eternity soup by greg critser - excerpt

8/14/2019 Eternity Soup by Greg Critser - Excerpt

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Soup

GREG CRISER

H a r m o n y B o o k s

new york

Eternity

Inside

the

Ques t

to

End

Aging


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Copyrigh by Grg Crisr

All righs rsrvd.

Publishd in h Unid Sas by Harmony Books,

an imprin o h Crown Publishing Group,

a division o Random Hous, Inc., Nw York.

www.crownpublishing.com

Harmony Books is a rgisrd radmarkand h Harmony Books colophon

is a radmark o Random Hous, Inc.

Library o Congrss Caaloging-in-Publicaion Daa

Crisr, Grg.

Ernit soup / Grg Crisr

p. cm.Includs bibliographical rrncs and indx.

. Longvit. . AgingPrvnion. I. il.

RA..C

.dc

ISBN -

Prind in h Unid Sas o Amrica

Desgn by Elzabeh Rendeich

Illusraons by Andrew Barhelmes

Firs Ediion

www.HarmonyBooks.com
http://www.crownpublishing.com/http://www.harmonybooks.com/http://www.crownpublishing.com/


4/15

To purchase a copy of

Eternity Soup

visit one of these online retailers:

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307407900&ref=other_scribd-pdf-random-eterni-0210http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780307407900-0http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307407900http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-2665379-10568661?url=http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=030740790X&cmpid=pub-rh-56http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Eternity-Soup/Greg-Critser/e/9780307462503&afsrc=1&lkid=J28248944&pubid=K124596&byo=1http://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Soup-Inside-Quest-Aging/dp/030740790X?tag=randohouseinc2-20


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Contents

INRODUCION x i i i

book one Calories

book two Cash

book three Engineering

book four The New Longevity Bestiary

book five One Million Centenarians

REC IPES FOR EERNIY

NOES

SELEC BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGMENS

C REDIS

INDEX

http://www.harmonybooks.com/


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INTRODUCTION

W wr lunching in Gods waiing room, which is wha Bob

Hop likd o call Palm Springs, whn h subjc o aging

cam up.

I was a good abl or h subjc, bcaus i you wrlooking or o raional xampls o halhy aging, you prob-

ably couldn do br han my mohr, B , svnt-six, and

hr husband, Jrry, svnt-v. Tyv go i down: a simpl,

snsibl di wih an occasional splurg, rouin daily xrcis,

som yoga, los o socializing, and los o mnal simulaion

via ravl, books, hobbis, and adul ducaion. Tyr h

griaric dram amsnsibl, modra, willing o ry nw

hings, and proaciv whn i coms o seing hir kids and

grandkids. Tyr no going o si and rumina ovryourno

coming o se hm. Tyll com o seyou.

Ty ar also hug and airly discriminaing consumrs o

halh and mdical inormaion, and so i was wih som rlish

ha, on day ovr lunch no long ago, I old hm abou somnw rsarch Id ben rading on aging and halh. You se,

I said, dropping ino PowrPoin mod, h ral issu isn



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xiv i n t r o d u c t i o n

li span, is healhspan. And wha do w know abou ha?

Wll, w know ha halhy aging is jus haand ha wha

mdicin should aim or is lnghning h healhspan, no h

li span.

Ty lookd a m a lil blankly and pickd a hir salads.

I wn on. And so, has ld o kind o a nw Holy Grail in

aging rsarchh ida o rcangularizaion o morbidit.

Mor blank sars. Forks now on pla.

. . . caus, se, i you look a aging dmographics, you seha h survival curv gos lik his . . .

I racd a downward-sloping lin on h ablcloh wih my

ngr.

. . . wih incrasing sicknss and disas as popl g oldr.

Wha w rally wan o do is mak i squar off, lik his, a,

say, ag ight-v.I racd a nint-dgre angl, downward.

Wha dos ha man? my mom askd.

Oh, simpl, I said. I mans ha h goal o mdical

and aging rsarch should b o g you o, say, ight-o or

ight-v in good halh, and hn you drop off as, say, in

hre o six monhs, wihou xndd illnss.

Tr was a silnc, and I knw I was in roubl.

Oh, my mohr said, I don go along wih ha a all. . . .

Uh-uh, said Jrry. Tas no how wr seing i a all.

