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Holocaust Paradox: Long Lives for Those Who Survived

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Re: Holocaust Paradox: Long Lives for Those Who Survived

#7
post #4

Kind of obvious but can it be simply a selection bias? The weakest died in the camps, the survivors would be the healthier, stronger, and therefore have a longer life expectancy than average.

The interesting part is that they actually aren’t on average healthier, based on hypertension rates at least, but they are still having a longer life expectancy by a whopping 7.1 years in the studied group.

Re: Holocaust Paradox: Long Lives for Those Who Survived

#8
post #4

Kind of obvious but can it be simply a selection bias? The weakest died in the camps, the survivors would be the healthier, stronger, and therefore have a longer life expectancy than average.

The question is if it’s just a simple selection bias or did the stress of living under those conditions have had biological effects that are advantageous to longer life span.

We know that cellular stress response and stress proteins have a positive effect on some functions that could induce longer life span, these tend to be most often related to heat and cold shock which is likely one of the key reasons behind why many cultures developed customs that induce heat or cold shock such as sauna and ice dipping.

So my personal bet is that this goes way beyond simple selection bias that pre-selected the fittest and has likely involved biological changes that were favorable for longevity.

The question now is how to identify these changes and mechanisms and replicate them without having to force someone to live through literal hell.

Re: Holocaust Paradox: Long Lives for Those Who Survived

#10
post #4

Kind of obvious but can it be simply a selection bias? The weakest died in the camps, the survivors would be the healthier, stronger, and therefore have a longer life expectancy than average.

The question is if it’s just a simple selection bias or did the stress of living under those conditions have had biological effects that are advantageous to longer life span. We know that cellular stress response and stress proteins have a positive effect on some functions that could induce longer life span, these tend to be most often related to heat and cold shock which is likely one of the key reasons behind why m…

Caloric restriction (extreme dieting) is well known to increase lifespan. Intermittent fasting shows tentative promise.
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