Nicklas Brendborg

I admit it: I like reading books about ageing, life extension, and immortality. These seem to fall into two categories. Some authors expect to live forever because of the vitamin cocktails they drink every morning or the transfusions they receive of younger people’s blood (yuck). Other authors think it’s all a load of nonsense with narcissistic tech billionaires engaging in pseudo-science. Nicklas Brendborg falls into neither of these categories. This is a well-written, clear, and breezy account of a complex subject. Brendborg is not convinced that we are all about to live forever. But he is pretty sure that we are making progress on understanding what ageing is, and finding promising avenues for research. I hope he’s right — and I enjoyed his book.… (altro)

En værre rodebunke af data og anekdoter fortalt i en friskfyr-agtig tone som forringer troværdigheden af budskaberne.
Især bogens tredje og sidste del, som indeholder gode råd til at leve længere, og samle op på undertitlen "videnskabens svar på et længere liv", er helt ulæselig i sin springen rundt mellem yderligere videnskabelige redegørelser (som hørte hjemme i del 2), lange anekdoter med perifær relevans, indsatte tekster af forskellig art, herunder en ultrakort opsummering af ketodiæt, og råd som overhovedet ikke hænger sammen (hvorfor er der en indskudt sektion om rygnings skadelighed i et afsnit der hedder 'løb langt, lev længere? Og hvorfor er det overhovedet titlen på dette afsnit, når nu teksten siger at der faktisk er flere fordele ved interval træning end ved steady state træning?).
Forfatterens troværdighed er i det hele taget et seriøst problem. Ud over den useriøse tone, den dårlige formidling, og den manglende sammenhæng i stoffet, er der også udtalelser der er helt ude af takt med nyere forskning. Forfatteren nævner hormonterapi for kvinder i overgangsalderen som havende en foryngende effekt, men fortsætter så med at sige "Hormonterapi øger dog risikoen for brystkræft, så det kan sandsynligvis ikke betale sig med aldringsfordelene". Nyere forskening har vist at dette i bedst fald er misvisende, i værste fald svarer til at sige ’vacciner er jo gode nok, men vi ved jo allesammen at de giver autisme’.… (altro)

Among all the corrupt self-help books invoking exotic diets, lifestyle changes, nutritional supplements and mind over matter, there is the occasional worthwhile examination of the state of ageing. That is currently Jellyfish Age Backwards, by Niklas Brendborg. It is a pleasure to read such balanced evaluations of all the possibilities, without any of the hype. Readers might actually benefit from reading it.

Brendborg, a Danish molecular biologist by trade, collects facts, figures and anecdotes, and balances them against each other and against science. His book first examines everything but humans. He shows how various creatures extend their lives, and have the equipment to do so. He then spends the rest of the time among mice and men, looking at diet, lifestyle, supplements, medicines and attitudes. Everything has something to contribute, and lots to be wary of.

At all times, he is friendly, with a terrific bedside manner, the occasional attempt at a joke, and an independence that allows him to say this or that will not work or might even kill you instead. He is not pushing a new diet book or a new pill or a new online course. He is not looking for patients or political influence in the healthcare industry. He is just reporting the state of the art. A breath of fresh air.

He examines bees (workers vs queens), flatworms and the female octopus, all of which have been studied to determine the secrets of their differing lifespans. Bees, for example determine their lifespans by their roles. There is even much to learn about health and longevity from the naked mole-rat. Birds are relatively long-lived because they can fly away from threats. Smaller beings typically live longer, even when they are smaller versions of larger species (eg women vs men). Brendborg fills in readers on the why, and whether we could leverage this knowledge for longer lives for all mankind.

There have been communities of extremely long-lived people. Hucksters have leveraged their traditional diets into books and food delivery services, but the results never match the original. Worse, they are disappearing. People in Okinawa, for example, who used to be among the longest-lived, now bulk up on KFC, have huge BMIs and are among the shortest-lived in Japan. They are no longer a model for anyone. There are other clues: cars in the driveways, satellite dishes, processed foods – pretty much anything Western reduces the chances of extended life for a society that had figured it out centuries ago.

In the supposed sciences, he shows that the fanatic focus on antioxidants is all wrong. That the studies show people who take antioxidants to improve strength and prevent age-related diseases actually die younger. The body knows how to handle free radicals. Antioxidant supplements get in the way.

On the other hand, hormesis, the recovery from physical strain, does have age-related disease effects that would benefit everyone. The way to access them is physical stress, aka strenuous exercise. That is what helps mitochondria decide to stay alive and help sweep away dead cells (autophagy). And the free radicals produced by the stress, prove to be valuable, and not something to take antioxidants to eliminate. There is a reason for everything in living things.

