The University of California San Francisco's (UCSF) website is selling immortality. On September 16, 2013 Elizabeth Fernandez reports "Lifestyle Changes May Lengthen Telomeres, A Measure of Cell Aging." Reporting on a small study by Dean Ornish, Elizabeth Blackburn and eight other colleagues published in the Lancet Oncology journal. *
What the UCSF website reports is that "A small pilot study shows for the first time that changes in diet, exercise, stress management and social support may result in longer telomeres, the parts of chromosomes that affect aging." If this was true (ie valid) then it is indeed a revolutionary finding in science. Baiting all those venture capitalists to rush to the laboratory to invest their money.
Within a day the rest of the world news media started falling over themselves to report this story. Invariably ignorance and expediency did not help them from repeating the same mistake as UCSF had the day before.
"Lifestyle Changes Could Lengthen Telomeres, Life" reports the Voice of America. "Better diet and less stress can reverse cell ageing" shouted the Irish Times. "Healthy Lifestyle Changes Might Reverse Cell Aging, Study Suggests" the serious Huffington Post asserts."Lifestyle Changes Could Lengthen Telomeres, Life" Voice of America parroted. And on and on, ad nauseam.
Only Larry Husten in Forbes had the right title "No, Dean Ornish And Elizabeth Blackburn Have Not Discovered The Fountain Of Youth" but even he mistakes the result by reporting that “We noted a correlation between the degree of positive lifestyle change and increase in telomere length when all participants were assessed together, which supports the internal validity of this study." First of all a non random assigned study can never ever be an adequate study for causality. There is no part of this study that remotely contributes to internal validity. Not only that, but because the two groups where different to start, before the intervention took place (the control group versus those following diet exercise and yoga), completely erodes its internal validity. Two different groups will be found to be different even after nothing is done to them.
If we look at the original published paper the conclusion simply acknowledges "...showing that comprehensive lifestyle changes—or any intervention—are significantly associated with increases in cellular telomerase activity and telomere maintenance capacity in human immune system cells" (pg 1053)
Telomerase activity is very very different from telomere length. And telomere maintenance capacity is not equated with increase in telomere, it simply means that the decrease was slower. There is confusion about telomeres and telomerase in the newspaper reports. A short introduction to these two terms.
Most cell in our body have a nucleus. that contain 23 pairs of chromosome structures that hold "genes" which are a series of codes written with nitrogen-containing biological compounds. Each chromosome has two chromatid structures (left and right) connected at the center making an X. Each of the two chromatids have a special protective cap at each end called a telomere. Telomeres function by preventing chromosomes from losing base pair sequences at their ends. They also stop chromosomes from fusing to each other. However, each time a cell divides, some of the telomere is lost (usually 25-200 base pairs per division). The telomere can start off with length of 15,000 base pairs. The longer the telomeres the more times a cell can divide before it dies. Telomere maintenance is controlled by an enzyme called telomerase. Telomerase allow the telomere to maintain structure and in some cases to grow.Which is a good thing in most cases.
However, telomerase is also found in fetal tissues, adult germ cells, and also cancer cells. The connection between cancer research and immortality has not been closer. Since cancer cells are immortal (the HeLa cell lines are a prime example). Telomerase has been detected in cancer cells and is found to be 10-20 times more active than in normal body cells.
So when the authors of the article report that "...increases in cellular telomerase activity..." (pg1053) I do not think about immortality but about expedited mortality through cancer.
This is not to say that there are no benefits to exercise and low fat diet in maintaining organ health. But it is not a panacea for longevity.
There have been other promoters of the “clean living” argument. The following is a list of gurus of the clean living argument. What is unique is not only that these people are all dead (what an argument for internal validity), but that they died earlier than their life-expectancy (at the age that they started their intervention), and they died of the disease that they aimed to ameliorate through their intervention:
• Adelle Davis who often said she never saw anyone get cancer who drank a quart of milk a day, as she did.
• Nathan Pritikin after being diagnosed with heart disease, advocated regular exercise and a low-fat, high-fiber diet.
• Robert Atkins proponent of a high protein, low carbohydrates diet.
• Roy Walford a proponent of caloric restriction as a means to extending life.
• Jim Fixx who championed the health benefits of running and claimed that regular running offered virtual immunity to heart disease.
• Alan Mintz a controversial proponent of using human growth hormone—an anabolic steroid.
Francois Henri "Jack" LaLanne died in 2011 at the age of 96, due to pneumonia. He is a real hero. According to his family, he had been performing his daily workout routine the day before his death. When he was asked about the difference in public attitude between today and when he first opened his gym decades ago, Jack saw where we were going with our health kick, he said: "Then I was a crackpot and a charlatan, today I am an authority… and believe me I can’t die, it would ruin my image." His image is not ruined because through his death we have realized that mortality is not the fact that we are doing something wrong, but that there is a system of order in the world. Death is the price we pay for living. We do not need to fight death, we need to enhance our life. Exercise, diet and self awareness through meditation is an excellent way to improve the quality of our life. It might enhance our longevity because we are happier. But it will not reverse or stop aging.
The funding for the UCSF pilot project was supported by the U.S. Department of Defense among other entities.
* Dean Ornish, Jue Lin, Jennifer Daubenmier, Gerdi Weidner, Elissa Epel, Colleen Kemp, Mark Jesus M Magbanua, Ruth Marlin, Loren Yglecias, Peter R Carroll, Elizabeth H Blackburn Increased telomerase activity and comprehensive lifestyle changes: a pilot study.2011. Lancet Oncol, 9, 1048-57.
© USA Copyrighted 2013 Mario D. Garrett
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