Longevity is a true trend topic – not only in America but increasingly also in Europe. While trends usually fade away after a short time, longevity has come to stay. This is because it affects each of us – more than one would expect.
The term longevity originally comes from the American context and was once equated with a long life. Over the last few decades, the topic has also made its way into science and research – at a rapid pace. Studies on supplements and dietary habits that positively impact health and longevity have sprung up everywhere. The knowledge surrounding the topic of longevity is growing at an astonishing rate. This development is particularly positive because trends are usually not evidence-based. Longevity is already.
The great challenge in the molecular longevity jungle is that groundbreaking results also find their way into the general public. Not least due to bestselling books like Lifespan by Dr. David Sinclair, or Outlive by Dr. Peter Attia this is already the case. While science often fails to bridge the gap between experts and the average consumer, longevity is already at the center of life.
Longevity - The term from ancient Rome
The term Longevity is derived, like so many important words, from Latin.In ancient Rome, clever minds combined the words longus, from the adjective lang, and vita, from the noun life, into the new expression longaevitās. This referred to an individual who lives a long time. Longevity is thus defined as "long life" or "a long lifespan." What is the current state of our lifespan?
The life expectancy under scrutiny
Life expectancy has significantly increased over the last century. While a boy or girl born just before 1900 in Germany had an average life expectancy of only 40.6 and 44 years respectively, today a baby is expected to live almost twice as long .
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the current life expectancy of a newborn is 78.5 years (men) and 83.4 years (women). In countries like Japan, this number is even higher. Nevertheless, Germany ranks among the international leaders with these figures. Compared to the Greenland shark, which can live over 200 years, this seems low – however, the rapid increase in human life expectancy is remarkable.
It is particularly indicative of the rapid progress in the fields of medicine and technology. Additionally, changes in daily life and the working world have contributed to the fact that our life expectancy has been turned upside down.
What initially appears to be a quantum leap does have a catch.The tunnel vision on curative medicine has led to the constant consideration of new ways to heal, while neglecting prevention and health maintenance. Illness, disability, and frailty now partly dominate the newly gained lifespan and immensely influence the quality of life. Healthspan versus Lifespan While lifespan is self-explanatory in representing the total number of years we live, healthspan refers to how many years we remain healthy, free, and away from diseases. Although the global increase in life expectancy in the past was accompanied by a parallel extension of healthspan, it could not keep pace.
The gap between lifespan and healthspan is even scientifically recognized and is estimated by research to be about 9 years. But that's not all. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that a child born today in Germany will only spend 71 (70.89) of the 82 (81.72) years of life in good health. The sobering realization: 11 years of loss in quality of life. Longevity is taking on this discrepancy.
Longevity – the revolution of health
Immortality visionaries in research have consistently aimed in the past to extend life to 150 years and beyond. But what do additional years of life bring us if they are marked by illness?
“Longevity is only desirable if it extends youth, not if it prolongs old age.” – Alexis Carrel
The advocates of health promotion and maintenance adopted the principle of Alexis Carrel and gradually pushed the immortalists aside. The new intention is to reach the same age, but fitter, more vital, healthier, and more self-determined. If this also leads to an extension of life, that is a nice side effect. These considerations shaped the terms healthspan and lifespan .
It is also important to know in this context that the influence of our genetic makeup on life expectancy is relatively low. According to scientific studies it accounts for a maximum of 20-30 percent . The rest is determined by our behavior, our attitude, and our environment. These affect our epigenetics . Simply put, you can think of epigenetics like a volume control. Thus, epigenetics can turn genes up (the gene is read more strongly) or turn them down (the gene is read less). To better understand all the molecular processes behind aging, scientists have defined the Hallmarks of Aging . These deal with the characteristics of aging at the molecular and intercellular level.Currently, there are 12 of these Hallmarks.
Let's take a look at where the modern Longevity concept has its origins.
Blue Zones – where Longevity is at home
Before Dan Buettner published the article "The Secrets of Long Life" in National Geographic in 2005, the blue zones of our planet mostly referred to the oceans. Today, the Blue Zones refer to five Longevity hotspots.
Buettner and his team set out to find places where there were not only above-average numbers of centenarians , but also groups of people who aged without health problems such as heart disease, obesity, cancer, or diabetes. The American researcher found five such places:
- Ikaria in Greece
- Okinawa in Japan
- Ogliastra in Sardinia
- Loma Linda in California
- Nicoya in Costa Rica
What do these places actually have in common? This question also occupied Dan Buettner.Initially, his team noticed that people in the Blue Zones live in a rather secluded way – whether on islands, peninsulas, in mountainous regions, or small towns. Despite all local separation, they have access to modern medical care.
The Blue Zones are also located in sunny subtropical to tropical areas, making vitamin D deficiency a rarity. This is advantageous because researchers suspect that a deficiency in vitamin D can shorten lifespan.
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In addition, the inhabitants consistently maintain a lifestyle characterized by tradition and responsibility towards the community . They mainly live on their own farms and work as shepherds and fishermen. This means constant movement and plenty of time outdoors. Their diet mainly consists of local, unprocessed foods, while processed foods are rarely or never on their menu.
Even though our modern living conditions do not really allow for a similar lifestyle, we can still learn a lot from them.
