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In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’

nature.com

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Re: In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’

#101

Post by James_Henry »

joe_the_user wrote: post #91
arcticbull wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fasting is easy and fun, you just have to work up to it. You can just go from zero to not eating for a week. Building up your tolerance to it takes a bit, like anything else, but when you do it improves mental acuity, gets you a general sense of well-being and energy too.

My body weight puts me barely above underweight when I eat as much as I feel like. I don't think regular week long fasts could be very healthy for me.

Upton Sinclair reported skinny people gaining weight after they took up fasting. Maybe there's something it could do for you? Also, you won't lose much weight in a week and could also try a fasting-mimicking diet too.

Re: In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’

#102

Post by James_Henry »

driverdan wrote: post #90
nikkwong wrote: post #83

Can someone enlighten me as to why a study such as this one may be undertaken without a control group? I mean, what's the point? If the study ends up landing on some exciting conclusions, not having a control group creates more questions than answers. Is there a budgetary constraint at play here or are researchers sticking their feelers out in all kinds of directions simultaneously trying to figure out which directio…

Because the larger the group the more expensive it is to run. This is a very early experiment to see if there's anything worth doing a larger study on.

Yes, this is very standard practice. You can still learn a lot with a small sample size and no control, especially when you don't know much.

It's a big deal that they are able to see a full on reversal of Horvath's clock whether or not it was in a handful of people or a thousand!

Re: In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’

#103

Post by James_Henry »

nikolay wrote: post #86
ALittleLight wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If 9 people took a substance and died that would be a compelling enough sample size for me not to take thing. Likewise, 9 people reporting a positive result seems meaningful enough to encourage further study (provided effect size is large enough)..

With the placebo being so strong, sample size of 9 is too small for any conclusion.

Do you know how strong the placebo works on Horvath's epigenetic clock? I don't think that research has been done, but it will be soon I am sure and it will be incredibly interesting to find out.

Even without knowing that though, I'm surprised, and so is Horvath himself, that they found a full-on reversal of the clock. I don't think anyone was expecting that. I'm betting we won't see that kind of reversal in a future placebo group, though if we do I'm going to be getting myself some good placebo!

Re: In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’

#104

Post by ianai »

nikkwong wrote: post #81
kharak wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, do you mean two weeks of only water? Do you do this for weight loss? Do you work out? I would be very afraid to mess-up my metabosm. How do you prevent that?

Long term or repeated fasting should actually decrease your body's metabolism rate; which is a good thing if you want to age slower. (I.e. think about species who have slow metabolisms, turtles, for one, who live very long lives). I do alternate day fasting (48 hour fasts, every other day) and realized I now need far fewer calories to get by than I used to. Obviously anecdotal but I feel great!

How did you work up to fasting?

Re: In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’

#106

Post by 4ntonius8lock »

jvagner wrote: post #96
stickfigure wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your idea of 'fun' and my idea of 'fun' are wildly different.

The idea of fasting and the reality of fasting are different. The idea is more painful than a committed effort. Once you accept and embrace the fast, it’s freeing. Like running every day.... once you know you’re going to do it, the resistance withers.

I run and I fast.

I enjoy the benefit.

The actual act of doing these things are antithetical of fun for me.

I do them because they work. If I lose motivation in life, it's the first thing I stop and the hardest to start up again (been many years that I've worked on self improvement)

Good on you that it feels that way to you. No, I will never feel that way. People are different.

Re: In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’

#107

Post by pmiller2 »

jvagner wrote: post #96
stickfigure wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your idea of 'fun' and my idea of 'fun' are wildly different.

The idea of fasting and the reality of fasting are different. The idea is more painful than a committed effort. Once you accept and embrace the fast, it’s freeing. Like running every day.... once you know you’re going to do it, the resistance withers.

As someone who's gone multiple days in a row without eating non-voluntarily, you're never going to convince me that fasting for extended periods is fun.

Re: In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’

#108

Post by all2 »

stickfigure wrote: post #62
arcticbull wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fasting is easy and fun, you just have to work up to it. You can just go from zero to not eating for a week. Building up your tolerance to it takes a bit, like anything else, but when you do it improves mental acuity, gets you a general sense of well-being and energy too.

Your idea of 'fun' and my idea of 'fun' are wildly different.

There are facets.

Yes, you feel hungry. But, once you're there you are also laser focused (at least I am). My morning productivity and ability to sink into problems lasts all day, instead.

I haven't got the other part, the ketogenic diet, yet.

Re: In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’

#109

Post by all2 »

ianai wrote: post #104
nikkwong wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long term or repeated fasting should actually decrease your body's metabolism rate; which is a good thing if you want to age slower. (I.e. think about species who have slow metabolisms, turtles, for one, who live very long lives). I do alternate day fasting (48 hour fasts, every other day) and realized I now need far fewer calories to get by than I used to. Obviously anecdotal but I feel great!

How did you work up to fasting?

I typically get back into it by skipping breakfast for a week. Then I also start skipping lunch some days.

Right now I do a 24 hour fast (dinner to dinner) about once a week.

Re: In a small trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’

#110

Post by whatshisface »

oh_sigh wrote: post #51
whatshisface wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, only reproduction is required. If there was still an early Hominid walking around, we wouldn't be any dumber.

The problem is that old species members generally rely on the same resources as young species members. So if you're in a resource-constrained environment, you need to clear the old out.

Death through old age isn't the only way to do that.
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