Maybe we will all be taking metformin in a few years

[MillCreek]

http://www.inquisitr.com/2599362/diabetes-drug-metformin-could-increase-human-lifespan-to-120-years/

If the studies pan out, that is.

[TommyGunn]

Yippeee!  I'm on that now!!!!!!   I'm ahead of the game!!!!!!  

(PS.--it's used for other probelms than just diabetes)

 

[AJ Dual]

The farts for the first week or so, until your intestinal flora adjusts, are EPIC.

[drooby]

Do we really want to live to 120 though?  I see some people at 70/80 who already look miserable enough, can't imagine how they'd be feeling after another forty years.  

[AJ Dual]

Do we really want to live to 120 though?  I see some people at 70/80 who already look miserable enough, can't imagine how they'd be feeling after another forty years.  

Then again, I've got my father who turns 70 next year who passes for 50 easily.

And there's the issue of "escape velocity" in terms of aging. If you live another 20 years, that's another 20 years of medical progress you might enjoy too.

The life expectancy we see today is really just an aggregate figure from "cleaner living" sanitation, food safety, car safety, smoking becoming less popular etc. medications and medical procedures has done a lot of nibbling around the edges. We haven't even begun to see serious gains from medicine/chemistry directly aimed at aging yet.

[StopTheGrays]

Great, I just got off of it this year. 

[MechAg94]

Then again, I've got my father who turns 70 next year who passes for 50 easily.

And there's the issue of "escape velocity" in terms of aging. If you live another 20 years, that's another 20 years of medical progress you might enjoy too.

The life expectancy we see today is really just an aggregate figure from "cleaner living" sanitation, food safety, car safety, smoking becoming less popular etc. medications and medical procedures has done a lot of nibbling around the edges. We haven't even begun to see serious gains from medicine/chemistry directly aimed at aging yet.

There are quite a few of those older folks who smoke or used to smoke. 

I am curious if we will see things level off due to people abusing anti-biotics and taking prescription drugs for every discomfort.  Not to mention fad diets, food additives, and other stuff. 

[birdman]

Do we really want to live to 120 though?  I see some people at 70/80 who already look miserable enough, can't imagine how they'd be feeling after another forty years.  

As someone who is -hoping- to live to 70/80, but might likely will not... speak for yourself.

[Jocassee]

At the ripe young age of 28, I can't imagine living much past 80. Maybe I'm too in love with my own politics, but unless something drastically changes in that time period I doubt people like me will be well loved anyways. Definitely not well loved enough to get the resources from Single Payer healthcare to stay alive.

[dm1333]

The farts for the first week or so, until your intestinal flora adjusts, are EPIC.

I didn't have that problem with metformin, but taking a probiotic?  One little squeaker was enough to pollute half the station.   

[charby]

Now the government will force everyone to take it and move the SS retirement age to 90.

[brimic]

As someone who is -hoping- to live to 70/80, but might likely will not... speak for yourself.

Ayep. I'll be real lucky to make it to 70- anything beyond that will be icing on the cake.

[brimic]

Now the government will force everyone to take it and move the SS retirement age to 90.

I can't tell if your glass is half full or half empty....

[charby]

I can't tell if your glass is half full or half empty....

Empty and upside down.

[HankB]

Wait a minute here - Metformin is a cheap, very commonly prescribed drug, taken today by a great many people. According to Wikipedia, it was first identified in 1922, forgotten about, then approved for use in Canada in 1972 and the USA in the 1990s. 

So . . . how many of the multitudinous current users appear to be on track to reach the ripe old age of 120?

[Marnoot]

So . . . how many of the multitudinous current users appear to be on track to reach the ripe old age of 120?

I suspect nothing will really come of this news (i.e. we won't all be taking metformin in a few years), as has always been the case with such news and studies. That said, it's hard to use current and historical usage as an accurate gauge of any life-extending properties for healthy people.

Where people on Metformin have Type 2 diabetes or liver issues, etc. which tend towards lifespan-decreasing, any lifespan-extending properties might just be cancelled out on a statistical level.

[MillCreek]

^^^This is indeed the confounding issue with the current users of metformin, who have diabetes, which in and of itself can decrease life expectancy.  So the studies in which metformin is given to otherwise healthy people will be interesting.

[drooby]

Somewhat related, but it appears that gene therapy could be helping us cure more diseases and live longer within the next 5 or 6 years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/achenblog/wp/2015/12/02/professor-george-church-says-he-can-reverse-the-aging-process/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_3_na

[AJ Dual]

Somewhat related, but it appears that gene therapy could be helping us cure more diseases and live longer within the next 5 or 6 years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/achenblog/wp/2015/12/02/professor-george-church-says-he-can-reverse-the-aging-process/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_3_na

There's also been a lot of major discoveries on the actual mechanics of inserting/removing genes, targeting existing tissues etc.

A lot of it was the whole "Hey we found the gene!" etc. But pretty ham-fisted ways of doing anything about it. Maybe a drug that suppresses the gene. Maybe a retro-virus that could poke out the gene, and replace it... New methods of actually sticking genes where we want them at will have been coming up now. Or ways of activating dormant genes already there.