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[A1CR]

All:

CRONie_TT wrote:
> CRONie_GA wrote:
>
> >Okay, Okinawans have good genes.

{Psst: CRONie_GA, please don't snip references (the study is (1) below --
thanks, CRONie_TT) or ALL context!)

> >This contradicts Dr. Walford's suggestion that the Okinawan
> >diet might explain the higher number of centenarians.

It would, if it could account for ALL of the effect. As CRONie_TT quotes,

> "These data support a significant familial component
> to exceptional human longevity."

... not that it's the only factor. Supporting the fact that there is
also a strong -- apparently, stronger -- influence of environmental
factors (such as diet) is comparisons of Okinawans living in Okinawa vs.
those living in an expat community n Brazil: the incidence of
centenarians the latter is 5.32-fold lower than on the island (2).
Compare this to the genetic contribution implied by the nonagenarian
stats: "Cumulative survival advantages for this centenarian sibling
cohort increased over the life span such that female centenarian
siblings had a 2.58-fold likelihood, and male siblings a 5.43-fold
likelihood, versus their birth cohorts, of reaching the age of 90
years." (1) When you consider that he population data is for TOTAL
cnetenarians, vs the fact that the contribution of sibship is much more
pronounced in males (whereas the substantial majority of Okie
centenarians are women), the overall effect must be significantly weaker
than environmental factors.

Moreover, it MAY be that the gene effect would be more diluted at more
extreme ages (of course, the exact opposite is also a possibility).

And, again, as I've noted before, the Okies are not a GREAT case for the
longeivity advantage of CR: aside from the suboptimal nutrition, most
notably deficiency in vitamins B12 and D (the latter being uncompensated
by sun exposure, as evidenced by signs of early rickets in the present
centenarian cohort) (3), they have really have been mildly to not at all
CRed since the late 1960s; and *today* , the cents eat about the same
number of Calories as other Japanese cents, (4) suggesting that the
longevity advantage has come about from CR from only the first half of
the LS; a longer-term period of severe CR would, per the animal data,
have led to a more impressive environmental effect.


> [1] Willcox BJ, Willcox DC, He Q, Curb JD, Suzuki M.
> Siblings of okinawan centenarians share lifelong mortality advantages.
> J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2006 Apr;61(4):345-54.
> http://calorierestriction.org/pmid/?n=16611700

2. Moriguchi Y (1999) Japanese centenarians living outside Japan. In:
Tauchi H, Sato T, Watanabe T (eds). Japanese Centenarians: Medical
Research for the Final Stages of Human Aging. Institute for Medical
Science of Aging, Aichi, Japan: 85-94.

3. Willcox BJ (2005) Diet, health, and longevity in Okinawa. 34th Annual
Meeting of the American Aging Association. June 3-6, 2005. Marriott City
Center, Oakland, California.

4. Suzuki M, Hirose n, Arai Y, Ebihara Y, Takayama M. Nutritional status
and its effects in Japanese centenarians. In: Tauchi H, Sato T, Watanabe
T (eds). Japanese Centenarians: Medical Research for the Final Stages of
Human Aging. Institute for Medical Science of Aging, Aichi, Japan:116-23.