Lobsters Never Age

by Matthew Koh - Guest Writer, Chimes



Many have spent their whole lives searching for the secret to eternal youth, traveling far and wide and wasting their fortunes — all in vain. In modern times, that mad quest has been replaced by a slightly more attainable goal: to slow, if not stop, time’s marking of flesh by means of pills, superstition and surgery. Unfortunately, as Cher and Dolly Parton bear unwitting witness, the key word in the above sentence is "slightly."

What would these people have done if they realized their holy grails were right beneath their noses?

Or more appropriately, on their plates.

The key to eternal youth is held by none other than the common lobster. Yes, the lobster: red-shelled, big-clawed and six-legged. The same animal whose presence on the menu always drew furtive glances from you, which always ended in disappointment, either because you couldn’t buy such a dish or you did and found it less than valuable. Look into their beady eyes and know the secrets of immortality.

Lobsters never age, they just grow. Their bodies don’t become frailer in time, they don’t need more and more medicine to keep their hearts going and they don’t even lose their sexual potency. In fact, the older a lobster, the more fertile it becomes.

The secret to these oceanic Dorian Grays is an enzyme by the name of telomerase. Telomerase affects telomeres, which are found on the end of all chromosomes and protect these chromosomes from deterioration. However, each time a cell divides, its telomeres are shortened. Eventually, the telomeres become too short to protect the chromosomes and cells begin to lose their ability to divide (known as the Hayflick Limit).

Telomerase acts as a sort of add-on, restoring length to telomeres and thus enabling them to continue protecting the cell. In most animals (including humans), telomerase production rapidly declines with age — hence, the whole dying part.

Lobsters, however, don’t stop producing telomerase; in fact, while most animals show higher levels of telomerase in certain areas of their bodies, lobsters have the enzyme in abundance throughout their body. Couple that with the fact that lobsters shed and recreate their exoskeletons, and there’s nothing to stop a lobster from growing indefinitely.

Except for things eating them, which tends to happen a lot. In fact, after a certain point, the larger a lobster grows the harder it is for the creature to stay alive, since the places it hides from predators become increasingly inaccessible the bigger the lobster gets.

Protected, lobsters have been proven to be incredibly long lived. January of 2009, a New York restaurant freed an allegedly 140-year-old lobster that weighed in at a whopping 20 lbs (which essentially means "Giant George" — as he was affectionately known — was given a death sentence). Currently, Boston University professor Jelle Atema is keeping a lobster to see how big it can grow.

Lobster is %$#@&!* delicious (Image Source)

I can hear some of your minds whirring. You’re thinking: "I’m not in any danger of being eaten, so give me some of that lobster juice." Unfortunately (or maybe not), the lobster path to immortality is strictly inaccessible for humans. It turns out cell deterioration in the human body is a relatively good thing. In humans, cells that surpass the Hayflick Limit tend to become cancerous. So where lobsters get eaten from the outside, we’d be devoured from within.

There you have it. The secret to immortality is useless for humans. If you’re feeling particularly vengeful, go buy a lobster dinner and console yourself with the thought that even though you’ll never live forever, neither will that particular lobster. Or you might go to an aquarium and gaze upon this red crustacean with a little bit more awe. Or you could do what I do, which is to buy a lobster, sit with it in public places, stroke its shell and whisper, "Soon ... soon, my precious."

Whatever you do, I hope a little bit of your mind was blown by the immortal lobster.

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The Best Anti-Aging Foods: Part II

A few weeks ago I posted this article regarding the best types of foods with which to fill your diet, in order to help slow the aging process. Here is another one I ran across, which is a bit more specific. A good read nonetheless.

It seems to go without saying, but the foods you eat, much like the gas you put in your Hummer, have a huge impact on your body’s performance. Given this – and the fact that we’re basically on a slow decline to death from the moment we’re born – you’d think we’d care more about what goes into our mouths. Instead, we gorge ourselves on fast food and spend thousands of dollars on anti-aging “miracle” treatments that claim to undo the years of damaged we’ve inflicted on ourselves by ingesting things we can’t even pronounce.

There are plenty of foods, however, that can nourish you and help keep age-related demons like cancer, dementia and osteoporosis at bay. They’ll also whittle your waistline, which is something that study after study shows increases longevity and improves overall health. Excess weight contributes to a whole host of life-shortening problems; a joint study between the National Institute on Aging (Bethesda, MD), the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (Bilthoven, Netherlands) and the National Center for Health Statistics (Hyattsville, MD) concluded that “heavier weight in late middle age [is] a risk factor for coronary heart disease in late life,” and the American Cancer Society estimates that excess weight is linked to more than 90,000 deaths annually.

Ready to age gracefully? Read on to find out which foods you should add to your diet in order to add years to your life.

Garlic
Once thought only to be useful in warding off vampires and unattractive blind dates, garlic has turned out to be a nutritional superstar that adds a wealth of taste to dishes without adding excess calories. Allicin, which is responsible for garlic’s strong smell and biting flavor, is actually an extremely potent antioxidant, and research published by the National Academy of Sciences shows that eating garlic appears to boost the body’s natural supply of hydrogen sulfide, which is manufactured by the body as an antioxidant and means of transmitting cellular signals that relax blood vessels and increase blood flow. Dr. David W. Kraus, associate professor of environmental science and biology at the University of Alabama and author of a large-scale study on the health benefits of garlic, advises crushing garlic and letting it sit for 15 minutes before cooking it in order to trigger a reaction that boosts the healthy compounds in the plant.

Continue to the rest of Part II

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The Best Anti-Aging Foods

These six food groups hold the "power" to help you lose weight and turn back the clock. Don't miss our easy seven-day meal plan and delicious anti-aging snacks!

1. Produce
Piling your plate with fruits and vegetables is a no-brainer when it comes to weight loss — they're low in calories, high in nutrients, and filling — but the latest studies show that certain ones can provide surprising anti-aging benefits.

There's buzz about blueberries, for instance, for their memory-boosting potential. But berries of all hues are antioxidant-rich, reports Navindra P. Seeram, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy in Kingston. That means they combat free radicals, molecules that can cause widespread cell damage and are linked to chronic inflammation. Unlike the inflammation that occurs when you sprain an ankle or strain a muscle, the type that contributes to aging is persistent, and thought to be at the root of most chronic diseases, from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes to Alzheimer's, arthritis, and osteoporosis. Berries' beauty bonus: They're chock-full of vitamin C, another potent antioxidant that may help keep your complexion looking smooth by fighting those pesky (skin-damaging) free radicals.

To keep your vision sharp, set your sights on spinach and other dark leafy greens. These veggies are prime sources of lutein and zeaxanthin, plant pigments that protect your eyes from the harmful effects of ultraviolet light. Leafy greens are also rich in vitamin K, a nutrient that plays a role in reducing bone loss and preventing fractures.

2. Protein
This key dietary component becomes even more critical starting in the 40s, when muscle mass begins to decline by up to 1 percent a year. That drop slows metabolism, which makes the pounds pile on more easily. The double whammy consequence: Added weight puts your health at risk, and down the road, diminished muscle mass can throw off your balance (upping chances of a fall), sap your strength, and even threaten your ability to recover from an illness or accident.

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