Getting molecular, Brendborg discusses several natural chemicals that definitely increase lifespan. Spermidine promotes autophagy, the cleaning up of dead molecules and remnants. It thereby improves heart health, and lessens cardiovascular disease. This is pretty central to lowering the death rate, as cardiovascular diseases remain solidly in first place. In mice, spermidine demonstrably prolongs life, even when initiated later in life. Humans make it naturally, but it decreases with age, as therefore obviously, does autophagy. Spermidine cannot be made into a convenient oral supplement (so beware) but plenty of foods contain it, from soybeans to cauliflower to corn to adzuki and sunflower seeds.

Another molecule readers might not know of is urolithin A. This one not only cleans up dead and dying mitochondria, but promotes the health of mitochondria, the engine of muscles. It even encourages mitochondria to divide, increasing muscle mass. Elliagitannins promote urolithin A, and they can be had from pomegranates, walnuts and raspberries. Certain gut bacteria then convert them into urolithin A. This is an example of both how little we know and understand about how the body works, and how complex every process is. Pills don’t do it.

That is, there are no silver bullets. Taking 40 supplements daily will not work. Most will do no harm, at least. But even something as common as iron supplements can increase the severity of diseases, and promote the risk of bacterial infections and malaria in children, Brendborg says. The bottom line with supplements is that most people should steer clear. Not only have they been proven not to work, but numerous studies continually find them a ripoff, containing little or none of the vitamins and minerals promised on the label. They can be counted on reliably as placebos, but that’s about it.

Brendborg has a great deal to say about telomeres, the end caps of DNA strands. Long ones imply long life ahead, while short ones mean approaching death. Extending them is therefore a hot business. However, (and this comes up again and again throughout the book) extending the telomeres by turning on the telomerase enzyme can cause cancer and death. So many wonderful life-enhancing discoveries end in cancer and death when Man applies them instead of our own bodies doing it.

A Japanese scientist has a found a way to turn old cells back into pluripotent stem cells, giving them an effective age of zero. Cellular reprogramming attempts to control this process so that the whole body doesn’t just disintegrate and start over. A jellyfish from the book’s title has figured this out, and could potentially live forever. But being a jellyfish, it usually gets eaten instead. Meanwhile, and once again, cellular reprogramming by doctors can result in a fearsome cancer called teratoma. This cancer is so ugly, Brendborg says, it grows hair on itself and has been found to grow teeth inside, grinding away — something to be avoided at all cost.

Nonetheless, cellular reprogramming holds great promise. It is probably what Man will ultimately employ to stay young. But it will require precision application and constant monitoring, and we are nowhere near that stage. It reminds me of the nuclear fusion story. It’s the obvious answer to our energy problems, and it can be shown to work, but it is always a decade or two away and never gets closer.

For a long while, there was a theory floating around that young blood was the answer to ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. So a study was done to see what improvements could be measured with young blood in older people with dementia, and the result was, as so often, nothing.

But then, it has also been discovered that blood donors, as opposed to transfusion recipients, live measurably longer. Forcing the body to produce more blood is a stressor, hormesis again, and the result is the body marshaling its forces to overcome the sudden deficit of blood. This keeps the body vibrant. It is frightening to think that barber shops, where men could be bled into a pan for their health, were actually doing the right thing 350 years ago.

Another great point Brendborg makes concerns microbes. While many think they can extend their lives and their health based purely on taking supplements, it is microbes that do the real damage: “Microbes influence the development of every single age-related disease that plagues us.” They are everywhere, in and on humans as well as everything else on the planet. Extending life by eliminating age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s are doomed to fail unless they account for the influence of microbes, and not just the symptoms seen in patients.

There is a valuable assessment of the very fashionable calorie restriction fad, through which numerous animals have extended their lives by being starved. It’s hormesis again, as their bodies fight to thrive in adverse conditions. It is feasible in humans too, but they will have to weigh a lifetime of deprivation and hunger against an extra couple of years in their late 90s. Brendborg says not for him.

Context is big factor. Studies have looked at the longevity of vegans vs vegetarians and found no difference in life expectancy. Because both have committed to a new and different lifestyle. They both tend to be better educated, wealthier and exercise a lot more. Their food intake is not what differentiates them. Brendborg has found this again and again. The better educated live longer because they apply their constant search for knowledge. The actual details of what they do differently matters less than the bigger picture of consciously working and adapting for a longer life. That, and most of their success can be directly attributed to exercise regimens, he says.

There are several lessons from this book. It is best not to tamper with proven systems, and while some new things actually do work in a small way, they are generally not worth the torturous change in lifestyle (and expense) they require. By far the biggest bang for the buck is strenuous exercise. It tells the organism directly that it and all its component parts are still needed and need to be kept up. This provably works, and better than just about everything else put together. It requires variety: steady state, interval and weightlifting. He also suggests mild exercise after eating – even just taking a walk — to counteract the sugar shock the body deals with every time we eat. That would be taking good advantage of the systems already in place. And underutilized.

This is the first US edition of a number one international best seller. It quickly proves its worth for readers, and maintains a fast and entertaining pace as it straightens out the facts. Jellyfish Age Backwards is a book that can settle arguments.

David Wineberg… (altro)