Why we age

Ancient people believed the angels breathed a more refined air and thus lived long, we humans down here breath the crude air and thus it ages us. What could resist the ageing action of this air? The alchemists answer was gold since they noticed it resisted rusting more then any other metal. This wonder drink they called "Aurum Potabile" the drinkable gold.
Unbelievably this ancient concept of ageing is still with us and if you don't believe that then my question would be what is an antioxidant?

Various opinions on what causes ageing:

Wear and tare theory, we accumulate damage just by living our daily lives and this damage results in the eventual failure of the machine aka death.

Programmed self destruction, your genetics has a ticking clock, you have a preprogramed sell-by date. So many solar cycles and that's it time is up.

Accumulated error theory. take a key and get a copy cut, now get a copy cut from the copy and a copy cut from that copy at some point the accumulated error is going to cause the key to not turn the lock. Your cells are continuously dividing (making copies), we call the accumulated error ageing.

Radiation mutation theory, you age because of the Sun, yes the radiation from the sun causes genetic damage and the accumulation of damage we call ageing.

Calcification theory, minerals and heavy metals accumulate in the body over time and silt up the body causing hardening of arteries and decreased cell membrane permeability. Basically you crust up as you age and the body can no longer function.

Fibrosis theory, similar to the calcification theory but instead of gradual mineralisation being the cause the accumulation of fibroids throughout the body cause the machine to breakdown. Fibrosis is caused by glucose + protein reaction in the presence of oxygen. Stay away from the sugar bowl!!

Brain/endocrine theory, your brain ages resulting in the endocrine system going wack resulting in all your hormone levels dropping resulting in hormone triggered gene expression resulting in ageing.

Free radical theory, the OP started with this theory and is the oldest of them all. Free radicals in your body fly around causing oxidisation and genetic damage. Ageing is the result of this accumulating genetic damage.

Immune system deterioration, this theory simply says as you age your immune system deteriorates (thymus shrinks) resulting in pathogens, viruses and mutant cells accumulating.

Another theory is that you age because you get tired of living, essentially you get board and want to die, your body merely complies with your wishes by initiating the self destruct sequence.

A yogi might say you age because your chakras go out of tune with the cosmic rhythm.

How much gold is found in the human body?

When the cells divide, the DNA unwraps itself, aging occurs.

Keeping DNA more stably packed together in our cells, could result in the aging process slowing and possibly reversing.

originally posted by: intrptr

How much gold is found in the human body?

So if we kill everyone on the planet and burn them we will get 1500 kg of gold, a value of roughly $60346500

originally posted by: kyleplatinum
When the cells divide, the DNA unwraps itself, aging occurs.

Keeping DNA more stably packed together in our cells, could result in the aging process slowing and possibly reversing.

Aubrey Grey, says he doesn't believe the telomere theory is correct, he simply states ageing is the accumulation of error.

a reply to: zinc12

Not a very good return for the effort. Besides, people might complain.

The metal consortium has recently noted that with the depletion of mineral resources around the planet, the largest repositories of metals is now in major cities.

All they have to do to mine them is figure out some way of destroying them.

Put that in your pipe an 'moke it.

I am sure there are many scientific theories as to why we - and everything ages.

Basically, time goes on. If we did not age, then we would not die and evolution would not happen. It's probably flawed, but without reproduction, mutation, variation and ultimately death, we would not evolve. If we did not evolve we would not be here.

Age and ultimately death is a part of the cycle of life. It is necessary.

originally posted by: zinc12

originally posted by: kyleplatinum
When the cells divide, the DNA unwraps itself, aging occurs.

Keeping DNA more stably packed together in our cells, could result in the aging process slowing and possibly reversing.

Aubrey Grey, says he doesn't believe the telomere theory is correct, he simply states ageing is the accumulation of error.

IMO, the telomere theory makes sense...
"As more tissues have trouble rejuvenating, the body follows the cells, aging and eventually breaking down. In short, your cells have an aging clock built into them. But your chronological age in years doesn't set the clock—your biological age in telomere length does".

Source

The GlycanAge test is purportedly a more superior diagnostic tool for measuring biological age compared to telomere length.

GlycanAge® is a science-based laboratory analytical test that estimates a person’s biological age and thereby provides information on their health status.

Ageing is a biological process accompanied by numerous changes at the molecular level whose mechanism is still unknown to a large extent. Biological age does not necessarily coincide with chronological age of an individual and this difference is caused by slow or accelerated ageing. Due to this fact, biological age is a better indicator of the general state of health and ageing process than chronological age.

GlycanAge® is a marker of biological age that relies on the glycans of immunoglobulin G.

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) is a serum glycoprotein involved in a number of immune response pathways, be it functional such as protection against invading pathogens or dysfunctional such as inflammation and tissue destruction in autoimmune disorders.
Structures of glycans associated to IgG are the basis of GlycanAge® test.

The research performed on over 40.000 individuals worldwide indicated that IgG glycans in people with different diseases resemble premature ageing.

Source

This would support the immune system deterioration theory.

a reply to: kyleplatinum

The problem is that they genetically altered the telomere length in mice to make it very short but they never lived short lives as would be expected if the theory was correct.

a reply to: Morrad

The thing is I believe your inner age will sync with your outer appearance, no point telling someone they have a biological age of 25 when they look 47, obviously the test would not be accurate.

Look at the photos of the people in the link below who took the test....what do you think about the tests accuracy?

www.dailymail.co.uk...

a reply to: zinc12

You make a valid point. Some of them appear older.

a reply to: Morrad
Based on those photos I wouldn't waste my money on that test, if you have a biological age of 25 then you should look 25, others should perceive that that is your age.

I searched and there are a few biological age tests each one claiming to be the most accurate.

I don't think we fully know what causes ageing yet so until then its just guesswork.