It was with breathless excitement that this was announced on the breakfast news :
"A new trial out of the University of Auckland has found a drug currently used in cancer treatment can also prevent some of the effects of ageing and substantially extend the lifespan of mice."
More pharmaceutical hog-wash, I say. Have you noticed that the news outlets have around one of these good news drugs research stories per week, usually on a low news day? The reports usually end with a call for more research which is code for "we need more money", either by your donations or grants from your taxes.
We could do better than the claimed 10% gain in longevity by using a combination of cheap preservatives and then hooking the recipients up to a life support system. There are precedents, such as Israeli PM Ariel Sharon, who was kept alive for eight years despite being brain-dead following a stroke. It works, so let's do it! Yeah-right!
Or, we can extend our natural life, including improving its quality right to the end through daily exercise, growing, preparing and serving fresh, nutrient-dense food for our loved ones, having a purpose in life and engaging with our family and communities.
The key to longevity is identifying and correcting the underlying causes of ill health and not focusing only on pasting over the symptoms.
The strategy for ensuring you have a long and healthy life includes healthy methods to remove the need for drugs that claim to improve your health, extend life, or for health conditions other than acute need, such as treating an infection. This includes the majority of pharmaceuticals for most ageing-related conditions, such as statins, bisphosphonates, blood pressure meds and drugs for mood issues.
Have we forgotten:
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”
(Hippocrates, a famous Greek physician, in the year 440 BC)
There are better ways other than expensive drugs to improve health and longevity. Still, this government will either ban them or make them ineffective or extremely difficult to get and make life difficult, if not impossible, for natural health practitioners. If you don't believe me, then read this article: