1)What physical change did the Boston
scientists see in the mice in their experiment?
2)What problem is there with performing the
Boston procedure on people?
3)What builds up in our cells as we age?
4)What did the New York scientists achieve?
5)What global problem does the writer mention
that could be affected by anti-aging treatments?
6)How does eating tomatoes help us achieve
younger-looking skin?
7)Why might reversing the aging process one
day become a reality?
The results of a recent experiment to slow the effects of
the aging process in mice amazed scientists in Boston, USA.
The scientists increased the amount of an enzyme called
telomerase in the cells of the mice. Telomerase is an
important enzyme because it repairs DNA. With increased
telomerase in their cells, the mice’s fertility improved, their
fur began to look healthier, even their brains worked better.
The scientists were hoping simply to slow the aging process
in mice but, much to their surprise, they actually reversed it!
Could we use the same process to stop humans from
aging? It’s possible, but it wouldn’t be without risks.
Scientists believe increasing the level of telomerase in human
cells would put people at greater risk of cancer. What’s more,
it’s unlikely that simply increasing telomerase would be
enough to keep us young because hundreds of enzymes are
involved in the aging process.
Although scientists don’t yet know exactly how and why
we age, they have several theories. One theory is that as time
passes, our bodies become less efficient at removing toxins
from our cells. One way to try to stop the aging process is to
keep cells as clean as possible. Scientists in New York
successfully used this technique to restore the livers of old
mice. The researchers bred special mice that did not lose their
ability to remove damaged proteins from their livers. When
these special mice were two years old, their livers were as
healthy as the livers of ordinary one-month old mice.
Although these special mice with youthful livers didn’t live
any longer than ordinary mice, scientists believe this study
could eventually lead to ways of protecting humans from the
diseases we get in old age.
Of course, if scientists ever do succeed in developing
drugs that combat the aging process we will need to ask
ourselves whether it is right to use them. For instance, should
we keep people young and healthy artificially when, already,
there are far too many people on the planet?
What if you can’t wait for these future developments
though? Well, scientists may not yet be able to stop you from
aging, but they do know a way you can keep yourself looking
younger – tomatoes! Tomatoes contain a substance called
lycopene which helps prevent one of the main causes of skin
aging: sun damage. Researchers in the UK asked a group of
people to eat a serving of cooked tomatoes every day for 12
weeks. They then compared their skin to the skin of people
who hadn’t eaten any tomatoes. The skin of the people who
ate the tomatoes was much less likely to burn in the sun.
Eating tomatoes also increases the levels of procollagen in
your skin. Procollagen helps keep skin firm, so the more you
have in your skin, the less likely you are to get wrinkles. So
while living forever is still just a fantasy, nature has at least
provided a way for us to keep looking as young as possible,
for as long as possible!