Anti-aging elixirs could be hiding in a $1 diabetes pill or a mysterious chemical on Easter Island – here are six studies that could prolong our lives

From a $1 pill that treats diabetes to a mysterious chemical unearthed on Easter Island, researchers are looking for ways to banish old age.

Many projects have focused on extending the time a person is healthy, while others have offered the hope of rejuvenating cells so that skin looks 30 years younger.

A promising anti-aging treatment could be a drug used in chemotherapy and a substance found in vegetables, which allowed mice to live longer, reduce disease risk and increase endurance.

Others have suggested stem cell injections to repair tissues, a pill that treats diabetes and reset certain parts of the body — among others that could one day help people maintain their youthful glow.

“There are so many promising areas of aging research that it’s difficult to highlight which one is the most important,” Andrew Steele, author of Ageless: The new science of getting older without getting old, told DailyMail.com.

“There are lots of exciting ideas everywhere, from the drawing board to clinical trials

‘The most important message, however, is that we simply need more funding for this science. In the US, about $1 per person per year is spent on public funding of research into aging biology, even though age-related diseases such as cancer are and dementia cause 85 percent of deaths in the US.”

Drugs that kill old cells

One of the most promising areas of anti-aging research is “senolytic” drugs that kill old, senescent cells, Steele explains.

In the laboratory, mice given a senolytic cocktail of two compounds, dasatinib (a drug normally used for chemotherapy) and quercetin (a ‘flavonoid’ found in fruits and vegetables) became ‘younger’.

“It has been shown in the laboratory that mice given them actually became biologically younger,” Steele explained.

‘They lived longer, had less cancer and heart disease, could run further and faster on a treadmill and, quite frankly, just looked great: after a course of senolytics they had a better coat, plumper skin, and so on.

‘There are currently more than twenty companies trying to convert this idea from an idea that works in mice to an idea that works in humans. So watch this space!’

The ‘reset switch’ for human cells

Backed by $3 billion in investor money, Altos Labs is the largest biotech launch of all time, with 500 employees and top scientists reportedly paid $1 million a year.

It’s backed by investment from Jeff Bezos (Elon Musk joked on Twitter, “If it doesn’t work, he’s going to sue death!”), and aims to establish facilities in San Francisco and San Diego.

The Californian company focuses on cellular rejuvenation: finding a ‘reset switch’ for human cells.

In research by Wolf Reik, vice president of Altos Labs, researchers used genetic switches, known as Yamanaka factors, on skin cells from middle-aged people.

After the cells were grown in a laboratory dish, they were found to be 25 to 30 years younger.

Steve Horvath of Altos Labs said this year: ‘Today we see in some ways that it might be possible to have interventions that extend our healthy years.

‘Many people follow social media influencers who offer lifestyle advice, from intermittent fasting to certain exercise routines.

“You might gain five years, or whatever the number is, but it won’t be fifty. And many people simply can’t exercise or live a healthy lifestyle, for whatever reason, and they would like to have medication to help.”

Altos Labs’ research is ongoing.

Stem cell injections

Several universities around the world are investigating the effects of stem cells on aging, including China’s Sun Yat Sen University, the University of Tehran and Harvard.

Stem cells are cells that can develop into many different types of cells in the body.

As we age, stem cells can become worse at repairing tissues, which can lead to inflammation and also increase the risk of cancer.

Companies such as Cellcolabs already market injections with ‘young’ stem cells for wealthy users.

Entrepreneur Bryan Johnson – who is spending millions on a quest to become ‘young again’ – was injected with young, healthy stem cells by Cellcolabs.

“I am now made from young Swedish bone marrow after being given an infusion of 100 million mesenchymal stem cells,” he said.

The $1 Anti-Aging Pill

A series of studies in people aged 65 to 79 aim to measure the anti-aging effects of a drug, metformin, which has been used for decades to treat diabetes.

The TAME study will involve more than 3,000 older people to test whether the use of metformin has delayed the onset of age-related chronic diseases such as heart disease and dementia.

Tests on mice showed that metformin extended lifespan and ‘healthspan’ (the period during which the animals remain healthy).

Studies have since shown that people who take metformin have a reduced risk of certain cancers, including blood cancer and gastrointestinal cancer.

Researchers are particularly excited because metformin is widely used, safe, and already approved by the FDA for use in diabetes – and costs less than a dollar a day.

The Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) Trial will follow thousands of patients for six years to monitor its effects.

Steven Austad, a senior scientific advisor at the American Federation for Aging Research, said, “I don’t know whether metformin extends lifespan in humans, but the existing evidence suggests it is very possible.”

The medicine of Easter Island

One of the most promising treatments being researched for use in anti-aging is a chemical discovered on Easter Island fifty years ago.

Rapamycin, produced by soil bacteria on the remote Pacific island, inhibits the signals associated with aging – and has been shown to extend lifespan by 20% in yeast, 19% in worms, 24% in flies and 60% in mice, according to research. The Lancet.

Originally approved as an immunosuppressant for organ transplant patients, the drug is now being tested in dogs, in addition to human research.

The Dog Aging Project is currently conducting TRIAD (Test of Rapamycin in Aging Dogs) on pets to measure its anti-aging effects.

Dietary restriction and human cells

Eating a calorie-restricted diet can extend lifespan, several studies have shown – and ongoing research at Penn State University may reveal exactly how long.

Previous research has shown that restricting calories by 20% to 60% promotes longevity in many animals.

Research has focused on telomeres – a region of DNA at the end of chromosomes.

Each time a person’s cells multiply, a number of telomeres are lost over the course of a human life as chromosomes are copied into the new cell.

After cells have replicated sufficiently often, the protective cap of telomeres disappears completely.

Lead author Waylon Hastings said there are many reasons why calorie restriction can extend human lifespan, and the topic is still being studied.

“One primary mechanism by which life is extended has to do with the metabolism within a cell,” Hastings explains.

When energy is used up in a cell, waste products from that process cause oxidative stress that can damage DNA and otherwise break down the cell.

‘However, when a person’s cells use less energy due to calorie restriction, there are fewer waste products and the cell does not break down as quickly.’

The researchers want to reassess their research group after ten years to measure the impact of calorie restriction on human telomeres.