Studies On Longevity

DR DANA ELLIOT SRITHER
MBBS ( S’pore )
Member of American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine

Long-Lived Populations of the World
When the medical world began studying longevity seriously in the 1960s, scientists flocked to Abhazia, Georgia; the Hunza, Pakistan and Vilcabamba, Ecuador, sites renowned for the long life spans of their residents.

Vilacamba, Ecuador
In 1982, Dr. Morton Walker arrived in Vilcabamba to investigate the cell mineralization of the local residents and its relationship with genetics and the natural environment. For a long time there had been some controversy over whether the supposed longevity in Vilcabamba was due to genetic factors. Since this area has been renowned in Ecuador and Peru for many generations as a sacred place where old people abound, some scientists were sure that it must be a gene that was responsible.

Dr. Walker took hair samples from the nape of numerous residents of various ages. These samples were carbonized and analysis was performed in a California lab. The results showed exactly why the folks of Vilcabamba have healthy, long lives. When examining the data on children, one finds the kind of random mineralization that is common everywhere and is mostly due to genetic variation. By the time that they are young adults, there are many similarities in their cell mineralization. Once the people of Vilcabamba are 50 years old, their body minerals are virtually identical, and accumulative toxic metals are at very low levels.

Dr. Walker also had samples of the river water and various foods analyzed to see how their mineral ratios related to the cell minerals in the populace. The ratio of minerals common in all the old people was the same as the mineral ratio of the local water. Foods that were irrigated with river water also had the same basic ratio. So, what's going on at the cellular level in Vilcabamba?

Dr. Walker was already studying the relatively new field of mineral chelation at that time. It was not difficult for him and the lab technician, Gary Gordon, to connect Vilcabamba and natural chelation. Mr. Gordon stated that the people of Vilcabamba are getting a sophisticated chelation treatment from their environment for free. Dr. Walker claims that the ratio of calcium, magnesium and manganese in the water is virtually perfect, preventing calcium from leaving the bones once it is absorbed. This obviously is the reason that Vilcabambans, who consume less than half the calcium that most Europeans do, never suffer from osteoporosis.

Besides preventing osteoporosis, this ratio of minerals keeps calcium out of the blood where it will inevitably mix with nasty cholesterol and clog up the arteries and veins. All this loose calcium floating around in older people's blood is stiffening up everything in their bodies that should be supple. And of course, everything that should be hard and durable begins to crumble. In Vilcabamba, old people can still heal a broken bone, and they don't suffer from any diseases that have to do with calcium metabolism.

What is it about the food and water of this place that makes it special?
Fifteen kilometers above Vilcabamba is the continental divide and the highest local peaks. Up there it is almost constantly precipitating in one way or another. All water, including rain water, has some mineralization. Only water distilled in a lab is pure. So, when our rain, drizzle or sleet fall on these mountains it is already carrying some dissolved solids. The ground on the very high ridges of the Andes is covered with thick grass-like plants that grow and die; but since they can't really rot at the temperature up there, they just continue to grow one on top of the other. What this creates is a deep vegetable sponge that filters and mineralizes the water as it passes through. The Andes in this area were covered by glaciers during the last ice-age. These glaciers carved out shallow basins in the rock at about 3,000 meters of elevation. Now, they are lakes and their water have virtually the same mineralization as the river water in the valley below. The kinds of rocks that make up the lower terrains of the Andes are not particularly reactive to H20. So, all the minerals in Vilcabamba water, and the most important ones in the irrigated food chain are coming from a vegetable source. These grasses of the Andean tundra and the forests that grow in wind-protected clefts are feeding on glacier-ground rock particles of an ancient age.

Fortunately for Vilcabamba, far below, there are no dikes of precious metals lacing the upper watershed. Otherwise gold miners would have long ago contaminated the high creeks with mercury and other toxic by-products found all over the Andes. In fact, gold is found almost every place else around, besides the Vilcabamba watershed. Also, these highlands are too rough and rocky for agricultural purposes. Therefore nobody's been fertilizing or fumigating up there. No one even lives up that high, since pasture animals cannot survive on this rough grass. Its minerals are balanced, but it has almost no protein. This tundra, cloud-forest area is useless, besides producing the most therapeutic water on the earth's surface.

