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Topic: Aging

Aging and evolution: what the evidence says

Everything this site carries on aging, gathered in one place: the book's chapters and where they say to start, every popular claim they grade, and the reference topics and terms behind them.

1 chapter of the book3 graded claims3 reference topics124 sources

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Where does the book say to start on aging?

Chapter 16: Aging Well

  1. Keep up the five things in Chapter 1

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.for not smokingthe rest are graded there

  2. Get the screenings due for your age and sex

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.as guideline recommendationsPSA an individual choiceskin checks unproven

  3. Keep your strength and grip

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.for strengthProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.for longer life

The full protocol for Chapter 16

Which popular claims about aging hold up?

What does the body expect, and what does it get now?

The mismatch cards of the reference topics behind these chapters, as the library states them.

  • Topic 22: Cancer in a New Environment

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Cell division and the defenses that keep cells cooperating (tumor suppressors, DNA repair, cell suicide).

    What it expects
    A body of ancestral size and lifespan; menarche in the mid-teens, many pregnancies, years of breastfeeding; no tobacco and little alcohol.
    What it gets
    Longer lives; earlier menarche, fewer and later births and shorter breastfeeding (three to four times the Dogon's menstrual cycles); excess body fat; tobacco and alcohol.
    What happens in the gap
    More hormone-driven, obesity-related, tobacco and alcohol cancers; much of the remaining rise reflects age and closer looking.

  • Topic 35: The Hallmarks of Aging

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    The cellular machinery of aging, named in 2023 as twelve hallmarks, from telomere attrition and disabled autophagy to chronic inflammation and dysbiosis.

    What it expects
    Muscles loaded most days, food that comes and goes, microbes, and stressors that end.
    What it gets
    Decades of low mechanical load, continuous food, and stress without resolution.
    What happens in the gap
    Strength falls away faster than age alone requires, while the processes that age cells run with fewer of the brakes the body evolved to apply.

  • Topic 36: Why We Die the Way We Do

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.

    All of them, counted at the end: what people die of, and how long they are unwell first.

    What it expects
    A body that moves, eats, defends, senses and socializes in the conditions of Parts Two to Seven, with death arriving mostly from outside (infection, accident, violence) after a modal age in the seventies.
    What it gets
    Those conditions removed one at a time, with medical treatment supplied for each resulting failure.
    What happens in the gap
    Ten causes take 70.9% of US deaths, six of them substantially modifiable, and the United States carries the world's widest healthspan-lifespan gap at 12.4 years.

Terms

The chapters and reference topics on this page cite 124 distinct works, each listed on its own page and in the source register. Educational content, not medical advice; read the disclaimer.