If immortality is in our future, why aren't oldest humans getting older

By Dick Pelletier

      

    Besse Cooper, a former schoolteacher from Georgia who turned 115 August 26, 2011, is the world's oldest living person. Her predecessor, Brazil's Maria Valentim, a few days older than Besse, died earlier this year at age 114. The oldest living person before Maria and the one before her – actually eight of the last nine were all 114 when they achieved world's oldest human. Eight of the last ten titleholders died at 114, two at 115.

    Although centenarians, the fastest-growing age group in the world boasts nearly 500,000 members, supercentenarians, those who have reached 110 years and older, total just 89 as of this writing.

    Only seven people have ever made it past 115, including Jeanne Calment, the French woman who died in 1997 at age 122, the oldest human age ever recorded according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

    Why aren't the oldest living people getting older? The Millennium Project's 2011 State of the Future Report shows that most populations are living longer. Life expectancies in countries not ravaged by AIDS have been rising gradually for decades. The average American can expect to live 80 years today – five years longer than the average in 1990, plus many of today's 'boomers and seniors who enjoy good health are likely to achieve centenarian status. However, reaching supercentenarian and beyond may prove challenging.

    Researchers call this "rectangularization of the mortality curve." For example, in 1990 Japan had 3,000 people 100 years or older, with the oldest being 114 years. Two decades later in 2010, Japan had 44,000 people over the age of 100; but the oldest was still 114.

    For reasons that aren't entirely clear, scientists say, the odds of a person dying in any given year between the ages of 110 and 113 appear to be about one in two. But by age 114, the chances jump to two in three.

    University of Texas Health Science Center professor Steve Austad sees the spike in mortality at age 114 as a statistical artifact. Today's oldest humans, Austad reminds us, grew up without many of the benefits of 20th century advances in nutrition and medicine. He believes that supercentenarians owe their longevity, more to freakish genes than perfect health; the 122-year-old Calment smoked cigarettes for 96 years.

    Most anti-aging scientists believe that to break the maximum human age barrier will require breakthroughs in medical procedures that can slow or reverse; and eventually, stop the aging process completely.

    Many now believe that stem cells represent the best remedy to eliminate aging. As we age, the stem cell reserves we are born with decline. Cells lose their ability to regenerate and repair tissue, causing our organs, muscles, skin, and immune structure to deteriorate. This progression opens the door for numerous diseases that attack our bodies and eventually bring about death.

    Researchers have found that by replacing aging cells with new stem cells, many age-related diseases can be stopped in their tracks; and as a bonus, patients receiving stem cell treatments experience an increase in energy, vigor and strength. The body and mind actually become biologically younger.

    Though more research is needed to realize all the hopes and dreams of this 'stem cell magic', progress is advancing exponentially; especially in areas of creating dissolvable housing systems (templates) that direct stem cells to grow into specific parts, such as hearts, livers, pancreas, muscles, bones, eyes, skin, and teeth.

    In addition, by 2020, experts predict that most of the developed world will shift towards improved, personalized, and mostly preventative healthcare techniques. Sensors will soon appear in clothing and inside bodies, detecting everything from cancer to an impending stroke, heart attack, or even the flu. This proactive approach will allow doctors to stop most diseases before they start.

    Today, world populations experiencing the fastest growth are seniors and centenarians. Experts estimate that by 2050, centenarians will total 6 million, and 25% of Western countries will be 60 years of age or older.

    Anti-aging guru Aubrey de Grey believes the first person to achieve a 1,000 year lifespan has already been born. Can medical science stamp out aging and sickness in such a brief time? Although there are challenges to this optimistic outlook, positive futurists believe that with exponential advances in genetics and stem cell research expected in the coming decades, an indefinite lifespan might one day be possible for all of us.

    This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.