Well, the oldest animal currently living in captivity anyway. Jonathan, pictured below, is 176 years old.

The average or maximum lifespans of these tortoises aren’t really known, since birth records of the tortoises kept in captivity are sketchy at best, they are often of indeterminate age when they are taken or rescued from the wild. They [...]

A study from Shantou, China has looked at the effects of resveratrol on cardiomyocytes; in particular, whether resveratrol has any effects on apoptosis of these cells as a result of ischemia/hypoxia. Turns out it did: resveratrol significantly attenuated cell death, indicating that resveratrol might be useful in the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Resveratrol protects cardiomyocytes from [...]

This study presents evidence that Epigallo-catechin gallate (EGCG), one of the major therapeutic components of green tea, significantly and markedly extends the lifespans of C. Elegans worms under conditions of heat or oxidative stress. It did not extend their lifespans under normal conditions. Once again, it starts to seem that preventing oxidative stress is good [...]

Researchers at the Institute of Healthy Ageing at UCL (University College London) stated yesterday that the free-radical theory of aging is ‘wrong’.
As much as this study disappoints me, it would be disingenuous for me to omit it from this blog, and as much as one has to sigh at the possibility of countless hours of [...]

A paper that became available today in Cell from the Spanish National Cancer Centre (CNIO) reports on the anti-aging effects of telomerase in cancer resistant mice.

Traditionally, the anti-aging effects of telomerase have been poorly explored because of its unfortunate cancer-promoting activity. Consequently, the researchers genetically engineered cancer-resistant mice by up-regulating their expression of [...]

Further to my previous article mentioning results showing little effect of vitamins C & E on incidence of cardiovascular events, a new study appearing today from UC – Berkeley demonstrated that vitamin C reduces the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), an important biomarker of heart disease and diabetes.
The study looked at the effects of [...]

There’s been a bit of talk recently about a new drug, at the moment code-named SRT1720, that is essentially a version of resveratrol that is around the order of 1,000 times more active.
SRT1720 is initially being purported as a treatment for diabetes as it affects glucose metabolism, but its real promise in my and many [...]

An article in Cell Research has shed some light on why estrogen deficiency leads to aging.
In the adrenal glands, TElomerase Reverse Transcriptase (TERT) gene expression is reduced as a result of estrogen insufficiency. This was shown to lead to significantly shorter telomeres, compromised cellular proliferation, and adrenal atrophy.
Three weeks administration of estrogen restored TERT gene [...]