Slow ageing and cut age-related diseases
The Longevity Conference in Melbourne has been told that slowing the ageing process by just seven years could halve the rate of age-related diseases.
International guest speaker, Professor Jay Olshansky, from the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, said that if ageing was slowed by even a little bit, it would result in the equivalent of a major breakthrough against every fatal and non-fatal disabling disease that exists.
Humans already had the genetic potential to live to 122, and he said that researchers were looking at restricting calories as well as genes, for the clue to longevity.
Studying changes in cells and tissues at the molecular level might also help to find the way to slow down the ageing process.