T way I se i, Im going o liv o on hundrd and

mayb mor, my mohr said. Why no? And a halhy hun-

drd a ha! Sh pickd up hr ork andniclysabbd

an arichok har o dah.I sid mysl fom poining ou ha hir gn pools did

no augur wll or such opimism, bu, a his poin, hy ownd



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i n t r o d u c t i o n xv

h convrsaion. I wasn aking ino considraion somhing

hy boh semd o know a lo abou: aniaging mdicin. Ty

boh had a longvit docor. Tir ramns includd pr-

scripion compoundd hormons, sosron or him and

progsron cram or hr. Tr wr all kinds o hings you

could do o slow down h aging procss.

Bu, Ma, I said, you know ha hrs no vidnc ha

ha suff dos any mor or lss or you han aking prscrip-

ion hormons!Ah! Bu hr is! T diffrnc is h cram is ailor-

mad or m! I g a blood s vry monh o mak sur. And

GrgoryI know you wro a book abou all hisbu I am

lling you i works! My skin hasn ben lik his or nt

yars! And my nrgy lvl oo. And Im no vn doing my

yoga as much, so I know is h cram. Is dnily makingm el youngr. And fankly, Grgory, I don vn hink o

aging h sam way anymor. Aging, lik ha I man, whn

you rally hink abou i, is so unnaural!

Driving hom ha day, I hough a lo abou ha las sa-

mn, h noion ha aging was somhow unnaural. I was h

kind o dimnsional shi in prcpion ha lads you o hink

ha, onc again, jus lik ha crazy Inrn hing, modrn

li has passd you by. Eihr ha, or ha vryon around you

has gon oally off h grid.

Ar all, vryon knows ha aniaging mdicin is bogus,

righ? Crainly all h righ-hinking olk hink so. Evn h

somnoln FDA rcnly raidd a bunch o pharmacis or

slling aniaging compounds. T Gronological Socit oAmricals call i Big Gsponsors sminars on aniag-

ing quackry. A group o Big G rsarchrs has vn akn o



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xvi i n t r o d u c t i o n

issuing consnsus dics agains aniaging mdicin, on no-

ing is mor obvious fauds whil impaling h whol noion as

quackry. Som o hs aacks ar srangly prsonal, singling

ou bona d rsarchrs who diffrd fom h sablishmn

lin as rogus and impaling ohrs or bing clbriis.

Bu somhing has bohrd ohrs in h lds o aging

and mdicin abou his consnsus. Whn you lookd a lil

hardr, you saw ha som o h biggr nams had rusd o

sign on. I was oo soon o ak such a cnsoring posiion, hysaid. Youngr sciniss viwd i as a gnraional a on. As a

gradua sudn namd Adam Spong, a cll biology rsarchr

a Souhrn Illinois Univrsit Mdical School, old m, Tir

whol hing is jus so, so . . . posmodrn in ha s way. I

man, you canno alk abou aging as a disas, bcaus ha

would b agis. You canno alk abou somhing objcivlyacualha i is br, physiologically, o b young han

b oldwihou supposdly causing sigma or vicimizing h

ldrly. o m i all sinks o som wird, sl-daing orho-

doxy, call i poliical corrcnss, i you wan.

In ac, h mor on looks a aniaging, or longvit, sci-

nc and mdicin, h mor on ses ha hr is no ral con-

snsus abou i a all, and ha myriad nrpriss, boh public

and priva, ar orging onward ino a brav nw pro-longvis

world. Considr, or xampl, ha:

Sanord Univrsit prossor Shripad uljapurkar, an

xpr in populaion mahmaics, projcs ha ani-

aging advancs in dvlopd counris could incrasli xpcancy by a year for each yearo h dcads

o .



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i n t r o d u c t i o n xvii

T Naional Insiu on Aging, h counrys d-

rally undd arbir o gronology, is now undr-

wriing a long- rm, wid-ranging program o s

li-span-xnding compounds on mic a hre lad-

ing rsarch insiuions. Alhough dsignd o dbunk

commrcial claims, h arly rsuls hav alrady

idnid hre compounds ha xnd maximum li

span in mica hug surpris o h ddicad skp-

ics running h rials. Anohr NIA sudy, h rs on humans, showd ha

hickning o h caroid arry, a ky sign o aging and

a risk acor or srok, was dramaically rducd in

praciionrs o caloric rsricion.

