[Senate Hearing 107-768]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 107-768
HEALTHY AGING AND NUTRITION:
THE SCIENCE OF LIVING LONGER
=======================================================================
FIELD HEARING
before the
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
BATON ROUGE, LA
__________
AUGUST 15, 2002
__________
Serial No. 107-32
Printed for the use of the Special Committee on Aging
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
82-918 WASHINGTON : 2002
____________________________________________________________________________
For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
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SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING
JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana, Chairman
HARRY REID, Nevada LARRY CRAIG, Idaho, Ranking Member
HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CONRAD BURNS, Montana
JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania
RON WYDEN, Oregon SUSAN COLLINS, Maine
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas MIKE ENZI, Wyoming
EVAN BAYH, Indiana TIM HUTCHINSON, Arkansas
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska
JEAN CARNAHAN, Missouri GORDON SMITH, Oregon
Michelle Easton, Staff Director
Lupe Wissel, Ranking Member Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Opening Statement of Senator John Breaux......................... 1
Panel of Witnesses
William H. Patrick, Jr., Ph.D., Boyd Professor of Oceanography
and Coastal Sciences, Wetland Biogeochemistry Institute,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.................... 3
Robert N. Butler, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer,
International Longevity Center-USA, New York, NY............... 8
Pamela Starke-Reed, Ph.D., Deputy Director, National Institutes
of Health, Division of Nutrition Research Coordination,
Bethesda, MD................................................... 16
Claude Bouchard, Ph.D., Executive Director, Pennington Biomedical
Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA............................... 30
Appendix
Informational pamplets from International Longevity Center....... 49
Prescription for Longevity................................... 49
Is there an Anti-Aging Medicine.............................. 76
Biomakers of Aging From Primitive Organisms to Man........... 138
Achieving and Maintaining Cognitive Vitality with Aging...... 166
Maintaining Healty Lifestyles a Lifetime of Choices.......... 192
(iii)
HEALTHY AGING & NUTRITION: THE SCIENCE OF LIVING LONGER
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2002
U.S. Senate,
Special Committee on Aging,
Baton Rouge, LA
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., at the
Pennington Biomedical Center, Administration Building
Auditorium, Baton Rouge, LA, Honorable John Breaux (chairman of
the committee) presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN BREAUX, CHAIRMAN
The Chairman. Our Senate Aging Committee will please come
to order, and good morning everyone. Thank you all for being
with us and in attendance. We want to thank everyone at the
Pennington Center for their cooperation in helping us with this
Senate Aging Committee hearing today here at the Pennington
Center, and thank all of our good friends at LSU for their
good, strong support, and we certainly appreciate your allowing
us to be here and with your colleagues at the university as
well. We are very delighted.
I serve as Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee in
Washington, and this hearing really is to allow some of our
witnesses to talk about some of the good things that are
happening in the area of aging and also to talk about some of
the research that is going on and will continue to be going on
in this particular area. I want to particularly thank two of
our guests who have traveled from Washington and also New York
to be with us today. Dr. Pamela Starke-Reed who is with the
National Institutes of Health, thank you very much for being
with us, and my good friend, Dr. Robert Butler, who has worked
with our Aging Committee in so many areas. He is President and
CEO of the International Longevity Center in New York City. We
thank both of them for traveling to be with us.
Today's hearing I would point out is not science fiction.
Our distinguished guests will be discussing some of the
current, cutting-edge research which ultimately may add a
significant number of years to the human life span. While this
topic is indeed very interesting, it's also very exciting, it
should be stated also that the increase in life span that we
all hope for in long term is not quite yet available. Last
September our Special Committee on Aging held investigative
hearings to expose fraudulent health care claims being made by
people who are nothing more than con men who are trying to sell
dietary supplements which they would offer as the key to
longevity. Claims that diseases can be cured and the aging
process stopped in its tracks by simply taking a little pill
have always been well received by people who are looking for
that type of cure. Fortunately as we know, when something
sounds too good to be true, it generally is too good to be true
and is probably false. As of today there is still no scientific
evidence that simply dietary supplements alone will slow the
aging process or increase longevity. However, we can keep our
fingers crossed and we can hope that the work being done by Dr.
Butler, at the National Institutes of Health and the Pennington
Biomedical Research Center will be very helpful and very useful
and produce results in the near future.
The Pennington Biomedical Research Center was recently
recognized by the NIH as an outstanding research center by
being awarded over $12 million in grant funds to study the
possible benefits of long-term reduction of calories on aging.
For many years now, scientists have known that animals on a
high-quality, nutrient-rich, low calorie diet live
significantly longer and healthier lives. This phenomenon has
been demonstrated in worms, monkeys and just about everything
in between. Pennington has been chosen along with two other
outstanding research institutions to determine if this effect
will occur in humans as well. During the next 2 years, human
subjects will be placed on a calorie restricted diet and their
risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and other medical
problems will be closely monitored.
Now, I know many in our audience here in Louisiana must be
thinking how are people in Louisiana going to go on a low-
calorie diet with all of the temptations that we have in our
area. It is not very likely most would think. However, if the
diet research proves to have the same beneficial effects in
humans that it does in animals, additional research will be
conducted to determine how this works at the molecular level.
Here is where we start hoping for that miracle pill again. If
researchers can determine how caloric restriction works, it is
possible that they would be able to duplicate it synthetically.
Remember, however, that this is not a reality yet. If by the
end of the year you see a supplement claiming that it contains
all the herbs necessary to duplicate caloric restrictions, run
the other way. It is probably not true.
I look forward to learning more about this incredibly
interesting topic from our panelists, and again I want to thank
the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and all of the
associates at the university for cooperating in this effort. I
truly believe that the Pennington Biomedical Research Center
can be one of the world's leading institutions in this effort.
As Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, I want to do
everything in my power to see that that wish becomes a reality.
The panel of witnesses, as I mentioned, that we have here
today are truly distinguished experts that I am very excited to
hear from. Their testimony will be made part of our
Congressional Record. First we want to hear from Dr. William
Patrick. Dr. Patrick will discuss how nutrition and physical
activity has positively impacted his life as he has grown
older. He is still an active research scientist and is
currently the No. 2 ranked tennis player in the State in his
age group and was a member of the silver medal winning
basketball team at the most recent senior games. He is a person
who I have a great deal of admiration for. My goal in life is
to win the national 100 and over tennis championship by being
the only entry. [Laughter.]