Mark Hyman writes about it in his book Young Forever:
“Live close to nature. Love deeply. Eat simple food raised sustainably. Move naturally. Laugh and rest. Actually live (And live longer, as it turns out).“
Longevity Escape Velocity – The Hypothesis of Eternal Life
An exciting concept in the longevity scene is “longevity escape velocity.” Initially coined by the British biogerontologist Aubrey de Gray, who gained wide recognition with his book “Never Age!”.What is meant by this is the following:
We all benefit from advances in medical treatment methods and technologies. This is also one reason why, on average, we are all living longer than the statistical life expectancy at the time of our birth would suggest. Nevertheless, we still age faster than science makes progress in slowing down our aging process, for example.
Longevity escape velocity (escape velocity of longevity) is reached when life expectancy increases by more than one year per research year. In simple terms, this means that the research brings new useful insights so quickly that it could always provide all the answers to the questions of aging. The result would indeed be eternal life.Some experts believe that humanity is either on the brink or we have already reached that point. Let's be surprised by what the future brings.
Medicine 3.0 – the other way to heal
There are many different approaches outside of curative medicine to achieve and maintain health and longevity. Be it the Functional Medicine of Dr. Wachner, the preventive approach of Dr. Stoffel or the Biohacking Lab of Andreas Breitfeld.
The Preventive- and Functional Medicine sees, for example, the discrepancy between the body and the environment as a cause of disease and aging processes.
In simple terms, this means:
We humans are not made to be inflamed, stressed, sleep-deprived, infected, undernourished in essential nutrients, and surrounded by toxins.
What does the functional approach do differently than curative medicine?
The perspective of the body as an integrated system instead of a collection of individual organs assigned to different medical specialties is at the center of the functional perspective. It focuses on the entire system and not just the symptoms.
Famous longevity personalities
Perhaps you have read Lifespan by David Sinclair yourself, or listened to the podcast "The Drive" by Peter Attia . Maybe you have also read Mark Hyman's book "Young Forever" or heard something from Valter Longo and his fasting-mimicking diet. People like these are partly responsible for bringing longevity knowledge beyond research. In books, podcasts, and series, they try to put complicated scientific findings into simple words – with great success.
Dr.David Sinclair
When the book ‘Lifespan – Why we age and why we don’t have to’ was published in September 2019, David A. Sinclair, PhD was known, but not yet the shooting star of the longevity scene that he is today. The captivating and exciting narrative about the molecular longevity pathways, which was published in German under the title ‘The End of Aging – the Revolutionary Medicine of Tomorrown’ catapulted the Australian biologist and professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School to the top of bestseller lists in dozens of countries.
Dr.Mark Hyman
Mark Hyman is an American family physician, bestselling author, and functional medicine practitioner. In his recently published bestselling book 'Young Forever' he describes food as medicine to support longevity, energy, mental clarity, happiness, and much more. The doctor is an internationally recognized figure in the field of functional medicine and discusses many different topics related to health and longevity in his podcast 'The Doctor’s Farmacy' .
Dr. Peter Attia
Peter Attia is one of the most renowned figures in the longevity scene.The American doctor and health researcher is known, among other things, for his podcast "The Drive," in which he discusses a variety of topics for a healthy and long life with guests. With his new bestseller book 'Outlive – The Science and Art of Longevity,' Peter Attia became known even outside the scientific community. Dave Asprey On a trip to Tibet, the American computer scientist Dave Asprey enjoyed a tea with typical yak butter and noticed that he felt much better physically and mentally. This experience was, in a way, the starting point for the today's entrepreneur and bestselling author of 'Superhuman' for a new life. He summarized his findings in the Bulletproof Diet and aims to live to be 180 years old.
Bryan Johnson
The successful American entrepreneur invests several million dollars annually in his own rejuvenation program 'Blueprint'. You can read about the specific steps he takes and which supplements complement his strict dietary routine in our article about Bryan Johnson's Project Blueprint. He describes himself as the "most studied" person on Earth.
The Path to Longevity
The strategies for extending health span are diverse and include nutrition, exercise, supplements, as well as various high-tech methods. To improve life, we must understand aging and the process behind it and focus on slowing it down.
It is extremely important to continue to invest time and resources in research in the future to open up possibilities, to support the pursuit of healing and long health with knowledge gain. Regardless of whether the drive is a single disease or aging in general.
While some well-known personalities take a very extreme approach towards longevity, MoleQlar is about showing interested individuals all possibilities. We want to help you improve your life. Whether this happens with supplements, changes in dietary habits, or other methods is entirely up to you.
After all, good and long health does not begin with a single test and does not end with a few powders for occasional intake.Health preservation starts with you – with your willingness to learn more about your body and strengthen it.
A epigenetic age test can be a good start to find out where you stand. From there, certain nutrition hacks, the right exercise, and selected supplements can support your journey towards a healthy future. A relatively new approach in longevity research is the proteome. The proteomics deals with the evaluation of all proteins in your cells. This way, scientists can gain information about your health through a new approach. In collaboration with the renowned LMU, MoleQlar was able to launch one of the first proteomics tests.If you want to learn more about your molecular profile , this is worth it as an introduction to Longevity.
Ultimately, Longevity is many things. For us, it can be a kind of blueprint for golden times and in a way a tool for self-healing. Research provides us with tools – we just have to use them.
Discover your proteome with the Molecular Profile Test from MoleQlar. Learn more now.