Whn h nod RAND Corporaion askd h naions

lading gronologiss, cardiologiss, and griariciansabou h possibilit o a major li-span-xnding

compound, many wr surprisingly bullish, wih a

numbr prdicing a prcn chanc o such a com-

pound in h nx n yars.

T cooundr o PayPal, Pr Til, on o h nan-

cial worlds shrwds invsors, has pu $. million

ino a projc o do nohing lss han nd aging.

T pharmacuicals gian Glaxo rcnly paid $

million or h dvlopmn righs o rsvrarol, a

compound ha sems, among ohr hings, o slow h

undrlying aging procss in som lab animals

T had o Ric Univrsits prsigious nvironmn-

al nginering dparmn, considrd on o h bsin h world, is now lading an xprimn ha will

us soil bacria o arg and dsroy human arrial



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xviii i n t r o d u c t i o n

plaqu, ssnially craing a way, in h words o on

rsarchr, o nd arrial aging as w know i.

T NIH is unding rials in pig-o-prima organ rans-

planaion, hoping o push h scinc closr o usul-

nss bor currn dmographic rnds worsn and

organ dmand ousrips supply vn mor dramaically

han a prsn.

Aging Amricans ar no longr waiing or brak-

hrough scinc or Big Pharma. A soaring numbr oprscripions going ou h pharmacy door hs days

is or a hormon-basd produc, mos o hm usd or

aniaging purposs. Insrucivly, i is almos always

paid or in cash.

I com o his rmarkabl and as-moving world wih myown biass and prjudics. Lik mos popl, I wan aniag-

ing mdicin o work, spcially sinc mn in my linag don

nd o liv vry long. Tr ar lovd ons all around m whom

Id lik o njoy a lo longr. And, surpris: I hink h bodily

and mnal dgradaion ha coms wih advancd yars is

crul, capricious, and unrlning, and h amps o main-

ain ons dignit in h ac o i ar oo on clownish, pii-

ul and, ulimaly, inffciv. A rcn concussionwhich

rsuld in a orm o acclrad brain aging and or which

I sough ramn in aniaging mdicin ar convnional

mdicin ailddrov ha poin hom in a prsonal way. A

jock would say ha Iv go skin in h gam.

T mor I lookd, h mor i semd o m ha, ovr hnx y yars, scinc, mdicin, and chnology will rans-

orm agingand h way w hink abou i. Tis chang will



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i n t r o d u c t i o n xix

com in ways small and larg, is voluion gradual bu inxo-

rabl, uld by boh sl-xprimnaion and publicly undd

rials. Much o i will ak plac in rra incognia; aging may

bcom asir and mor comorabl, bu mor xpnsiv and

vn a lil riskir, oo.

So whr dos aniaging, or longvit, scinc com fom,

wha dos i ll us, how dos i connc (or no) wih radi-

ional mdicin and mdical scinc, and how will w hink

o our own bodis as a rsul? Tos ar h qusions hisbook will ry o answr. o sar, w mus rs go o ucson,

Arizona.



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Clve McCay, he faher of modern longevt scence,and one of hi subjecs, crca .



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About the Author

GREG CRITSERis a longime journalis and observer

of he medical indusry. He is he auhor of Fa Land:

How Americans Became he Fates People in he Worldand Generaion Rx: How Prescripion Drugs Are Alering

American Lives, Minds, and Bodies. His work has ap-

peared in dozens of magazines and newspapers, and he

is a well-known commenaor on medicine, healh, and

food, wih regular appearances on public radio and TV.

He lives in Pasadena wih his wife, Anoinete Mongelli.



15/15

To purchase a copy of

Eternity Soup

visit one of these online retailers:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307407900&ref=other_scribd-pdf-random-eterni-0210http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780307407900-0http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307407900http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-2665379-10568661?url=http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=030740790X&cmpid=pub-rh-56http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Eternity-Soup/Greg-Critser/e/9780307462503&afsrc=1&lkid=J28248944&pubid=K124596&byo=1http://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Soup-Inside-Quest-Aging/dp/030740790X?tag=randohouseinc2-20

eternity soup by greg critser - excerpt

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