But perhaps if research proves effective, there will be
many more entrants at that time. So first we will hear from Dr.
Patrick.
Dr. Patrick, we are glad to have you with us.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM H. PATRICK, JR., PH.D., BOYD PROFESSOR OF
OCEANOGRAPHY AND COASTAL SCIENCES, WETLAND BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
INSTITUTE, LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY, BATON ROUGE, LA
Dr. Patrick. Thank you, Senator Breaux, ladies and
gentleman. I am a Boyd Professor of Oceanography and Coastal
Sciences here at Louisiana State University. I have been asked
by the Pennington Center to discuss some of the aspects of
healthy aging from a layman's point of view. I am not a
professional in this area, and so I am sort of here as a guest.
I was probably asked to speak to this committee because I am
the senior active member of the whole LSU system in terms of
years of service. There is no one left in the system who was
here when I was appointed an assistant professor on July 1,
1953. Although my wife, Ruth, over here does not like for me to
tell my age, I am 76 years old, so I have established longevity
credentials here. Another possible reason I was asked to speak
to you is because I am still carrying on a full program of
scientific research and teaching.
I plan to use my time today to discuss what I think are
some of the important aspects of healthy aging, and try to
illustrate them with my own experience.
Of course, one of the most important requirements for
healthy aging is to have good genes. A MacArthur Foundation
study showed that about one third of the aging process is
controlled by genetics. I was fortunate to have chosen good
parents. This leaves two thirds of the aging process due to
other factors, all of which are under the control of the
individual. These other factors that contribute to healthy
aging, according to the MacArthur Foundation report, are good
nutrition, regular exercise, stimulating mental activities, and
a sense of community.
Good nutrition is an ever-present concern in my family
since I have been married for a long time to Dr. Ruth Patrick,
a specialist in human nutrition and the recently retired Chief
of the Pennington Nutrition Education Program. Of course, I do
not faithfully follow good nutrition practices all the time,
but I am certainly aware of it when I do not. In addition to a
good balance of nutrients in the diet, effective weight control
is also important, and although I owe my adequate weight
largely to my genetic makeup, I once had to limit my food
intake to bring my weight down to a favorable level.
There is no doubt that regular exercise contributes greatly
to both the physical and mental aspects of healthy aging. Early
in my scientific career I used extensive field work to
supplement sports to maintain a healthy body, and I still do
considerable field work in many parts of the world as the
attached photographs taken from a coastal swamp last July
shows. I do not know if you can--if you had it close up, you
could see the sweat and mud on this photograph here. This
appeared in a German scientific publication as part of a
cooperative project with a German research institute. In recent
decades, I have still supplemented field work with sports to
maintain body vigor. As the Senator mentioned, I play singles
tennis and last year was No. 2 in the State Senior Olympics in
my age bracket. This year I was one year older and new people
were coming in, so I fell to three, but I do not know where I
will be next year. I also play basketball, and because I have
some good teammates, last year our team won our age bracket's
National Senior Olympics silver medal.
Responding to medical needs is an absolutely essential part
of healthy aging, and we all appreciate Senator Breaux's
efforts in this direction. Taking advantage of the high-quality
medical support available in this country will add both time
and quality to an aging person's life. My life would certainly
not have its current quality without the benefits of hernia
surgery, cataract surgery, retina reattachment, arthroscopic
knee surgery, dental implants and small doses of blood
pressure-lowering and cholesterol-lowering medications.
Engaging in mentally stimulating activities is probably the
most important component of my quest for healthy aging. All of
us who want to extend their careers beyond ages 65 or 70 owe a
debt of gratitude to one of Senator Breaux's earlier
colleagues, Claude Pepper of Florida, who championed
legislation that eliminated a mandatory retirement age. Even at
this stage of my career at age 76, I am the principal
investigator of five outside-funded research projects, ranging
from basic scientific environmental chemistry studies supported
by the National Science Foundation to applied studies of the
effect of sea level rise on coastal Louisiana ecosystems. This
fall I will be teaching a new course that I developed on the
effect of global climate change on the stability of coastal
wetlands. Over a quarter century ago I established the Wetland
Biogeochemistry Institute at LSU where my colleagues and I are
largely funded by grant and contract funds and which has
produced over 600 scientific papers and reports covering work
done largely in Louisiana but also in many other states and
quite a few foreign countries. I still have the same enthusiasm
for research that I did a half century ago. In fact, there have
been two periods when I felt under considerable pressure to
succeed, the first when I started out and was trying to
establish myself as a research scientist, and now when I feel
the pressure to justify my staying on beyond the normal
retirement age.
The MacArthur study found that a sense of community or
belonging is important in maintaining a healthy outlook into
old age. An active person is involved in a number of
communities, and my interaction with several communities brings
a great deal of satisfaction. Without doubt the most important
is my family consisting of my wife, four children and their
spouses and twelve grandchildren. To celebrate her recent
retirement, my wife sponsored all 22 of us for a week at Vail,
CO, this summer, which did catch me up considerably with
community involvement.
In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that the recipe
for healthy aging is to build onto a favorable genetic heritage
with good nutrition, effective exercise, good medical care,
stimulating mental activities, and a sense of community. Thank
you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Patrick follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Dr. Patrick. That was
well stated, and we are delighted to have that in the record.
Next we are going to hear, as I indicated earlier, from Dr.
Robert Butler who is the President and Chief Executive Officer
of the International Longevity Center in the USA, and he is a
very special friend of the Special Committee on Aging.
Dr. Butler, glad to have you.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT N. BUTLER, M.D., PRESIDENT AND CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, INTERNATIONAL LONGEVITY CENTER-USA, NEW
YORK, NY
Dr. Butler. Thank you very much, Senator Breaux. It is a
privilege to be here in Louisiana and to say good morning to
everyone, and thank you for this opportunity to speak to the
science associated with healthy aging and nutrition. In the
last century, as you know, we gained an extraordinary 30
additional years of life, and not only added life but
fortunately increased quality of life. There were declining
disability rates. My new friend on my right I think is a
wonderful illustration of that.
