The company behind this new development is a new Spanish biotech, Life Length, which has been spun out research by the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid and specific work by its Director Dr Maria Blasco.
The company has been partly funded by the Spanish government and US venture capital. So far $20 million has been invested over the last five years in developing and refining the technology. The test, at £650 is being made available through doctors in independent practices, who will guide a patient through the process, the results and the changes that should be made to lifestyle. Patients will also be asked, to anonymously contribute to research through a questionnaire to further enable medical knowledge into ageing diseases.
The Doctors Laboratory in London, is providing front end sample preparation for  Life Length, who will process the blood samples in their laboratories in Spain.. Click here to mail the Doctors Laboratory about tests.
Patients undergo a simple blood test through their physician.   The blood is then frozen the same day and sent to Life Length’s Madrid laboratory, where a powerful microscope is able to map the numbers of ‘critically’ short telomeres. The process is very complex, involving the ‘mapping’ of every single cell in the blood, which is why is takes a month to get the results.
At the London launch, Life Length CEO, Steve Matlin, predicted that while the test was expensive at this time, it could eventually become as readily available as cholesterol testing is today.
Matlin, a former US investment banker, has already had himself tested – to find happily that he has a biological age of 37 at the chronological age of 43.
Find out more about this new development on this video:

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Japanese longevity continues to grow

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Tokyo: Japanese people are living longer than ever, with the average life expectancy now 86.05 years for women and 79.29 years for men, the country’s health ministry has revealed.

The life expectancy of Japanese women increased by almost 22 days in 2008 from the previous year, while men added another 37 days, the ministry said.

The longevity of the Japanese is attributed in part to a healthy traditional diet including fish and vegetables and an active lifestyle.

But longevity is causing economic problems for Japan, which has one of the world’s lowest birth rates, leaving a shrinking working population to support a mass of retirees.

Life expectancy in Britain falls

London: Britons have one of the lowest life expectancies in Europe, according to a new study published in the medical magazine, The Lancet.

Researchers at Leicester University discovered that a British woman who reached the age of 50 in 2005 can expect to live for another 32.7 years – reaching 82 years and eight months – ten months less than the European average.

This figure is lower than that for France and Germany, according to the league table of 25 European Union countries.

Britain came just 16th, just above the poorer nations of eastern Europe, and Denmark.

The figures also revealed that while British men’s relative position is slightly better than women’s, they still lag behind countries such as France.

A British man who reached 50 in 2005 – the most recent year for which figures are available – can expect another 29 and a half years of life.

This is about ten months above the European average, but a month lower than France and 11 months lower than Italy.

US life expectancy continues to rise

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Washington: Life expectancy in the US has hit an all-time high of 77.6 years, according to the latest government statistics.

For men, life expectancy in 2003 was 74.8 years, for women 80.1 years. The report says deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke continue to drop. But the research also includes some warnings about potential health problems.

Half of Americans in the 55-to-64 age group, including the oldest of the baby boomers, have high blood pressure, and two in five are obese. That means Americans in the same age group born a decade earlier were in better shape. The health of this large group is of major concern to American taxpayers, because they are now becoming eligible for Medicare and Social Security.

The report is from data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics and dozens of other health agencies and organizations. Among the new findings: Deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke, the nation’s three leading killers, dropped in 2003. They were down between 2 percent and 5 percent.

Life expectancy in the US has been rising almost without interruption since 1900, thanks to several factors, including advances in medicine and sanitation and declines in some unhealthy behavior like smoking.

UK women have lowest life expectancy in Europe, says new report

London: UK women have the lowest life expectancy in the European Union, according to a new report from the Office of National Statistics. But UK men are living longer than most in other European countries.

In a major report based on official statistics, the life expectancy for English men is 76.6 years, the second highest in the European Union which had an average male life expectancy of 74.8.

English women live longer than men, with a life expectancy of 80.9 years, but fare less well in comparison with the EU, where women live to 81.1 years on average. However, Britain is the second “fattest” nation in the EU, with more than a fifth of adults deemed obese, a figure second only to Greece.

Scotland has the lowest life expectancy for men (73.8 years) and women (79.1 years), and the greatest proportion of heavy smokers, a fact reflected in it also having the highest rate of lung cancer.

Wales has the lowest death rate among infants in 2003 and the highest proportion of disabled people in 2003-04.

