WHILE looking at my senior citizen’s ID, the waitress remarked, “Lucky you seniors for getting 20 percent discount and paying no VAT on each meal.”
“Luckier you,” I quipped. “You are young. How old are you?”
“Thirty,” she revealed. “I have to wait for another 30 years to be a privileged senior citizen.”
“By that time I will have departed to the afterlife,” I joked matter-of-factly.
“No, Sir,” she disagreed. “If you eat here often, you will live to be a centenarian.”
She was probably trying to win a suki, but it was I who “won” an idea: to write about longevity of human life.
In the Old Testament, a Hebrew patriarch named Methuselah lived for 969 years. Since then, man has searched for the key to longevity.
History records the pioneering and lifetime search of Ponce de Leon for the fountain of youth. Discovering Florida and its beautiful unpolluted beaches, he spent the rest of his healthy life there until 1521 when a poisoned-arrow wound cut it short; he was 61.
Nevertheless it was a “ripe old age” by 16th-century standard when cures for diseases had yet to be discovered.
Since then, people have enjoyed longer life because of advances in nutrition and medicine. In the United States, for instance, the Bureau of Census has confirmed that the life expectancy of the Americans has gradually accelerated. A child born in 1900 could expect to live an average of 47.5 years. An American child born today could hope to reach 76. In 1900, there were only 3.1 million Americans aged 65 or older; today there are 40 million.
Everybody wants to live not just longer but healthier lives. We want to know why some die young while others grow very old. After all, nobody is exempted from wear and tear. Over time, everybody’s body deteriorates because it is not capable of replenishing all damaged cells. This is often apparent among the old who become senile due to declining number of brain cells.
Way back in the 1950s, a scientist from the University of Nebraska, Denham Harmon, announced that he had found the reason behind aging. It is now widely known as the free radical theory. Based on his research, the free radicals are chemicals that rob the body of its normal health by depriving the cells of oxygen, in effect triggering diseases, including all forms of cancer. This damage, called oxidation, is comparable to rust-destruction of metals. Therefore, to rise to the age of Methuselah, one should wipe out free radicals.
Fortunately, like all other animals, the human being has an immune system that could produce antioxidants – glutathione and melatonin, for example – to fight free radicals. The older the body, however, the less it is capable of producing them. There is now urgent need for acquiring them from food and food supplements. Among the major food antioxidants that boost the immune system are vitamins A, C and E, zinc, beta-carotene, ginseng and selenium.
People with sufficient vitamins E and C have lower risk of heart diseases because these antioxidants minimize fatty deposits in the arteries, thus preventing atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries.
Wrong choices of food may trigger organ malfunction. For instance, too much sugar may damage certain body proteins – notably collagen which helps form bones, teeth, skin and tendons – leading to “accelerated aging.”
Perhaps, had Ponce de Leon not succumbed to poison, he might have found the fountain of youth in healthy habits. Remember, he spent his adult life in a beachfront house in Florida so he could swim at sea, breathe clean air and eat the most nutritious foods. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