I would like to submit for the record my comprehensive
statement but to speak just briefly from it and to say that the
International Longevity Center in New York--we do have centers
also in Paris, London, Tokyo and Santo Domingo--is interested
in helping individuals and societies prepare for this
extraordinary increase in longevity and population aging but to
do so in positive and productive ways. Therefore, we do focus
upon healthy and productive aging. We are particularly
interested in maintaining and extending and promoting good
health habits, advancing biomedical research and in combating
unsubstantiated claims with respect to so-called anti-aging
medicine.
I was much impressed to see the Pennington Biomedical
Research Center receive such a wonderful grant in support for
its studies of nutrition and aging, and that contrasts in my
mind so much from the claims unsubstantiated by the anti-aging
industry which can be so misleading because it is not based
upon scientific validation and well-established measurements.
This does become serious from my earlier experience in
establishing the National Institute on Aging, we found that
some of those who made such unsubstantiated claims actually
reduced the amount of support that Congress in its wisdom
wanted to give us because Members thought an awful lot of it
was foolishness.
Now, the concept of caloric restriction goes back 70 years
to a remarkable Cornell scientist named Clive McKay who gave
undernutrition, not malnutrition, to rodents and found that by
reducing their intake by some 30 percent he was able to extend
their lives by about 30 percent. There have been now many
studies on many different species to demonstrate this. Since
the 1980's the National Institute on Aging has been supporting
studies within the laboratories of NIH in Poolseville, MD, and
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on squirrel and rhesus
monkeys, and the results at the moment suggest that the animals
appear to be younger and that certain biological findings seem
to be distinctive, lower blood levels of insulin, lower body
temperature and the slower decline of a particular hormone
called dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA for short.
Now, it does not seem possible, as already suggested this
morning, especially with the wonderful cuisine in this great
State, that people will reduce their caloric intake by 30 or 40
percent. But as already mentioned, if we can secure the
underlying mechanism, why it is that caloric restriction has
its effect, we might be able to create mimetics, that means
agents that would mimick the effects of caloric restriction,
you will be hearing some of the work being done here and also
some of the work of Susan Roberts at Tufts University that will
give us further understanding of the underlying mechanism of
caloric restriction. Now, it is very important to carry out the
best of science as I have described, and I think a very good
example of that was the recent, surprising perhaps and
certainly in many ways painful findings of the Women's Health
Initiative at the National Institutes of Health. For a long
time we had depended upon the Boston Nurses Study for
information related to the appropriateness of hormone
replacement therapy. In retrospect it appears that the health
habits of the nurses in that study helped contribute to a
misunderstanding and over hopefulness with respect to the
concept that hormone replacement therapy would be preventative
of heart disease. Having definitive randomized clinical trials
and the best scientific methodology has unfortunately
demonstrated that such hormone replacement therapy not only
does not reduce heart disease but may even be a risk.
Similar things have happened that have led to the evolution
of so-called anti-aging medicine. A very respectable scientist,
Daniel Rudman, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, for
example, after only a 6-month study found results or increasing
muscle mass, decreasing fat and greater elasticity of the skin
using human growth hormone. So it is not unreasonable to think
this worthy of investigation, and indeed it is. But
unfortunately such investigations have not yet been completed,
and yet this hormone is being widely touted and used in so-
called anti-aging medicine.
Now, just a matter of weeks ago a study appeared in The
Lancet magazine by Swerdlow and others identifying individuals
who had been treated with human growth hormone between 1959 and
1985 for ``dwarfism'' and finding that they had an increased
incidence of overall cancer mortality and a greater incidence
specifically of colorectal cancer and of Hodgkins disease. A
warning sign, I think. It is not definitive yet. The point is
that we have to undertake critical studies when it comes to
dietary supplements, hormones, herbals or any other putative
agent said to reduce, reverse or stop aging. We do not have
such information at this time.
Now, some of it has been deeply wedded to the development
of geriatric medicine; that is, the proper, humane, effective,
holistic care of older persons. So it is distressing to me to
see the term ``anti-aging'' medicine because aging in many
respects can be viewed as a normative process, and we need to
differentiate age-related diseases which are the proper purview
of those of us who are deeply interested in developing full
scale better treatment of older people.
In closing let me also tell you briefly about certain
workshops which we hold, modified NIH-type consensus workshops.
We bring together some of the finest scientists in the country
to address a particularly critical topic, and we put them to
work for 4 days. We ask them to meet the four following
charges: What do we really know about this particular topic
such as anti-aging medicine? Where we do not know, what is the
research agenda that should be developed to help us answer the
unanswered questions? Third, what can we responsibly tell the
public? Finally, are there implications of a policy character
for business, government or foundations? So I would like to
present to you, Senator Breaux, some of the workshop results,
one on the biomarkers of aging which are means we do not yet
possess to accurately evaluate alleged anti-aging agents, one
on maintaining healthy lifestyles and a few others which I
think would be of use to the country. We do make them available
on our own website, and they are also available in print
versions.
Let me conclude by saying it is an honor and pleasure to be
here, and I hope that the kind of research being done by
Pennington and by others supported by the great National
Institutes of Health can help us to lead an increasing high
quality as well as a longer life. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Butler follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Dr. Butler, for a very
concise and very informative statement, and thank you for your
participation. Next as I indicated, we will hear from Dr.
Pamela Starke-Reed. She is the Deputy Director of the National
Institutes of Health, Division of Nutrition Research
Coordination. Before that she was the Program Director of the
Biology of Aging Program at the National Institute of Aging.
We are delighted to have you with us.
STATEMENT OF PAMELA STARKE-REED, PH.D., DEPUTY DIRECTOR,
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, DIVISION OF NUTRITION RESEARCH
COORDINATION, BETHESDA, MD
Dr. Starke-Reed. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity
to appear before you today representing the National Institutes
of Health, Division of Nutrition Research Coordination. I would
also like to thank you for the challenge of having me summarize
nutrition and aging research across the Federal Government in 5
to 7 minutes.
The Chairman. There is flexibility.
Dr. Starke-Reed. So, therefore, this testimony will include
a brief overview of the Federal Government's efforts in this
area.
Today, approximately 13 percent of Americans are over 65.
By the year 2030, the number of individuals age 65 and older
will likely double--reaching 70.3 million or 20 percent of the
total population. Of great concern is the explosive increase in
numbers anticipated among those most at risk of disease and
disability--people age 85 and older. Their ranks are expected
to grow from 4.3 million in 2000 to at least 19.4 million in
2050.
