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What do you think about this anti-aging program?

Lucifuge Rofocale

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Hello all. I just read an interesting web page about a guy who is trying to reach age 100 using every known advance in medicine.
This is the page:

http://www.rajeun.net/rejuvenation.html

and there is a small extract:
"
Hormone Replacement Therapy - There are five hormones that are known to decline with age. These are (1) the various sex hormones in men and women, (2) thyroid, (3) melatonin, (4) DHEA, and (5) growth hormone. Many doctors agree with me that WE AGE BECAUSE OUR HORMONE LEVELS DECLINE... it is not the opposite, it is not that our hormone levels decline because we age, it is that we age because of our declining hormone levels. It makes sense to replace the oil levels in a car so that the car runs better. Our body is like a car in this respect... it makes a lot of sense to want to replace our naturally declining hormone levels with bio-identical hormones which have become available to us for the first time in human history only in the past few decades through the miracle of genetic engineering.

After I had a blood test to measure the levels of these hormones in my blood, I began to replace three of them, under my doctor's supervision. It was not necessary for me to take thyroid or testosterone, but my levels of melatonin, DHEA, and growth hormone were low. (note: there is no specific blood test for melatonin... it is just known to be low past the age of 30 or 40, period.)

Now I take one 3 mg. capsules of melatonin before I go to sleep. This protects my brain from free radical damage, and also helps me to sleep well, and has other good benefits. I also take one 50 mg. capsule of DHEA every day. This helps my immune system, my skin, my muscles, and has several other benefits. (For more information on melatonin and DHEA, go to Life Links found below.)
"

Is here a MD who can comment on the whole program?


Regards
 
BUNK!

HGH is the modern equivalent of anti-wrinkle cream. And guess what? It doesn't work, either.

To do anything about aging, you're going to have to rewrite a good number of your genes.

The 116 year old woman in Japan? She just loves eating brown sugar.

Then again, there's always the Egyptian method of reaching immortality...:p
 
I agree. This is an anecdote. Nothing more.

When we age, our telomere's (the tips of the genetic shoestrings) fray. This is a built-in aging device that ultimate limits the number of times a cell can divide into new daughter cells.

There may (note I said "may") be some physiological consequences from replacing certain hormones that make aging people feel a bit better, but I think the hypothesis stated - "we age because of decreasing hormones" not vice-versa - is flawed bunk offered from someone who doesn't understand the aging process on a molecular level.

-TT
 
Hello. I knew about HGH, and it was my mistake to highlight just that part of the article. there are some other parts I found interesting but I don't have enought info to judge them (as I have for HGH).

There are some other parts of the article:

"6. EDTA Chelation Therapy and DMSA treatment according to the protocol of Dr. Elmer Cranton. EDTA is an amino acid that is leaked into your vein in 4 hours while you are lying down on a couch... EDTA is the standard treatment to remove lead from the body when somebody has lead poisoning... It clings to all metals, and then it leads them out of your body through the kidneys and urine... It will also remove the good metals, and calcium, so after an EDTA Chelation you simply replace the good metals by drinking supplements that contain zinc, selenium, chromium, boron, magnesium, etc."

"Now I take one 3 mg. capsules of melatonin before I go to sleep. This protects my brain from free radical damage, and also helps me to sleep well, and has other good benefits. I also take one 50 mg. capsule of DHEA every day. This helps my immune system, my skin, my muscles, and has several other benefits. (For more information on melatonin and DHEA, go to Life Links found below.)

DHEA is also a precursor to estrogen in men's bodies, so I take blood tests to see what level of estradiol (estradiol is an estrogen) I have, and to bring estradiol down I take Arimidex. Arimidex is a very important and very effective medicine. It blocks the enzyme that converts testosterone and DHEA to estradiol.
"

"8. Protecting my Brain - I am taking various therapies and medicines to try to prevent the loss of my brain, which is usual and normal. (What is "normal" is not what I want for me.) I have begun to take hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy, hopefully to repair tiny damage that may have occurred in my brain or circulatory system. It is not known if Hyperbaric Oxygen (100% oxygen breathed under 1.5 atmospheres of pressure) really has any rejuvenating or anti-aging benefits for a person like me, who is not sick. But it is known that hyperbaric oxygen is beneficial for people who have had brain damage due to stroke or complications of diabetes. "

"I am also taking medicines to protect my brain. All of these medicines have been proven to be safe, with no side effects, and none is addictive. I alternate between vinpocetin ("Cavinton"), hydergine ("Hydergine"), and piracetam ("Nootropyl").

