Anti-aging pills
... largely a result of better sanitation and medicines that have reduced mortality in children and young adults. Experts say the maximum life span is 122 years old. Even if individual cures were developed for all diseases, experts say, neither life expectancy nor maximum life span would rise much, though more people would come closer to achieving the maximum. Some scientists say the ability to do that is near. Already, dozens of genes have been found that, when turned off or on, can greatly extend life span in yeast, nematode worms and fruit flies. But don’t rush to the drugstore or the wine cellar just yet. Nothing has been proven to extend life span for people, and it is far from certain that humans will react as yeast does. No drug to slow aging is expected to reach the market for at least 10 years. And if one does, it probably won’t even be promoted as an anti-aging pill. This is because aging is not considered a disease, so the Food and Drug Administration might not allow a clinical trial of a drug to slow aging. Even if the drug were permitted, a trial to determine whether a drug prolongs life might outlive some of the scientists conducting the research. “We really don’t want to go after anti-aging drugs,” said Iraj Beheshti, chief executive of Chronogen in Montreal. “We want to use aging discoveries to reach diseases of aging.” Last year, 51 specialists in the area of aging published a statement in Scientific American magazine cautioning consumers that while certain supplements and hormones may have positive or negative effects on health, none have been demonstrated to influence the process of aging. S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago and lead author of the statement, said in an interview that scientists do not even know how to measure aging, so "it is not possible to document that it has been slowed, stopped or reversed." Another approach related to slowing aging which are antioxidants, is based on the theory that aging is a result of cumulative damage to cells from so-called reactive oxygen species, formed when the bo...