With a rapidly aging population, it is critically important
to identify ways to maximize the span of good health and
thereby improve the quality of life of older people.
Nutritional factors hold great promise for realizing this goal.
The Federal research efforts in this area of nutrition
recognize the need to combine physical activity and diet. I
have included some examples of these in the written testimony
such as the diabetes prevention program, and the details are in
the writeup.
Dr. Butler has already discussed with you some of the
background of caloric restriction, so I am not going to repeat
that here. But what I would like to talk about is what NIA has
been doing, the National Institute on Aging, has been doing
recently. In an effort to further elucidate the role of caloric
restriction in extending healthy lifespan in humans, in March
1999, the National Institute on Aging and the National
Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease cosponsored
a meeting of the Caloric Restriction Implications Advisory
Group. In October 2000, based on the scientific recommendations
from this group, the NIA and the NIDDK issued research
solicitations for exploratory studies of sustained caloric
restriction in non-obese persons. Three sites were awarded a
research grant: Tufts University in Boston, Washington
University at St. Louis and Pennington Biomedical Research
Center right here. Collectively, the three projects are known
as CALERIE, which stand for Comprehensive Assessment of Long-
Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy. Government needs to
always confuse us with cute little sayings. Briefly, CALERIE
projects involve exploratory, controlled human intervention
studies on the effects of caloric restriction interventions on
physiology, body composition and risk factors for age-related
disease in non-obese persons. The primary goals of the project
are to gain knowledge about the effects in humans of sustained
caloric restriction on physiology, metabolism, body
composition, risk factors for age-related pathologies,
progression of age-related changes and the potential adverse
effects and to gain knowledge of similarities, differences and
interactions between the effects of caloric restriction and
physical activity on previous outcomes when employed in
interventions to prevent weight gain. The endpoints of CALERIE
studies including energy intake and expenditure, physical
activity, body composition, endocrine responses, insulin
glucose metabolism, cardiovascular function, bone density,
immune function, quality of life, and the potential adverse
effects of caloric restriction. The study populations of
CALERIE projects are non-obese adults with a likely age range
of 25 to 60 years. Expected duration of the CALERIE project is
7 years, and it is about to begin the Phase I, or the pilot
portion, of the study which is expected to last two years, and
I believe you will be hearing a lot more about this from Dr.
Bouchard.
Another area of very critical research which the NIA is
very interested in right now is the use of dietary supplements.
The use of dietary supplements has increased dramatically as
the knowledge has increased about the role of nutrient and
other bioactive components of food in our health. Although much
of the information about the diet and health connection that
has driven this trend is related to the reduction of chronic
disease in adults, there is belief in the prophylactic use of
these substances has been extended to consumers throughout the
life span. Dietary supplements encompass a wide range of
products. They include vitamins, minerals, amino acid, herbs
and other botanicals. They also include dietary substances used
to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake.
The amount of scientific data available on the safety and
efficacy of dietary supplements varies enormously ranging from
folklore to fact. For some supplements recommended levels for
the elderly have been established through extensive research
and published, but for others, serious negative health
consequences can occur. Findings from the CDC's third National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey suggests that 40
percent of the Americans use dietary supplements, and
approximately 56 percent of middle-aged and older adults
consume at least one supplement on a regular basis.
The problems surrounding the use of dietary supplements
include adverse events, interactions with prescription drugs
and/or over-the-counter medications, interactions with medical
conditions, contamination of the preparations, mislabeling and
high cost. Of particular concern for the elderly is the issue
of interactions of dietary supplements and prescription
medication because the elderly take more prescription drugs
than any other age group. For example, the effects of
anticoagulant medications commonly taken by the elderly may be
adversely affected by coenzyme Q10, gingko biloba, garlic,
ginseng, glucosamine and St. John's Wort. Another major issue
is the high cost of many dietary supplements. The elderly are
often living on modest fixed incomes, and paying for
unnecessary or potentially harmful supplements may present an
economic hardship.
But on the other hand, there are significant benefits
associated with the use of certain vitamin and mineral
supplements. I have given examples of these in the written
testimony, but I would like to mention one. There is
increasing clinical evidence that the B vitamins such as
folic acid, B6 and B12 play a role in preventing blood vessel
disease and maintaining normal cognitive function. Some
exciting recent work has examined the role of folic acid
supplementation in protecting the brain's aging and possibly
preventing Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and other
neurodegenerative disorders. In a new study, investigators fed
genetically engineered mice to develop the plaques that we
normally see in Alzheimer's brains. They fed them a diet that
included normal amounts of folate, and a second group was fed a
diet deficient in this vitamin. The investigators found a
decreased number of neurons in one region of the hippo-campus
in mice fed the deficient diet. In transgenic mice fed the
deficient diet, nerve cells of hippo-campus exhibited damage to
their DNA. Such damage was not seen in the mice fed adequate
amounts of folate.
In another experiment the investigators looked at the
effect of a different area of the brain with folate sufficient
in folic and deficient diets. Basically what they found was the
same thing. In the area of the substantial nigra, which is the
area affected during Parkinson's disease, they saw that the
folic acid sufficient animals did not show the same damage that
the folic acid deficient animals showed. In the subsequent
experiments in cell culture, they have suggested that the folic
acid deficiency may compromise a neuron's ability to repair its
DNA successfully. Based on this research, consuming adequate
amounts of folate either in the diet or by supplementation
could be beneficial to an aging brain and could help protect it
against Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and other
neurodegenerative diseases. However, it should be noted that
currently available data, although suggestive, do not establish
the role of folic acid in susceptibility to
neurodegenerative diseases. Definitive determination of
whether folic acid plays a role in Alzheimer's disease or
Parkinson's disease will require a completion of controlled
clinical trials.
In order to further investigate the role of supplements in
preventing or delaying age-associated diseases, the NIA, in
accommodation with the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, will
convene a 2-day conference in January 2003 to present current
data and research about dietary supplement use in the elderly
in both the United States and in the international populations.
The goals of this conference are to develop a focused research
program in this area.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I thank you
again for inviting me to review aging and nutrition issues and
to highlight some exciting research that is ongoing. I would be
happy to answer any questions.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Starke-Reed follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you very much Dr. Starke-Reed for that
testimony. It was interesting that while she was talking about
all the supplements I was holding my Centrum Silver and my
Calcitrate that I was trying to take while she was testifying.
I might reconsider perhaps the benefits of that. [Laughter.]
