EXCLUSIVE The pantry biohacker: I reduced my biological age by 10 YEARS with easy diet changes anyone can do - proving you don't have to be a billionaire to turn back the clock
From tech billionaires testing stem cell transfusions from their teenage sons to hyperbaric oxygen chambers and infrared saunas, it seems 'reverse ageing' is the latest obsession of the super-rich.
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The Independent
a few seconds ago
- The Independent
Women who give birth before 21 are at higher risk of these conditions
Women who give birth before the age of 21 are twice as likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes, heart failure, and obesity, a new study has found. It also reveals they are four times more likely to develop severe disorders that affect the metabolism. Researchers from The Buck Institute for Research on Ageing said that girls who go through puberty before the age of 11 will face the same risks. they receive outside of [obstetrics and gynaecology]. 'These risk factors, whether positive or negative, clearly have a significant influence on a variety of age-related diseases and should be considered in the larger context of overall health.' The research also shows that later childbirth and puberty are genetically tied to longer lifespans and a reduced risk of age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's. The study analysed nearly 200,000 women who participated in the research hub UK Biobank and identified 126 genetic markers that reveal the effects of early puberty and childbirth on ageing. Dr Kapahi said the public health implications of the research were significant. He said: 'We show that genetic factors favouring early reproduction come with significant cost later in life, including accelerated ageing and disease. It makes sense that the very factors that help enhance survival of the offspring may lead to detrimental consequences for the mother.' The role of Body Mass Index (BMI) is a critical cause of the effects, he said. Early reproduction contributes to a higher BMI, which makes you more prone to health problems. 'One can envisage that enhancing the ability to absorb nutrients would benefit the offspring, but if nutrients are plentiful, then it can enhance the risk of obesity and diabetes,' Dr Kapahi added. He is now asking how this knowledge can be used to improve female health: 'If evolution has shaped us to prioritise early reproduction at the cost of ageing, how can we leverage this knowledge to extend healthspan in modern society? "While we cannot change our genetic inheritance, understanding these genetic tradeoffs empowers us to make informed choices about health, lifestyle and medical care."
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
World's tallest trees on fire in Oregon
Firefighters are trying to save one of the world's tallest non-redwood trees which mysteriously caught fire at the weekend. The 325-foot (99 metres) Douglas Fir, known as the Doerner Fir, in Coos County Oregon, is still burning within the trunk. Estimated to be around 450 years old, it has been burning since Saturday near the top of the tree. Authorities are still investigating how the fire happened. A main challenge in tackling the fire is where it is located within the tree. While firefighters have managed to stop the fire on tree's canopy - its branches and leaves - there is a fire still burning inside the trunk. An infrared drone flight showed that one area of heat is about 280 feet up the is where a fire is burning - inside the trunk itself. Sprinklers have been placed at the bottom of the trunk, while helicopter teams were able to drop water from buckets on the leaf canopy above. But due to safety concerns fire managers have said climbing crews will not be used. Debris from the treetop has also made it unsafe for crews to work directly under the tree with the risk of falling parts of the treetop making it dangerous for crews to work directly under the treeDoerner Fir is one of the largest coastal Douglas Fir trees in the world, and is estimated to be between 450 and 500 years old. It is one of the largest non-redwood the tree caught fire is still a from the Bureau of Land Management are working find out the cause, but have ruled out lightening after looking at weather data.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Health Rounds: Human fetal kidney development mimicked in test tubes
Aug 20 (Reuters) - This is an excerpt of the Health Rounds newsletter, where we present latest medical studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here. Researchers are a step closer to learning how congenital kidney defects develop in the fetus and how they might be prevented, a new report shows. For the first time, they can watch miniature human fetal kidneys develop in test tubes over periods that simulate the course of a pregnancy. So-called kidney organoids have been grown in test tubes before, but only starting with pluripotent stem cells – immature cells found in early embryos that can differentiate into any cell type in the body but without the tissue-specific characteristics that would allow them to perform an organ's specialized functions. In contrast, the new organoids are grown in test tubes using the same fetal progenitor stem cells that are destined to develop into human kidneys. These cells are capable of building, maintaining and repairing specific organs – in this case, the kidneys. While kidney organoids grown from pluripotent stem cells have survived in test tubes for weeks, the new organoids built from the human fetal kidney stem cells can survive and grow for six to eight months, essentially allowing researchers to observe human kidney development as it would happen during a pregnancy, the research team reported in The EMBO Journal, opens new tab. 'Once we had the tissue stem cells coming from the developing human kidney in the Petri dish, they did the job because this is what they do in nature,' said Dr. Benjamin Dekel of Safra Children's Hospital at Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University, who led the research. 'The cells are self-assembling. They know how to self-organize and how to self-renew, (that is) make copies of themselves,' Dekel said. At the same time, Dekel continued, the cells begin to differentiate, developing qualities that make them appropriate for different roles. Researchers can watch as kidney tubules, ducts, blood vessels and other renal tissues are formed. In his clinical practice, Dekel treats children with kidney diseases. He hopes eventually to use the organoids to study kidney malformations and to isolate genes that lead to birth defects, develop new treatments in the field of regenerative medicine and test the toxicity of drugs during pregnancy on fetal kidneys. In the meantime, he said, it's frustrating to watch as patients' chronic kidney disease worsen into end-stage renal disease. 'Then we need to give them a kidney transplant or to put them on dialysis, which is really a very poor solution,' he said. New findings help explain why experimental treatments for cancers caused by human papillomavirus infections have been less than effective, researchers say. The most common cancer-causing strain of HPV undermines the body's defenses by reprogramming immune cells surrounding the tumor, earlier research has shown. Blocking this process can boost the ability of experimental treatments for HPV to eliminate cancer cells, according to a report published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, opens new tab. While vaccines exist to prevent HPV infections, researchers have failed to develop effective 'therapeutic vaccines' for use after HPV infections have occurred – and the new study helps explain why. Experimental therapeutic vaccines target HPV-infected cells with immune cells known as T-cells. But in tests in mice and cell cultures, researchers found that two HPV proteins, E6 and E7, prompt nearby cells to release a protein called IL-23 that prevents the body's T-cells from attacking the tumor. 'In order to eliminate the cancer, T-cells need to proliferate and destroy infected cells. But IL-23 stops them from working effectively, so the tumor keeps growing,' study leader W. Martin Kast of the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California said in a statement. Drugs that inhibit IL-23 are already approved for treating psoriasis and other conditions, the researchers said. 'The fact that these antibodies are already FDA-approved for something else makes this approach promising — and it also allows for rapid translation into the clinic,' Kast said. He and his team are now developing their own therapeutic vaccine, which they will test in combination with antibodies that block IL-23. IL-23 is also found at high levels in testicular and bladder cancers, the researchers noted, adding that further research is needed to clarify what role IL-23 plays in those diseases. Hearing loss is a known risk factor for dementia, but early intervention might lower that risk, a new study suggests. Researchers performed hearing tests in nearly 3,000 volunteers without dementia who were at least 60 years old. Over the next 20 years, the researchers saw a 61% lower risk for eventual dementia among those with newly diagnosed hearing loss who started wearing hearing aids before age 70, compared to participants diagnosed with hearing impairment at a similar age who did not get hearing aids, they reported in JAMA Neurology, opens new tab. Hearing aid use did not appear to protect against dementia in people diagnosed with a hearing problem after age 70, however. 'Only 17% of individuals with moderate to severe hearing loss use hearing aids,' the researchers noted. 'Our study underscores the importance of early intervention' to reduce the risk of dementia associated with hearing loss, they concluded. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here.