In Northern Ireland in 2003, 17 per cent of 15-year-olds have some teeth missing due to decay. In England the figure is five per cent

Among the most worrying trends in the report, United Kingdom Health Statistics, was the level of sexually transmitted diseases, which was highest in England. The English rate of gonorrhoea infections in men was more than twice the rate for Scotland and Wales, and the English rate in women was twice the rate for Wales and four times that for Scotland.

Despite a rather poor impression of public health in Scotland, the country had the highest proportion of people taking part in high levels of physical activity, at all ages from 26 onwards.

In the UK, the most common type of health problem reported was arthritis and back pain, affecting about a third of men and women.One person in seven said they had considered suicide at some point.Anxiety and depression was suffered by seven per cent of men and 11 per cent of women.

Lifeline Therapeutics Inc (OTBB: LFLT)

About Lifeline Therapeutics

Lifeline Therapeutics, Inc. is a publicly-traded company (OTC Bulletin Board: LFLT)based in Denver, Colorado, that is dedicated to the manufacture, marketing and distribution of therapies that promote “healthy life expectancy.” The Company is initially focusing exclusively on unique antioxidant products under its Protandim brand and in the future will develop an array of product candidates for nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical applications. To underscore the Company’s commitment to higher quality of life and healthy life expectancy, Lifeline Therapeutics has pledged 10% of its pre-tax profits to support orphanages and other global humanitarian needs.

www.lifelinenutraceuticals.com

Life expectancy by country

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LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH – BY COUNTRY
Source World Health Organisation 2002

For more detailed information and statistics go to www.un.org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/index.htm

As you will see there are huge differences between life expectancy in the developed countries of the world and those living in the poorer countries such as Africa.

In March of this year it has been reported that life expectancy in Zimbabwe has almost halved under dictator Robert Mugabe’s rule. The average Zimbabwean is lucky to reach his or her 33rd birthday. Just 20 years ago life expectancy in this country was 63 – the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. This is less than half than of a Briton. In neighbouring South Africa it is 44, in Kenya 45 and in Nigeria 50.

An interesting book by economist Richard Tren and Roger Bate, Despotism and Disease, examines the policies of Mugabe and the terrible effect on the people of Zimbabwe.

The country’s health service is unable to cope as preventable diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis increase along with an increasing number of AIDs victims.

In the West we have our own preventable diseases caused conversely by the excesses of our lifestyles such as obesity, smoking, alcohol and too little exercise.