Thank you very much. Next we will hear from our own Dr.
Claude Bouchard, of course, who is the Executive Director of
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and who will tell us and
the Committee for the record about some of the work that you
are doing right here in Louisiana.
Mr. Bouchard. Before I do that, let me give you a copy of
my slides so that you will not have to do any body contortions.
The Chairman. I will move. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF CLAUDE BOUCHARD, PH.D., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
PENNINGTON BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH CENTER, BATON ROUGE, LA
Mr. Bouchard. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We at the Pennington
Center, a campus of the Louisiana State University System, are
particularly honored to welcome you today. We are pleased to
have been selected by the Senate Special Committee on Aging as
the site for the hearing on the science associated with healthy
aging and nutrition.
By the year 2020, there will be an estimated 10 million
Americans above the age of 85. This reflects a steady increase
in life expectancy. Forty-five percent of people above the age
of 85 need some assistance with one or more basic activities of
daily living. Today the common life expectancy for males and
females is 76 years, and it will be almost 80 years by 2020.
Healthy aging depends on a multitude of factors. They are
genetic defects having a strong impact on the risk of disease
often causing premature death. For instance, the carriers of a
severe deficiency in the low-density lipoprotein receptor gene,
if untreated, will die around 30 to 35 years of age. However,
not all genetic differences exert such a strong impact on
health. Most of the time these genetic differences are subtle
and cause only a predisposition to the risk of disease or
untimely death. We also know that such subtle differences play
a significant role in longevity. Twin studies have produced
convincing results in this regard, and the fact that old age
nonagenarians and centenarians aggregate in families is also
evidence for a role of human genetic variation in longevity.
Although biological inheritance is of great importance, the
environment in which a person lives, particularly his or her
lifestyle within that environment, exerts strong effects as
well. For example, someone may have a predisposition to become
diabetic but because he or she has a prudent diet, a physically
active lifestyle and a healthy body weight, the disease may
never manifest itself. A similar line of reasoning applies to
hypertension, heart disease, osteoporosis and some types of
cancer.
Aging is associated with the loss of physical and/or mental
attributes. The central question is whether healthy nutritional
habits can prevent the decline in functions commonly seen with
aging. The loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength and bone
mass is associated with low energy and protein intake. Vitamin
D intake also seems to play a role. Decreases in skeletal
muscle and bone mineral mass are associated with frailty and
increased risks of falls and fractures. This is significant
since almost one quarter of people 65 years of age and older
are considered to be physically frail. After 85, one person in
two falls into this category.
One of the strongest hypotheses regarding the decline in
cognitive function is that oxidative stress is a risk factor.
This is supported by studies indicating that levels of intake
of antioxidants such as vitamin E, vitamin C, folate, iron and
other nutrients are correlated with higher cognitive
performance and apparent prevention of cognitive decline with
age.
The Recommended Dietary Allowances for the elderly have
typically suggested a decrease in total energy intake compared
to young and middle-aged adults. However, because of
metabolic differences commonly associated with age, supplements
of calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and others are recommended.
Hence, the paradox.
Even though the prevalence of obesity tends to decline
after 65 years, its frequency remains high. This is an
important issue since obesity is a risk factor for several
common chronic diseases, several of which are quite prevalent
in the elderly population.
We would like to emphasize that there are significant
interactions and synergy between nutrition and levels of
physical activity. Physically active people typically consume
more food but are more frequently normal weight than sedentary
people. The extra food consumed provides a safety buffer
against nutritional deficiency. Nutrition can also interact
with medication, and this is potentially of greater
significance in the elderly than in young and middle-aged
adults.
A word about the Pennington Center. The mission of the
Pennington Center is to promote healthier lives through
research and education in nutrition and preventive
medicine. The Center was established through Doc Pennington's
gift of $125 million to Louisiana State University. With the
new buildings currently under construction, the Center will
enjoy the use of about 500,000 square feet of research space by
mid next year. Today the Center has 70 faculty scientists and
employs 400 staff and support personnel, and its current
expansion program will allow for the doubling of these human
resources to about 1,000.
The Center began operating in 1989. Since then more than
200 clinical research projects have been completed and hundreds
of basic research projects have been performed. I would like to
highlight a few of these clinical research projects that have
important implications for nutrition and healthy aging.
The first one is the Dietary Approaches to Stop
Hypertension, the so-called DASH Study. DASH was a multicenter
investigation of the effects of dietary patterns on blood
pressure in adults with high normal to borderline hypertension.
Drs. George Bray and David Harsha and other Pennington Center
colleagues played a leadership role in this clinical trial. A
total of 459 volunteers were randomized to one of three diets:
typical American diet controlled on this site, fruit and
vegetable diet, and fruit, vegetable plus low-fat diet. Results
demonstrated reduction in blood pressure of those of the fruit
and vegetable and low-fat diet in both the systolic and the
diastolic pressure. For those with borderline hypertension, the
reduction was 11 millimeters of mercury for systolic and more
than 5 millimeters of mercury for diastolic.
The DASH Diet parallels the dietary recommendations of the
American Heart Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the
National Cancer Institute and other health organizations, and
these findings were applicable to both men and women, ethnic
groups, normal tensive and hypertensive and younger and older
adults as well.
The Diabetes Prevention Program. The Diabetes Prevention
Program is a multicenter NIH-funded clinical trial designed to
determine whether the onset of diabetes can be delayed or
totally prevented in high-risk individuals. This trial involves
27 centers around the United States. Professors George Bray and
Donna Ryan are the leading investigators at the Pennington
Center.
The first part of the trial finished in April 2001 when it
became clear that one of the treatment arms was much more
effective than the others. Among the 3,200 individuals in this
study, those randomly assigned to the intensive lifestyle
program of diet, exercise and behavioral strategies had a 58
percent reduction in their rate of developing diabetes compared
to individuals in the placebo group. A third group receiving
the anti-diabetic drug metformin had an intermediate rate of
conversion to diabetes. These are the data, 58 percent versus
31 percent. The effectiveness of the lifestyle intervention in
reducing the risk of diabetes was demonstrated in men and
women, in all ethnic groups and in older and younger Americans.
