Aging? To slow it down, cellular “cleaning” is essential, as he explains, a Active Journal, Ana Maria Cuervo, world-famous scientist and co-director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein Faculty of Medicine. Guest of Milan Longevity Summit (March 14-27), which brings together the most famous scholars from all over the world on the topic of longevity in more than 40 meetings, free and open to the public, Cuervo is an authority in the field of protein degradation and autophagy, the “replacement” process that allows cells to eliminate damaged proteins.
Professor Cuervo, you have been studying cellular cleansing for years. But what is it exactly?
“This is something that every cell in our body does every day and is to identify anything that is damaged or malfunctioning inside it and eliminate it so that it does not cause harm to the body. In a sense, it is the same type of quality control that is done on products that leave a factory. Our cells have thousands of proteins inside them that need to function, but which can become damaged or produced in a bad form. The beauty of cell cleaning systems is that they are very good at recycling. But we also found that they don’t work as well as we get older, so cells start to accumulate ‘garbage’ which generates cell toxicity and, many times, cell death.”
So what habits can help us fight aging?
“We don’t have to wait for the ‘magic pill’ to fight aging to be developed. I have always said that changes essentially follow common sense or what our grandmothers always told us to do. The 4 interventions on which there is general agreement in the field of aging are: sleep, meal separation and diet composition, exercise and social interaction. There are multiple causes that contribute to aging, but the beauty of these lifestyle changes is that there is a lot of data to support that they work. For example, about cellular cleansingwe know that the cells do more cleaning during sleep (since they can dedicate more time and energy to do so), and that this happens especially when there is no food (since part of the products that the cell recycles through cleaning are used to generate energy). Therefore, leave enough time between meals It’s a good practice – rather than eating small amounts continuously – because it gives more time to activate cellular cleansing.”
How important is physical activity in delaying aging?
“Very important, but most recent studies support that strenuous exercise is not necessary. A small amount of daily exercise is sufficient. Moderate daily activity (such as walking 15 minutes a day) has been shown to be beneficial for healthy aging. Obviously the level of activity required varies depending on the person; always to underline: interventions for aging should be personalized and always recommended by a doctor.”
Spain, your country, and Italy share the Mediterranean diet: is it your favorite or is there another?
“Yes, obviously it’s my favorite! It’s a very healthy and balanced diet. In fact, there are many studies underway on the Mediterranean diet and its beneficial effects.”
From which molecules or classes of drugs can we expect important progress to combat aging in the coming years?
“There are many things that are developing in parallel. There is interest in developing new drugs that could slow aging (but they will need more time to be fully developed, tested and made safe). The second approach, which is already underway, is to use medicines already on the market for various diseases that have been shown to slow down various “drivers” of aging and re-propose them, for example, at lower concentrations. One such example is the metformin, a medicine that is used for diabetes but has been shown experimentally to increase healthy lifespan in rodents. Studies on diabetes patients who have taken this medicine show that these patients age more healthily even than people who do not have diabetes. A result that triggered a study called TAME, in which metformin will be tested by healthy elderly people to discover its beneficial effects. Furthermore, there are other medicines with similar characteristics such as rapamycin, acarbose and supplements such as spermidine, etc. But I would like to clarify that no one should start taking these drugs as an anti-aging preventative, because the doses and effect have not been tested enough to know the concentration and duration required in humans. By the way, let me add something…”.
“We should all be very responsible if we want to achieve a healthy longevity. The studies look very promising but more research is needed before general recommendations can be implemented in humans. But the good news is that we are living in a very exciting time for aging researchdue to a convergence of evidence, increased funding from investors and pharmaceutical companies to create the first longevity companies, and public interest in finding ways to age healthily.”