COUNTRY MALE FEMALE
Afghanistan 41.9 43.4
Albania 67.3 74.1
Algeria 67.5 71.2
Andorra 76.8 83.7
Angola 37.9 42
Antiga 69 73.9
Argentina 70.8 78.1
Armenia 67 73
Australia 77.9 83
Austria 76.4 82.2
Azebaijan 63 68.6
Bahamas 69 75.2
Bahrain 72.1 74.5
Bangladesh 62.6 62.6
Barbados 70.5 77.9
Belarus 62.6 74.3
Belgium 75.2 81.5
Belize 67.4 72.4
Benin 50.1 52.4
Bhutan 60.2 62.4
Bolivia 61.8 64.7
Bosnia &Herzagovinia 69.3 76.4
Botswana 40.2 40.6
Brazil 65.7 72.3
Brunei 74.8 77.4
Bulgaria 68.7 75.3
Burkina Faso 40.6 42.6
Burundi 38.7 43
Cambodia 51.9 57.1
Cameroon 47.2 49
Canada 77.2 82.3
Cape Verde 66.6 72.9
Central African Republic 42.1 43.7
Chad 46.1 49.3
Chile 73.4 80
China 69.6 72.7
Colombia 67.5 76.3
Comoros 61.6 64.9
Congo 51.6 54.5
Cook Islands 69.2 74.2
Costa Rica 74.8 79.5
Côte d’Ivoire 43.1 48
Croatia 71 78.6
Cuba 75 79.3
Cyprus 75.5 79.1
Czech Republic 72.4 79
Democratic Republic of Korea 64.4 67.1
Democratic Republic of the Congo 41 46.1
Denmark 74.8 79.5
Djibouti 48.6 50.7
Dominica 71 75.8
Dominican Repubic 64.9 71.5
Ecuador 67.9 71.5
Egypt 65.3 69
El Salvador 66.5 72.8
Equatorial Guinea 51.9 54.8
Eritrea 55.8 59.3
Estonia 65.1 77.1
Ethiopia
Fiji 64.6 70.3
Finland 74.8 81.5
France 75.9 83.5
Gabon 57.3 61.4
Gambia 55.4 58.9
Georgia 68.4 75
Germany 75.6 81.6
Ghana 56.3 58.8
Greece 75.8 81.1
Grenada 65.9 68.8
Guatamala 63.1 69
Guinea 50.9 53.7
Guinea-Bissau 45.7 48.7
Guyana 61.5 66.9
Haiti 49.1 51.1
Honduras 64.2 70.4
Hungary 68.4 76.8
Iceland 78.4 81.8
India 60.1 62
Indonesia 64.9 67.9
Iran 66.5 71.7
Iraq 59.1 63.1
Ireland 74.4 79.8
Israel 77.3 81.4
Italy 76.8 82.5
Jamaica 71.1 74.6
Japan 78.4 85.3
Jordan 68.6 73.3
Kazakhstan 58.7 68.9
Kenya 49.8 51.9
Kiribati 61.8 66.7
Kuwait 75.8 76.9
Kyrgyzstan 60.4 68.9
Lao People’s Democratic Republic 54.1 56.2
Latvia 64.6 75.8
Lebanon 67.6 72
Lesotho 32.9 38.2
Liberia 40.1 43.7
Libya 70.4 75.5
Lithuania 66.2 77.6
Luxembourg 75.7 81.7
Madagascar 54.4 58.4
Malawi 39.8 40.6
Malaysia 69.6 74.7
Maldives 66.5 65.6
Mali 43.9 45.7
Malta 75.9 80.3
Marshall Islands 61.1 64.6
Mauritania 49.8 54.5
Mauritius 68.4 75.6
Mexico 71.7 77
Micronesia 64.9 68.1
Monaco 77.8 84.5
Mongolia 60.1 65.9
Morocco 68.8 72.8
Mozambique 41.2 43.9
Myanmar 56.2 61.8
Namibia 48.1 50.5
Nauru 59.7 66.5
Nepal 59.9 60.2
Netherlands 76 81.1
New Zealand 76.6 81.2
Nicaragua 67.9 72.4
Niger 42.6 42.7
Nigeria 48 49.6
Niue 67.6 73.3
Norway 76.4 81.7
Oman 71 76.3
Pakistan 61.1 61.6
Palau 66.4 70.9
Panama 72.8 78.2
Papua New Guinea 58.4 61.5
Paraguay 68.7 74.7
Peru 67.5 72
Philippines 65.1 71.7
Poland 70.6 78.7
Portugal 73.6 80.5
Qatar 74.5 73.8
Republic of Korea 71.8 79.4
Republic of Moldova 64 71.6
Romania 68 75
Russian Federation 58.4 72.1
Rwanda 41.9 46.8
Saint Kitts & Nevis 68.7 72.2
St Lucia 69.8 74.4`
St Vincent and the Grenadines 67.8 71.9
Samoa 66.8 69.7
San Marino 77.2 84
Sao Tom & Principe 61.7 63.6
Saudi Arabia 68.4 73.9
Senegal 54.3 57.3
Serbia & Montenegro 62.7 64.9
Seychelles 67 77.2
Sierra Leone 32.4 35.7
Singapore 77.4 81.7
Slovakia 69.8 78.3
Slovenia 72.8 80.5
Solomon Islands 63.6 67.4
Somalia 43 45.2
South Africa 48.7 52.6
Spain 76.1 83
Sri Lanka 667.2 74.3
Sudan 54.9 59.3
Surinam 64.4 70.8
Swaziland 36.9 40.4
Sweden 78 82.6
Switzerland 77.7 83.3
Syria 68.8 73.6
Tajukistan 61 66.5
Thailand 66 72.7
Macedonia 69 75.1
Timor-Leste 54.8 60.5
Togo 50 53.3
Tonga 70 71.4
Trinidad & Tobago 67.1 72.8
Tunisia 69.5 73.9
Turkey 67.9 72.2
Turkmenistan 58.8 66.9
Tuvalu 60 61.4
Uganda 48.9 50.8
Ukraine 61.7 72.9
United Arab Emirates 71.31 75.1
UK 75.8 80.5
Tanzania 45.5 47.5
US 74.6 79.8
Uraguay 71 79.3
Uzbekistan 65.6 70.8
Vanuatu 66.4 69.1
Venezuela 71 76.8
Vietnam 67.1 72.2
Yemen 58.7 62.2
Zambia 39.1 40.2
Zimbabwe 37.7 38