Regular physical activity translates into important health
benefits as shown on this slide which applies to the risk of
premature death here. It is also known that physical working
capacity, an indicator of fitness, decreases with age. A low
physical working capacity can easily compromise personal
autonomy. For instance, the capacity to work at a rate
equivalent to three to four times the level of energy expended
at rest is typically seen as the minimal compatible with
physical autonomy. Three to four times would be on the ``Y''
axis, the number of times that one can expend energy over the
resting value. So when we reach above that level here, the
personal autonomy is compromised. In a multicenter trial
designed to investigate the genetic and molecular basis of the
response to regular exercise, about 800 individuals from
200 families of African-American and Caucasian ancestries
were recruited and exercised regularly in the laboratory at
four clinical centers for 5 months. Considerable individual
differences were observed in the progress made under the
influence of this physical activity program with some gaining a
lot of increased tolerance to exercise by maximum oxygen update
measurement. In others, none at all. However, these high
responders aggregated in some families, and these others were
in other families showing that there is an inherited propensity
to benefit from the regular physical activity program.
Thus, there is an inherited capacity to adapt to changes in
environmental conditions such as those associated with regular
physical activity or with dietary modifications as was shown in
another study. Therefore, we would like to suggest that any
research effort designed to define the optimal nutrient and
energy intake associated with successful and health aging be
undertaken from the comprehensive perspective, one that
incorporates physical activity, medication, smoking status,
socioeconomic circumstances, family history, as well as
biological individuality as defined by the genes.
Herbal Supplements and aging research at the Pennington
Center. Many herbal supplements are touted to retard the aging
process. Many of these herbal supplements attempt to raise the
blood levels of substances to the levels associated with youth.
There is no scientific evidence that this approach will retard
aging, will increase longevity or improve the quality of life.
The Pennington Center is addressing herbal supplements from a
more scientific perspective.
The focus of such research is on safety and efficacy. For
instance, Drs. Frank Greenway and Steve Smith and their
collaborators have been evaluating caffeine and ephedrine in
overweight subjects. People taking caffeine and ephedrine lose
an average of 7 percent of their body weight, but this is a
loss which is totally composed of fat with no loss of muscle
tissue. Currently, studies are in progress to study the effect
of herbal caffeine and ephedrine on physical strength and
endurance. If both strength and endurance were improved in
addition to the loss of fat and a protection from muscle loss,
then it will be desirable to extend these studies to elderly
people.
Caloric restriction. Caloric restriction prolongs life in
several species. However, it is not established whether caloric
restriction will extend life in humans. Caloric restriction
results in loss of weight and tissues and lowers the rate of
metabolism. One hypothesis is that caloric restriction lessens
the oxidative damage of vital tissues by reducing energy flux
and metabolism. Based on these various lines of evidence as was
mentioned before, NIA requested application for studies on the
role of caloric restrictions in humans, and the Pennington
Center was one of the three centers selected nationally.
Professor Eric Ravussin is the leading investigator on this
research grant that benefits from the collaboration of
Professors Andy Deutsch, Don Williamson, Steve Smith, Jim
DeLany and other Pennington scientists. They will investigate
whether the expected decline in metabolic rate that accompanies
caloric restriction will be associated with reduced oxidated
stress in tissues and risk factors for age-related metabolic
diseases, including cardiovascular and type 2 diabetes.
In addition, they will verify whether combining physical
activity and caloric restriction to produce the same caloric
deficit alters the changes caused by caloric restriction alone.
Finally, the expression of genes involved in energy metabolism
and oxidative stress that are known to be associated with
longevity in lower organisms will also be assessed.
One of the most accepted theories of aging is an increased
release of free radicals, which are unstable molecules that
wreak havoc on many substances including DNA. The end result is
that individual cells may exhibit increased failure to
inactivate free radicals and impair ability to repair DNA
damage. One approach to slowing the aging process is to supply
the body with ammunition against free radicals in the form of
nutritional antioxidants. Numerous studies in other species
indicate an increase in longevity is correlated with an
organism's ability to effectively cope with free radical damage
to DNA. The Pennington Center has one of the most active
laboratories for measuring DNA damage in aging tissues, and
Professor Andy Deutsch and his collaborators have devised
technologies to measure specific DNA alterations that may be a
consequence of the aging process, and they will be using it in
the caloric restriction study.
Finally, a word about our project on physical and cognitive
capacity in non-agenarians. A multicenter study led by
Professor Michael Jazwinski from Louisiana State University
Health Science Center in New Orleans is investigating the role
that metabolic factors play in the aging process. To this end,
a population of Louisiana non-agenarians is being assembled. In
the context of that study, scientists from the Pennington
Center, Professor Ravussin and colleagues, are making a major
contribution. They will be measuring resting metabolic rate,
total energy expenditure, parameters of oxidative stress, blood
protein profile and dietary habits in these non-agenarians.
This study will generate a new hypothesis about mechanisms,
metabolic pathways and other indicators of the aging process,
and these are some of the participants in this particular
project.
We would like to take the opportunity provided to us today,
Mr. Senator, to formulate a few recommendations for the Senate
Special Committee on Aging. First, measures should be taken at
all levels of government to ensure that elderly people have
access to adequate nutrition. This is of particular relevance
since the decrease in appetite typically seen in the elderly
can easily result in nutritional deficiencies. Second, measures
should be taken to ensure that elderly people have the
opportunity to be physically active on a regular basis. This is
also of importance as the level of fitness is probably the
single most important determinant of autonomy in the elderly.
Third, education programs targeting the elderly should be
developed to communicate information on nutritional habits,
physical activity and proper use of medication. Finally, we
would like to recommend the establishment of a national center
on nutrition and healthy aging. Its mission would be to improve
the health of America's aging population through a focus on
research but also on education. This mission would be achieved
by: developing basic research programs to determine the
molecular and cellular determinants of the adaptation to
various dietary regimes and classes of nutrients including
herbal and other dietary supplements in the elderly; clinical
research programs designed to investigate the impact of various
dietary practices and physical activity regimes on physical
functions and cognitive abilities in older people, including
potential interactions with medication and smoking; behavioral
research programs to identify the optimal conditions to induce
favorable behavioral changes in the elderly with the goal of
reducing morbidity, the risk of premature death, and with the
goal of retaining physical and cognitive abilities; integrated
research programs to define the interactions among factors such
as nutrition, physical activity, medication and genetic
individuality; and finally, education and behavioral changes
designed to apply the knowledge developed in the four
proceeding programs to the elderly population.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bouchard follows:]
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The Chairman. Dr. Bouchard, thank you very much, and I
would like to thank all of our Panel Members for some excellent
information and suggestions, and information that I think will
be very valuable to our Committee.
