by Richard Faragher

They may not be as far off as you think.

There will be almost ten billion people living on Earth by 2050 and two billion of them will be over the age of 60. Growing old is the primary risk factor for multiple chronic and life threatening conditions such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease. This burdensome morbidity is the most distressing aspect of old age – compromising individual independence and straining collective healthcare systems.

To help older people flourish, we must understand the biology of aging at the tissue, cellular and molecular levels, and then turn that understanding into new preventative medicines. Indeed, it was recently suggested that an “anti-ageing pill” is just around the corner, enabling humans to live to 150 and regenerate organs by 2020 very cheaply. But how excited should we be about such claims? Let’s take a look at the evidence.

Since the time of the ancient Greeks people have argued about the relationship between ageing and disease. Today it seems probable that essentially all age related diseases are linked to the ageing process. Not all ageing changes are harmful though. In essence, we have a set of health maintenance mechanisms which act to keep us in good condition in the early part of our lives – problems arise as these start to fail with age. An anti-ageing pill would enhance one or more of these mechanisms and keep people healthy.