Introduction to Biological Aging Theory

Why do we age? The answer to this question is critical to our ability to prevent and treat highly age-related diseases such as cancer and heart disease that now cause the majority of deaths in the developed world. For centuries aging has been considered an unalterable and therefore untreatable condition. We can find treatments for individual diseases but not for aging. Consequently, the effectiveness of medical treatment declines with age. New thinking backed by recent discoveries increasingly suggests that aging is itself a treatable condition and that treatments that delay aging can be found to treat or delay occurrence of age-related diseases. Anti-aging medicine is therefore possible.
In addition, in order to understand (and find treatments for) age-related diseases we need to understand the biological mechanisms that cause the drastic increase in incidence with age. Different theories suggest very different disease mechanisms.

This book provides an overview of biological aging theories including history, current status, major scientific controversies, current medical research, and implications for the future of medicine. Major topics include: human mortality as a function of age, aging mechanisms and processes, the programmed vs. non-programmed aging controversy, empirical evidence on aging, and the feasibility of anti-aging and regenerative medicine. Research and practice of anti-aging medicine is also discussed,

Evolution theory is essential to aging theories. Theorists have been struggling for 160 years to explain how observed aging, deterioration, and consequent death fit with Darwin’s survival-of-the-fittest concept. This book explains how continuing genetics discoveries have produced changes in the way we think about evolution that in turn lead to new thinking about the evolutionary nature of aging.
Education Level: This book uses terminology like phenotype, diploid, introns, genome, and prokaryote, and is suitable for those having an introductory level (e.g. AP HS) understanding of biology and medicine.
Second Edition Revision 2 - Jan 2020 - Illustrated, 45 pages.