Telomere shortening causes aging!
I can make this statement but how do you objectively establish causation versus association? In epidemiology, we use the NINE BRADFORD-HILL criteria, which represent common sense rules of logic. The more of the criteria you have, the more likely something is actually CAUSING something else and not just associated.
- STRENGTH
- CONSISTENCY
- SPECIFICITY
- TEMPORALITY
- GRADIENT
- PLAUSABILITY
- COHERENCE
- EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE
- ANALOGY
Anyone can come up with a theory. Here are some popular ones: the sun travels around the earth, gods roll dice to decide our destinies, evil spirits can cause madness.
By using the Nine Bradford-Hill criteria, we can assess causation for just about anything. Let’s say I have a theory that “having four wheels on a vehicle causes lethal motor vehicle accidents.” After all, almost all of the lethal MVA’s are associated with four-wheel vehicles. Intuition tells us this is association and not causation but let’s go through the process to show you how the criteria work:
STRENGTH – good. Most accidents involve cars with four wheels.
CONSISTENCY – again good, given most MVA’s involve passenger cars
SPECIFICITY - poor. Motorcycles and 18-wheelers are more lethal than four wheel accidents.
TEMPORALITY: fair. You usually need four-wheels to get into an MVA
GRADIENT: poor in either direction. Fewer wheels (Motorcycles) and more wheels (trucks) are more lethal.
PLAUSABILITY: poor. Why would four wheels do this?
COHERENCE: poor. Why would four wheels do this?
EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE: poor. NTSB tests have not been done comparing four wheels with two wheels because the outcome is obvious. Just ask any ER physician.
ANALOGY: poor. Who is more nimble, you or your dog or cat? Four legs, like four wheels is a good foundation.
What about the theory that telomere shortening causing aging?
STRENGTH – excellent. The older you are, the shorter your telomeres. The fastest shortening comes with premature aging syndromes (Progerias)
CONSISTENCY – excellent. All humans age and all humans show telomere shortening as they age.
SPECIFICITY – excellent. Shortening telomeres is a hallmark of all the Progerias
TEMPORALITY- good. Shortening telomeres occurs before aging appears
GRADIENT – excellent. The older you get, the shorter they get
PLAUSABILITY – excellent. Loss of protection of the ends of chromosomes allows for DNA rearrangement
COHERENCE – excellent. Loss of protection of the ends of chromosomes allows for DNA rearrangement and subsequent disease
EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE – Nature has done these experiments in the form of the Progerias which involve DNA repair deficiencies. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyskeratosis_congenita
ANALOGY: excellent. Telomeres protect the tips like aglets on shoelaces. Another analogy is that aging chromosomes are like candles burning on both ends.
And what about the theory that Resveratrol is good for your health?
Surprisingly, it only fulfills one of the criteria, weakly:
A few experiments have shown that Resveratrol extends the life of fruit flies, nematode worms, and short-lived fish, possibly because of its toxicity. There has been A LOT of good scientific study of Resveratrol in humans it but all show negative results. Resveratrol is simply a “cure in search of a disease.” Yet Americans spend millions taking it because people like red wine and because we trust Oprah and Dr. Oz.
So if telomere shortening causes aging in humans, what can we do to slow it? The good news is that your body has always done it by activating telomerase in its stem cells. In fact, all plants and animals above bacteria require telomerase to protect their chromosomes. The better news is that we now have a safe nutraceutical called TA-65 that safely enhances your own natural telomerase anti-aging mechanism.
To learn more about the role of shortening telomeres in aging read about our Dr. Park’s theory of aging:
http://www.rechargebiomedical.com/aging.html
Also, if my New Year’s resolution holds firm, please expect a new blog posting from me every Sunday afternoon.
Upcoming topics include (in no particular order and with working titles):
- “Telomerase is like an old-school Dymo labeler”
- “If you are what you eat, where are all the smart zombies?”
- “Taking antioxidants is worse than useless”
- “Vitamins that can kill you- ADEK that’s stacked”
- “Premature aging syndromes – what’s the common denominator?”
- “9,500 year old trees”
- “G.U.T check.: A Grand Unified Theory of Aging”
- “If your genome was like a computer hard drive…”
- “AIDS is AGING and vice versa”
- “Family history, cancer risk, and other flat-earth theories”
- “Fourth and longer – lengthen your chromosomes to make it to overtime”
- “The Age of Aquarius and the End of Time – Hippies and Mayans and why we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden”
- “Cancer Stem Cells- a new paradigm”
- “You are already a cancer survivor, many times over!”
- “Telomerase activation and Cancer (these amps go to eleven…)”
- “The Philadelphia Experiment – what REALLY causes cancer”
- “p53 – All along the watchtower”
- “Roseanne Rosannadanna and the truth about life insurance”