Human Longevity : Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Bioenergetics, Molecular Biology, and Evolution

Human cells are protected from the ravages of aging by defensive systems including novel mechanisms against membrane oxidation introduced in this book. The book proposes a unified concept in which aging cells faced with declining energy production by mitochondria and the relatively high cost of protecting membranes against oxidation are triggered by energy stress to activate programmed cellular death. It includes case histories illustrating the duality of polyunsaturated membranes in aging and longevity. It also explains the relationship between membrane unsaturation and longevity leading to a unified concept of aging.

More than 7 billion people inhabit the earth and all of them are subject to aging. This book is aimed at persons interested in a molecular explanation of how our cells age. Human Longevity: Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Bioenergetics, Molecular Biology, and Evolution is built on the proposition that we age as our mitochondria age. It suggests a revised version of Harman’s famous hypothesis featuring mitochondrial oxidative and energy stresses as the root causes of aging.

Human cells are protected from the ravages of aging by a battery of defensive systems including some novel mechanisms against membrane oxidation introduced in this book. This concept is consistent with recent discoveries showing that mitochondria-targeted antioxidants prevent Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and traumatic brain disease in animal models of neurodegeneration.

This book explores a unified theory of aging based on bioenergetics. It covers a variety of topics including an introduction to the science of human aging, the Darwinian selection of membranes enabling longevity, a revised mitochondrial membrane hypothesis of aging, and various mechanisms that protect human mitochondrial membranes, thereby enabling longevity.