Lifestyle and nutrition, caloric restriction, mitochondrial health and hormones: scientific interventions for anti-aging.

Abstract

Aging is a universal process to all life forms. The most current and widely accepted definition for aging in humans is that there is a progressive loss of function and energy production that is accompanied by decreasing fertility and increasing mortality with advancing age. The most obvious and commonly recognised consequence of aging and energy decline is a decrease in skeletal muscle function which affects every aspect of human life from the ability to play games, walk and run to chew, swallow and digest food. There is hence a recognised overall decline of an individuals' fitness for the environment that they occupy. In Westenised countries this decline is gradual and the signs become mostly noticeable after the 5th decade of life and henceforth, where the individual slowly progresses to death over the next three to four decades. Given that the aging process is slow and gradual, it presents with opportunities and options that may ameliorate and improve the overall functional capacity of the organism. Small changes in function may be more amenable and likely to further slow down and possibly reverse some of the deleterious effects of aging, rather, than when the incremental changes are large. This overall effect may then translate into a significant compression of the deleterious aspects of human aging with a resultant increase in human life expectancy.