Let me just start with a couple of questions. I do not
know, maybe Dr. Butler, if you go into any bookstore in
America, I mean, probably the largest section of publications
are books on diet and longevity now, and you can find diets
that advocate more fat, some that advocate less fat, some
advocating high protein, some low protein. I believe the
average person in this country becomes very confused about what
is proper and what is healthy. If you add onto those books
which many are very, very legitimate, all of the scam artists
out there, we had hearings on food additives that are being
sold that really do very little.
One of our biggest witnesses who was running a
multimillion-dollar--well, actually over a hundred million-
dollar--business came before our Committee and took the fifth
amendment. He had been in prison before, and he was absolutely
a total scam artist. Well, people are spending hundreds of
millions of dollars and not really knowing where to go, what is
right, what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. Any
suggestions for the average American out there that wants to do
what is right with regard to this?
Dr. Butler. I do think we in science have the
responsibility to be clearer to the public that science is an
evolutionary process. It is so disappointing and discouraging
and confusing when they hear one thing one day and one thing
the next. But it is not because of anything other than the fact
that the progress of knowledge develops in that way. I think
you have heard a very good demonstration of that both from Dr.
Starke-Reed and from Dr. Bouchard in terms of how science
progresses. That is No. 1.
No. 2, I think Dr. Patrick has been a beautiful example of
the very simple fact that probably would be the single major
thing one would hope to get out of these proliferation of
various books that you referred to, and that is the very simple
common sense message of physical activity and small portions of
food. The cholesterol hypothesis, the role of certain fats and
transacids in the creation of coronary heart disease is very
well established through the wonderful work of the National
Institutes of Health.
Also, it is important to have a balanced diet in terms of
fat and protein and vegetables and carbohydrates, particularly
complex carbohydrates. But just not--the one thing mom was
probably wrong about was clean up your plate and have a second
helping. If we could just have small portions and physically
remain active, that would be the single, simple message in a
one-page book if we could get somebody to write it and get
everybody to believe it.
The Chairman. When scientists talk about the caloric
restrictions, are we talking about just what, eating less,
eating smarter, or what are we talking about when we are
talking about the value of caloric restriction?
Dr. Butler. Well, the original studies of Clive McKay
really was an appropriate nutrient diet known at that time for
rodents which were in 1935 and 1936, and it was not intended to
be anything other than a modest diet as it were. Remarkably
these animals live longer.
Now there have been studies on spiders and all sorts of
animals that demonstrate this truism. I think the message for
the public is that, as I have already said, a modest diet and
physical activity. It is energy in, energy out that is so
impressive and so important. If we can find what the underlying
mechanism is, whether it is the reduction of free radical
damage or whatever the mechanism is that counts for the fact
that we have this increase, by the way, of a vigorous, healthy
life in these animals and delay of disease. It is not just
living longer. It is living longer better. If we can find out
what that is that is responsible and put that on the market,
then we have a fully effective agent.
The Chairman. Dr. Starke-Reed, do you have a comment on
this about what are we talking about? I mean, is it just eating
less, or is it eating smarter? I mean, what are the findings
that we would be recommending at this time to the American
public of what NIH knows about this?
Dr. Starke-Reed. Well, I agree with what Dr. Butler said. I
think if we go back to some of the early caloric restriction
studies in rodents in particular where they altered the
definitions of the diets or the composition of the diets, they
were all nutritionally sound, but they altered it to where it
was a little bit higher in protein or a little bit higher in
carbohydrates or sugar. What they found from changing these
diets in these various ways was that it really did not matter.
If you were nutritionally sound, you had adequate nutrient and
vitamin intake and you had lower calories, total calories, they
all had positive effects.
Adding physical activity is absolutely essential. I must
mention, because we look at the problem today facing us, the
tremendous obesity problem that we are looking at right now,
and we are looking at children, very young children, developing
type 2 diabetes, and we know that we are not being a very
active population. Look at developing countries now. As they
become more westernized, they are having a tremendous increase
in their obesity problem as well.
These things are not going to lead to healthy aging, so
having activity, increasing activity, as well as having smart
eating as we say, eating the appropriate things, having a
nutritionally balanced diet but lowering the calories is what
is going to be probably the best recommendation of all.
The Chairman. I mean, and we are talking about the obesity
problem in this country which obviously leads, as you say, to
all types of very serious health problems. I mean, can you
evaluate whether it is mostly because Americans just eat too
much or we eat the wrong things? I mean, is it more we just eat
too much of whatever we eat, or, you know, are we just eating
the wrong type of foods containing harmful and fattening
things? Does anybody want to comment?
Dr. Butler. I would say both.
Dr. Starke-Reed. Well, I would like to say that I do not
think there is a definitive study, and as scientists, one would
like to base answers on a definitive study. However, I really
have to bring into this the physical activity because what is
very clear that not only are we changing our dietary habits
into very quick, fast, not the most healthy foods being put in
front of us, but we are not doing activity the way we used to
do it. We are a very, very sedentary population.
The Chairman. Can either of you in the time left comment on
the valuation between getting the nutrients that we need to
live longer, better lives out of the natural foods we eat
versus store up on the pills that are supposed to be providing
us supplements and the various vitamins that some would
probably try and sell you? ``You do not really need to eat
food. Just come to our general nutrition store and buy
everything in the aisles and take all the pills every day and
you do not need to eat.'' I mean, are they valuable but they
cannot obviously replace the normal intake? I guess I am
talking about food supplements here. I mean, what are their
value in general; how important are they; I mean, how much can
they be utilized to reduce your caloric intake, or am I only
going to eat a very little bit of actual food for breakfast,
lunch and dinner, and I am going to supplement it with bottles
full of vitamins, so I am going to come out OK? I mean, what is
the correlation between the actual, normal regular food we eat
and the utilization of supplements to help reach a balanced
diet?
Dr. Butler. Well, I do think there are supplements that
have been demonstrated to be value. For example, folic acid
which is now added to cereals and breads has been extremely
useful in reducing spina bifida in newborns, and folic acid may
also play a role in terms of an agent called homocystine in the
body which is related to coronary heart disease. So I do
think--and one of the wonderful things about the Pennington
Center it seems to me is we have got to dramatically increase
the amount of teaching to medical students about nutrition
throughout the whole country so that they could give better
advice.
