“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life; he does not come to judgment, but has passed over from death to life. “ (Gospel according to John, chapter 5)
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SPIEGEL: Mr. Deelen, probably no one has ever grown as old as Jeanne Calment. The French woman died in 1997 at the age of 122. Some do not want to believe that someone gets that old. Russian researchers even suspected dizziness. But documents speak for Calment’s old age and other people have survived her 100th birthday by more than a decade. How is that possible?
Share: Such very old people usually not only live longer, but also stay healthy longer. We suspect that these people have genetic characteristics that protect them from age-related diseases and are specifically looking for them. Certain biomarkers in the blood can also show how quickly someone is aging. It is our aim to recognize these signs and, if necessary, to intervene in order to enable everyone to live as long and healthy a life as possible.
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SPIEGEL: Calment itself is said to have attributed its old age to garlic and port wine, among other things. She also smoked almost all of her life, not trying to quit until she was 117 and relapsing. Is that a recipe for long life?
Share: At 122 years old, Ms. Calment is an outlier in the statistics. Average life expectancy has risen continuously over the past few decades. It almost certainly has nothing to do with port wine or even smoking, on the contrary. Those who eat healthily and do sport have significantly higher chances of a long – and this is probably at least as desirable – healthier life.
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SPIEGEL: Christianity and other religions hold out the prospect of eternal life for believers. Would that even be possible from a scientific point of view?
Share: Some researchers assume that people who can live to be 200 years are already alive. I am a little more skeptical. At the moment we are in the process of getting the maximum out of our natural lifespan by adapting the environment to our needs and developing new treatment methods. This enabled us to significantly increase life expectancy. Age records have not risen to the same extent. This suggests that we are gradually approaching the natural maximum life span. In some countries, such as the USA, life expectancy is already stagnating or even declining slightly.
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SPIEGEL: So much more is not possible?
Share: We only have one body and when its reserves are exhausted we inevitably have to die. It will therefore be crucial whether we are able to further exhaust the natural life span. This has already been achieved in animal models. The lifespan of worms increased by 200 percent when their caloric intake was drastically reduced. The life of mice has been extended by an average of 50 percent. And there are many other approaches. For example, we are researching how insulin metabolism affects aging. It is unclear whether these findings from the animal models can be transferred to humans.
SPIEGEL: Recently, researchers were able to rejuvenate the cells of mice, which enabled the animals to see better again. Sounds like a miracle right?
Share: Miracles tend to be something inexplicable that excludes science per se. I would speak of a breakthrough. If other research teams come to similar conclusions, it would be remarkable. If we then succeed in returning human cells to an earlier stage of development, i.e. turning back our epigenetic clock, we could possibly heal tissue damaged by the aging process.
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SPIEGEL: Couldn’t the whole person be rejuvenated?
Share: You will surely find researchers who believe this is possible. But I would find therapies more desirable. What use is it to us if we rejuvenate the cells in our brain? We don’t even know what kind of impact that would have. Brain cells are closely interlinked and part of the most complex organ in our body. What if individual cell rejuvenation affected our minds or memories? But if we can restore damaged liver cells to a healthier original state, for example, that would be a great success. We don’t want to extend human life to the maximum, we want above all to achieve that we live longer healthily.
SPIEGEL: The promises in the Bible sound more enticing.
Share: (laughs) Eternal life from the Bible does not take place on earth. Science cannot investigate that.
SPIEGEL: Have you examined your blood or genome to see if you have the potential to live long?
Share: Our research on biomarkers aims to develop tests that are useful for therapies. You should never decide whether to withhold treatment from someone because they are likely to have short lives. I would just want to know what my prospects for a long life are if there is still something I can do about that. Otherwise I would only have a watch that tells when I’m likely to die. What use would that be?
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