Hunza, Pakistan
It's already been mentioned that entire civilizations have recycled humanure for thousands of years. That should provide a fairly convincing testimony about the usefulness of humanure as an agricultural resource. Many people have heard of the "Healthy Hunzas," a people in what is now a part of Pakistan who reside among the Himalayan peaks, and routinely live to be 120 years old. The Hunzas gained fame in the United States during the 1960s health food era, at which time several books were written about the fantastic longevity of this ancient people. Their extraordinary health has been attributed to the quality of their overall lifestyle, including the quality of the natural food they eat and the soil it's grown on. Few people, however, realize that the Hunzas also compost their humanure and use it to grow their food. They're said to have virtually no disease, no cancer, no heart or intestinal trouble, and they regularly live to be over a hundred years old while "singing, dancing and making love all the way to the grave."

In their manuring, the Hunzakuts return everything they can to the soil: all vegetable parts and pieces that will not serve as food for humans or beast, including such fallen leaves as the cattle will not eat, mixed with their own seasoned excrement, plus dung and urine from their barns. Like their Chinese neighbors, the Hunzakuts save their own manure in special underground vats, clear of any contaminable streams, there to be seasoned for a good six months. Everything that once had life is given new to life through loving hands.

A Hunza can walk across the mountains to Gilgit sixty miles away, transact his business, and return forthwith without feeling unduly fatigued. A medical professional associated with the Hunzas claimed, "During the period of my association with these people I never saw a case of asthenic dyspepsia, of gastric or duodenal ulcer, of appendicitis, of mucous colitis, of cancer . . . Among these people the abdomen over-sensitive to nerve impressions, to fatigue, anxiety, or cold was unknown. Indeed their buoyant abdominal health has, since my return to the West, provided a remarkable contrast with the dyspeptic and colonic lamentations of our highly civilized communities.” The Hunzas composted their organic material, thereby recycling all of it. This actually enhanced their personal health and the health of their community.

Abhazia, Georgia
Dr. Sula Benet, an anthropology professor at Hunter College in New York City, was the one who broke the story about Abkhasians, living happily in Southern Russia. More than 80 percent of these folks did make it past the age of 90, with much better hearing and eyesight than similar aged seniors in the industrialized West.

The long lived Abkhasians did a lot right. The Abkhasians consume something called matzoni -- a fermented goat or cow milk. They engaged in physically active lifestyles, ate mostly a vegetarian diet with lots of nuts, engaged in work that was pretty much free of the stress of rushed deadlines. They love song and utilized it in most of their cultural rituals.

But what is probably most striking about this culture in contrast to the Western societies is how revered they are in their agedness. In Abkhasia, people are esteemed and seen as beautiful in their old age. Silver hair and wrinkles are viewed as signs of wisdom, maturity and long years of service." This respect for the elders is reflected in their language. They have no phrase for "old people." They refer to their many centenarians as "long-living people." They even dedicate a holiday to honor their long-living, where the villagers gather to honor seniors who parade proudly in grand costumes. In this society, one's status is more determined by age than by wealth or fame. When people lie about their age, they add years. Therefore "you're looking young today," would not be seen as a compliment, as it would in our Western culture. People there compliment others by saying, 'you're looking old today,' meaning the person is wise and beautiful in their maturity.

Article contributed by:
Dr. Dana Elliott Srither
Preventive Care Physician
Beatitudes Medical Practice

About Dr Dana

Dr Dana has worked in a number of disciplines including general surgery, gynaecology, geriatric medicine, emergency medicine, internal medicine and palliative medicine at various hospitals over the years. His experience with various disciplines in medicine has resulted in the fruition of his philosophy of pro-active prevention of diseases. Dr Dana’s interest in the field of medicine goes beyond his day to day practice. He firmly believes in enhancing and enriching patients’ lives through the active prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Dr Dana runs his own preventive and anti-aging medical practice.