Certainly, the recent studies by the National Institute on
Aging seem to be pointing to the importance of vitamin E as a
preventative with respect to cognitive dysfunction and possibly
Alheizmer's disease. So I think some of these ``pills'' are
extremely useful, but as already implied or stated directly by
Dr. Starke-Reed, it is so important that this become a
consequence of actual science. For instance, if you take too
much vitamin E or selenium, which may have their value, you can
also wind up with internal bleeding so that there has to be--I
guess Aristotle had it right in terms of moderation and common
sense. But certainly the degree in which we can get more and
more specific so it is not just a smaller amount of food but
the right type of added nutrients, it would make a tremendous
difference in the quality of life.
But back to Dr. Starke-Reed's point too, only one State in
the United States now has required daily physical activity, and
that is the State of Illinois. I wish I could say that
Louisiana and every one of our 50 States had physical activity
for our children. But with computers and with television and
with computer games, the chance of kids remaining physically
active gets totally denied and left out of the equation of
their daily round of activities.
The Chairman. Well, that is really very, very helpful, I
think, and very interesting. I was wanting to follow up on Dr.
Bouchard's concepts for a national center of nutrition and
healthy aging. I know, Dr. Butler, you were the person who
really got the geriatric department started at Mount Sinai
Hospital. Out of about 125 medical schools in this country,
there are only three that have geriatric departments to teach
doctors about specifically aging problems which is an
absolutely incredible statement, and you started the one at
Mount Sinai, but there are only three. With the vastly growing
segment of our population, as Dr. Starke-Reed pointed out,
people 85 and older, and 77 million baby boomers getting ready
to move into this category of elderly, there will be a lot more
people living a lot longer. Yet it seems that we are in a
society that is not really focused in on the particular problem
of geriatrics and aging and how we can hopefully get people to
live longer and also better lives.
Dr. Bouchard, you know, it kind of sounds like to me the
concept of a national center on nutrition and healthy aging,
just do it right here at the Pennington Center. [Applause.]
Dr. Jenkins is nodding.
Mr. Bouchard. I think this is an excellent suggestion.
[Laughter.]
The Chairman. I am throwing these softball questions.
Mr. Bouchard. For many reasons, we have the current
epidemic of obesity. But we also have now a wave of older
citizens millions reaching 85 years and above, where about 50
percent are frail and are losing their autonomy. Nutrition is a
part of the latter. Physical activity is also a very strong
part of it. The Pennington center has a reputation for working
on both, integrating them into research together with the
fundamental sciences. The goal is to understand the
contribution the general mix with trying to of genetic
individuality and the physiology and biochemistry. Such a
center with a focus on nutrition would be important because we
talk about nutrition and disease and aging, and growth or
children for that matter, in terms of vitamins, macronutrients,
carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. But that is just scratching
the surface.
There are thousands of molecules in food that we know
nothing about yet, literally thousands. Some of them have been
identified but we do not know their properties. So a center
like the one proposed here would remove progressively the
mystery surrounding these molecules. In addition to discovering
and isolating them, we would test them in cell systems, in
animal models, in engineered animals and then eventually in
people to see if they have favorable or unfavorable effects
when present in large quantities or in deficient levels.
The Chairman. Dr. Starke-Reed, with the NIH, which is our
premier government institute on health, how would a center
interact with what you all are doing there or what Dr. Butler
is doing at his center? Is that something that is compatible?
Dr. Starke-Reed. I think most of the institutes within NIH
have research centers which are dedicated to those specific
problems and efforts. So that would fall very much in line with
the way NIA does some of those. Can I----
The Chairman. Dr. Patrick, I do not really have any--do you
have another comment, Dr. Starke-Reed? I am sorry.
Dr. Starke-Reed. The one thing that I was going to add to
that is I think this is already something which has been in the
minds of some of the staff at the NIA, having a specific
research center, and that is because when you hear something
new that has come out which is potentially beneficial for
aging, it is nice to be able to take it to a place and compare
it to a model system or in an organism or animal but with the
same hands that have looked at the other things that we know
are either good or not good for the aging process.
It is very difficult to compare studies when they are done,
even if done within a lab, using different species or different
strains depending on whether it is one that is particularly
good in aging or bad in aging, and then looking at the outcome.
It is very difficult to evaluate whether this product really is
having the effect on the aging process desire. Having a center
where aging studies are already set up, given you confidence in
the results that are generated you trust the reactions that you
see in a particular organisms tested there, whether they are
good or they are bad. It is very easy to compare it that way.
The Chairman. I thank you for that. I hope that while you
are here--I am sure you have done this before--but have a
chance to visit the facilities here and Dr. Butler to see what
they are doing.
Mr. Patrick, really I am just so happy to have you here. I
mean, and the reason we asked you, not only are you a doctor
with great credentials in a different field, it is just to show
when you practice this type of good, healthy type of living
skills really that it does produce positive results, and, I
mean, we have had so many people testify before the Aging
Committee who are getting up in age, much older than you are. I
mean, I had someone who was 92 years old who was actually still
working in construction, and he actually worked out in the
field. My question was how could he possibly continue to do
that type of work in the field. He said, ``It is much easier
than when I was 40.'' He said, ``When I was 40, I was out there
with a shovel digging.'' He said, ``Now I am sitting in this
machinery that is air conditioned, and I am just pulling
back.'' He said, ``It is a lot easier than when I was 40 years
old.'' He is 92.
So, I mean, you are a good example of that, and we are very
pleased that you are here. I want to thank all of our
panelists. I think it has been very, very helpful to these
people and helpful to the Senate Aging Committee. We are very
dedicated to try and help bring about good, honest, solid,
scientific research about this issue of aging and to try and
separate the legitimate from the illegitimate. There is so much
information that is just bogus, and so many people spend an
unlimited amount of money trying to look for something that is
a miracle, and it is very important that we eat healthy and
understand the difference between what is good and what is
right and what works as opposed to what does not. I think the
Pennington Center is--I am very glad that NIH has saw fit to
help with the grant here, and I know that Dr. Bouchard and
everybody associated with it is going to do very, very good
work.
So we thank all of you for being with us, and that will
conclude our Senate Aging Committee hearing. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 11:24 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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