THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH. Hope in a jar. Suspended animation. From the immortal man in “Star Trek” (“Requiem for Methuselah”) to a blood transfusion from a young hunk to an old guy in “Silicon Valley” (“The Blood Boy”), people have imagined living forever.
Some are trying to go beyond imagining. As the science of aging progresses, many people (mostly rich, often tech bros) are actively trying to stop themselves from getting old. Whether through experiments with drugs like rapamycin — originally developed to suppress immune systems in organ transplant patients — or those young-old mice blood transfusions that have never actually been tested on humans, tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson and others like him are convinced that they can stay forever young if they just come up with the right blueprint.
In his new book, “Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity,” Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and molecular scientist, is trying to change the conversation. Topol, speaking recently to the Longevity Book Club, said that his work aims to prevent not aging but age-related diseases, especially what he calls the “Big Three” of cancer, heart disease and neurodegeneration, with obesity and diabetes close behind.
Super agers, in Topol’s book, are people who have made it to 85 or older without any of those maladies. Genome studies have debunked the idea that the reason is good genes. It’s not blind dumb luck either. Rather, a combination of lifestyle habits has given the group Topol studied — what he calls the “Wellderly” — more time to be healthy. Forget the fountain of youth. This longer “health span,” as opposed to longer lives with increasing decrepitude, is the true Holy Grail.
Keeping the Big Three at bay
Topol advocates for some of the usual solutions (diet, exercise, sleep, plus reducing exposure to toxins and combating loneliness and isolation), coupled with medical advances that can predict as early as middle age what health-robbing disease a person might face down the road. These evolving medical techniques rely heavily on AI — “its most noble use,” Topol said at the book club — to figure out specific individual treatments that help prevent the Big Three from creeping in.
As one example, AI analysis of retinal scans may accurately predict Parkinson’s disease up to nine years before any symptoms occur, leaving more time for interventions. Proteins in blood plasma can predict hip fractures years in advance. These specific “organ clocks” are “a major advance for tracking the aging process,” Topol writes.
A longer ‘health span,’ as opposed to longer lives with increasing decrepitude, is the true Holy Grail of longevity.
As he sums it up in the book: AI can integrate “layers of data — electronic health records, labs, images, omics (various disciplines in biology that end in the suffix “omics,” such as genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc.), exposure to pollution, social determinants of health, and state-of-the-art medical knowledge — to build personal medical forecasts.”
If all that sounds dense, it is. And full implementation of “organ clock” medicine is years (although not decades) away, depending not only on medical professionals who have the know-how but also on changing the focus of health care and insurance systems to prevention rather than reaction, as well as a reversal of the already pervasive inequities. But the science is there.
“If we go into high gear prevention for (the Big Three) diseases, it will be very common to have super agers,” Topol told the book group.
Forget the ‘carnival barker’ science
Topol’s approach is unique because he eschews the standard, hard-to-follow advice dispensed by doctors and self-help books (like, don’t eat your favorite foods or have any fun ever) in favor of people learning about their own risks and, with their doctors, taking specific steps that work for them.
“There are over sixty thousand diet books on Amazon, yet the evidence remains thin for what constitutes the best healthy diet, no less the presumption that it should be the same for all people,” Topol writes.
Topol also blasts “the longevity lifespan circus”: longevity clinics charging as much as $50,000 per week; longevity vacations with intravenous drips; full body MRIs; “carnival barker scientists” hawking supplements; and pretty much everything that Bryan Johnson does.
Having just entered his 70s, Topol also offers, and tries to follow, some basic advice. He skips ultra-processed foods at the grocery store. He eats earlier in the evening and exercises earlier in the day. He does strength and balance training and spends time in nature. And he goes to bed at the same time almost every night.
Attitude also matters. Topol writes about a study showing that optimism is associated with an 11 to 15 percent longer lifespan. A “super ager” patient profiled in the book had passions for paintings and jigsaw puzzles and a wide social network.
When I was 40, I had a friend in her 70s. She had a bunch of friends of all ages and sang in the community choir. I remember her laughing at the many cosmetic treatments undergone by people (okay, mostly women) on the west side of Los Angeles. “I earned every one of these wrinkles,” she said, as her face crinkled.
Hold the longevity vacation with the IV drip. Queue up a good night’s sleep instead.
What does a longer lifespan mean to you? Talented local columnists tag-team every Friday to tackle the challenges that inform your choices — whether you’re pushing 17 or 70. Recent Stanford Center on Longevity Visiting Scholar Susan Nash looks at life experiences through an acerbic personal lens, while other longtime writers take the macro view to examine how society will change as the aging population grows ever larger. Check in every Friday to expand your vision of living the long game and send us your feedback, column suggestions and ideas for future coverage to newsroom@baycitynews.com.