Sage Arbor

By Sage Arbor

The molecular mechanisms underlying the quality and quantity of life extension appear to sometimes be orthogonal. For example, while resveratrol has continued to prove beneficial in reducing obesity, it has had less efficacy in extending lifespan. On the other hand, rapamycin and the chemically similar rapalogs extend lifespan across genera of life from yeast, to nematodes, to mice. Caloric restriction (CR) and bioavailable small molecules, which mimic a fasted state, upregulate autophagy, catabolism of fats over anabolism of carbohydrates, and decrease oxidative stress and inflammation. CR mimics are currently being investigated to elucidate the best dosage, route of administration, timing in life, where best to inhibit in the mTOR pathway, and effects of long-term use on mTORC1 verse mTORC2 complexes. Comparisons between rapamycin, resveratrol, and metformin targets, downstream pathway effects, dosage, and clinical trials will be discussed.

Part of the book: Resveratrol

By Sage Arbor

Non-nutritive sweetener (NNS) use has increased exponentially over the last 30 years as industrialized countries attempted, and failed, to battle obesity epidemics. Large studies have now shown that consumption of NNS’s does not help obese individuals lose weight. A large number of scientific studies on NNS’s effects have many conflicting results, methodological issues, conflicts of interest, while double blind studies represent a small minority of the studies. NNS’s have often been considered as a group despite having unique in vivo absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME). Aspartame may be the most desirable NNS due to its rapid degradation in vivo, whereas saccharin and sucralose are worrisome due to their extended stability in vivo. This review will focus on the most ubiquitous NNS’s: aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-K, sucralose, stevia, sugar alcohols (sorbitol, xylitol, and erythritol), and discuss their different chemical structures, metabolism, effect on the gut biome and cancer.

Part of the book: Sugar Intake

By Sage Arbor

The cost of healthcare interventions varies greatly with age, with a significant fraction of cost being spent in the last two years of life. Treating a child can save orders of magnitude more life-years than an octogenarian treated for the same disease, such as cancer. While Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) can be used to plan a roadmap for how resources should be expended to maximize quality of life the execution of those plans often fail due to societal norms which trump the carefully measured QALYs, resulting in lowered average number and/or quality of years lived. The ethical issues concerning age, sex, lifestyle (smoking, drinking, obesity), cost transparency, and extreme examples (war, population explosion vs. collapse) will be discussed.

Part of the book: Health-Related Quality of Life