These three medicines are all very similar... they dilate blood vessels and allow more oxygen and nutrients to get to the brain, so you can think better. There are also reports that they help improve vision and hearing, probably due to the increase of oxygen to the brain.
"

"Update: April, 2001. I have added another medicine to my regimen. I now take one half of a .850 mg pill of Metformin, twice a day (one pill per day.) Metformin is a medicine usually taken by Type II diabetics. The reasoning behind my taking it is that cell resistance to insulin increases with age, and metformin lowers cell resistance to insulin. Metformin is an inexpensive medicine, and it will slow down the aging process by preventing me from becoming diabetic. Both my mother and father developed Type II diabetics after the age of 65, so I am only practicing preventive medicine. Almost all adults will become Type II diabetics or they will be pre-Type II diabetics after the age of 60. So why wait to start taking a medicine that is relatively safe, (The side effect is that it can cause liver problems if improperly used. I am using a very conservative dose.) and which retards a Sign of Aging? "

The most important medicine I am taking to protect my brain is Deprenyl, also known as Eldepryl in the United States. If I could only take ONE medicine to extend my life, this would be it. It is even more important to me than growth hormone, because keeping my brain well is more important than keeping my body young.

Deprenyl is a selective depressor of MonoAmino Oxidase B, or MAO-B. This is a very bad enzyme that begins to appear in our brain after about age 40. Many doctors believe MAO-B destroys some neurons in the brain which produce another substance known as dopamine. According to these doctors, after MAO-B appears in our brain everybody loses about 13% of these dopamine producing neurons per every 10 years... But some people lose them faster, and some people lose them slower. If we live long enough to lose about 70% or 80% of these neurons, we are then diagnosed as having Parkinson's desease... but by then it is too late, because the dopamine producing neurons will never grow back again. "


Any comments about the other stuff?
 
Lucifuge Rofocale said:
Deprenyl is a selective depressor of MonoAmino Oxidase B, or MAO-B. This is a very bad enzyme that begins to appear in our brain after about age 40. Many doctors believe MAO-B destroys some neurons in the brain which produce another substance known as dopamine. According to these doctors, after MAO-B appears in our brain everybody loses about 13% of these dopamine producing neurons per every 10 years... But some people lose them faster, and some people lose them slower. If we live long enough to lose about 70% or 80% of these neurons, we are then diagnosed as having Parkinson's desease... but by then it is too late, because the dopamine producing neurons will never grow back again. "
Click to expand...

Deprenyl is used to treat Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's diseases is not an inevitability.

There is no evidence that given an MAO-B inhibitor preserves brain function, unless you have Parkinson's. If you take Deprenyl and you otherwise have normal brain function, you're essentially experimenting on yourself.

-TT
 
Most of this is bunk. Scientific American devoted an entire issue to aging last year . I believe it was the May, 2003 issue.

No reputable study has shown any benefit from using antioxidants to reduce free radicals. While free radicals can cause cell damage, they are also necessary for proper cell function. Cells have methods for repairing free radical damage. Also, I suspect that using hyperbaric oxygen would negate the use of antioxidants...

Most medical experts agree that there is no known method or compound(s) that reverse or delay aging. As noted above, telomere shortening limits the number of times a cell can divide, and there is no known method of preventing or reversing this.

Hormone replacement therapy may prevent some aspects of physical decline, but there is no evidence it increases life span, and little is known about the long term affects of taking these hormones.

Which is not to say there is nothing one can do. We do know that poor lifestyle choices will shorten lifespan. So eat a balanced diet, get regular exercise, and avoid smoking or excessive use of alcohol to avoid shortening your life...
 
Lucifuge Rofocale said:
Thanks TT

Do you have anything about Metformin as a preventive tratment to Diabetes?
Click to expand...

Metformin does not prevent Type II Diabetes Mellitus, but it is used as a treatment. It's mechanism is still fairly poorly understood, but is believed to work by inhibiting gluconeogenesis in the liver. I personally have not seen it given as a stand alone therapy.

The key to prevention in diabetes management is to limit or remove altogether the associated morbidity and mortality. This done by treating the constellation of other problems (sometimes affectionately and collectively referred to as "syndrome X") that many of these patients have. In addition to their anti-diabetic medications, most patients I've seen are getting an ACE inhibitor, aspirin, and a statin drug. The specific goal, which has been demonstrated by multiple, large, prospective international trials, is to prevent longterm complications from the disease.

-TT
 
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