The Search for Long Life

THE quest for a longer life is almost as old as life itself. So it is not surprising that history, both ancient and modern, abounds with stories and legends of people searching for the secret of long life.

Romantic history would have us believe, for example, that the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León was searching for a fountain of youth when he journeyed north from Puerto Rico in the year 1513. But contemporaries stated that he made the trip to acquire slaves and new land. He discovered, not a fountain to restore youth, but what is now Florida. However, the legend persists.

Going further back in time, the Akkadian epic of Gilgamesh, drawn from clay tablets dated prior to the 18th century B.C.E., tells how Gilgamesh became obsessed with the fear of dying after his friend Enkidu died. It describes his travels and strenuous but fruitless efforts to attain immortality.

More recently, in 1933, in his novel Lost Horizon, James Hilton portrayed an imaginary land called Shangri-la. There the inhabitants enjoyed nearly perfect and greatly extended life in paradisaical surroundings.

Even today, there are those who are dedicated to pursuing unusual and exotic schemes that promise improved and longer life. Others, however, take a more pragmatic approach. They follow rigorous health measures or observe strict diet and exercise routines. They hope that this will help them to look younger and feel better.

All of this underscores the basic human desire to live longer, happier lives.

The Scientific Approach

The study of aging and the problems of the aged has become a serious science. Reputable scientists feel that they are on the verge of discovering the cause of aging. Some think that aging is programmed in the genes. Others feel that it is the accumulated result of damaging diseases and harmful by-​products of metabolism. Still others attribute aging to hormones or the immune system. Scientists feel that if the cause of aging can be isolated, then perhaps it can be eliminated.

In the pursuit of immortality, the line between science and science fiction is becoming harder and harder to distinguish. Cloning is one such example. The idea is to clone, or reproduce, an identical body of an individual by cell and gene manipulation. Then, as the body parts disease or fail, a new organ can be taken from the clone and transplanted, much as a broken part in a car is replaced by a new spare part. Some scientists claim that theoretically there is no limit to what could be done by cloning.

Carrying matters one step further is the process called cryonics. When a person dies, explain the proponents, the body can be frozen to preserve it until the time that a cure is found for what is incurable today. Then the body can be thawed, reanimated, and restored​—hopefully to a longer, happier life.

In view of such efforts and the expenditure of countless millions of dollars in research, what has been the outcome? Are we any closer to breaking free from the yoke of death than were all those thousands of millions of people who lived and died before us?

What Are the Prospects?

Judging by the optimistic proclamations and predictions by some of those who have engaged in such research, it would seem that life much longer than we are accustomed to is just around the corner. Here are a few examples gleaned from the late 1960’s.

“The knowledge we acquire in such a search will give us the weapons we need to fight the last enemy​—Death—​on his own grounds. It will place relative immortality within our reach . . . It could come in our time.”​—Alan E. Nourse, physician and writer.

“We will lick the problem of aging completely, so that accidents will be essentially the only cause of death.”​—Augustus B. Kinzel, then president of Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

“Immortality (in the sense of indefinitely extended life) is technically attainable, not only for our descendants but for ourselves.”​—Robert C. W. Ettinger in The Prospect of Immortality.

While at the time not all gerontologists and researchers shared such enthusiasm, the general consensus of experts appeared to be that by the beginning of the 21st century, aging would be controlled and life would be extended significantly.

Now that we are much closer to the beginning of the 21st century, what is the picture? Is longer life, let alone immortality, within reach? Consider these observations.

“Many gerontologists will agree that these are highly muddled times for us. We neither know what is the underlying mechanism of aging, nor are we able to measure the rate of aging in precise biochemical terms.”​—Journal of Gerontology, September 1986.

“No one knows exactly what the process of aging is or why it runs a different course in different people. Nor does anyone know how to increase human longevity, despite the often fraudulent and sometimes dangerous claims of the ‘life extension’ hucksters and others who traffic in the fears and ills of the elderly.”​—FDA Consumer, the official journal of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, October 1988.

Predictions made in the past about conquering death and extending life indefinitely are clearly overenthusiastic. Immortality through science is still a farfetched dream. Does this mean that until there is a major breakthrough in science or technology, there is nothing that can be done to prolong or at least improve life?

Longer, Happier Life Now?

Although researchers have not uncovered the secret to long life, they have learned a great deal about life and the aging process. And some of the information thus gained can be applied to good advantage.

Experiments with animals, for example, have revealed that “controlled underfeeding can extend the maximum survival times by more than 50 per cent and delay the appearance and severity of many age-​related problems,” reports the London Times. This has led to studies as to whether the same may hold true with regard to humans.

Consequently, in his book The 120-​Year Diet, Dr. Roy Walford recommends a low-​calorie, low-​fat, and high-​nutrition diet coupled with a good exercise program. He points to the people of Okinawa as an example. Compared with the diet of the average Japanese, theirs is about 40 percent lower in calories; yet they “have from 5 to 40 times the number of centenarians as other Japanese islands.”

The natives of the Caucasus region in western Soviet Union are another frequently cited example of longevity. Sula Benet, who lived among the Caucasians, reported in her book How to Live to Be 100 that an unusually high number of those people live healthy and active lives well past 100 years of age, and several are said to have lived longer than 140 years. She noted that “two factors remain constant in the Caucasian diet: 1. No overeating . . . 2. An extremely high intake of natural vitamins in fresh vegetables.” In addition, “their work provides them not only with physical exercise but also with the knowledge of their own meaningful contribution to their community.”

What You Can Do

Is moving to Okinawa or the Caucasus or some other area where the natives enjoy longer life the solution? Probably not. But there are some things that you can do. You can imitate the good habits of those long-​lived people and follow the advice of competent doctors, nutritionists, and health experts.

They almost universally recommend a life of moderation. This means not only being conscious of the amount of food you eat but also being alert to eat nutritious and healthful foods that are available to you. The good effects of regular exercise are also well-​known. A reasonable effort to apply these principles and to eliminate the damaging habits of modern society, such as smoking and drug and alcohol abuse, cannot help but make you feel better.

Logically, the better we treat our body, the healthier we will be. And the healthier we are, the better our chances of living longer. However, no matter what we do, the average life span remains the Biblical 70 or 80. (Psalm 90:10) Is there any hope that this life span will ever be extended, and if so, for how long?

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HOW OLD ARE YOU?

Whether you realize it or not, you are much older than you may think. Biological science tells us that at birth, a woman’s ovaries already contain all the ova, or eggs, that she will ever produce. This means that if your mother was 30 years of age at the time of your conception, the egg that eventually became you was already 30 years old.

That probably does not make you feel older, but day by day, you are getting older. Young or old, all of us are aging, and most of us are interested in slowing down that process​—if not actually stopping it.