Age A Byproduct of Cancer Defense?

A reader writes "The International Herald Tribune has an article which says, in brief: they have discovered that aging in mice seems to be a byproduct of the chemicals that prevent cancer" If true, that's quite a double edged sword - avoid death, to cause it later.

Comments

Evolutionary balance?

[pdqlamb]

"Too much p53 and you get this aging effect. Too little and you get cancer. My guess is that evolution has evolved just the right level."

Would somebody explain to me how evolution would play in this finely-tuned scenario? In the U.S. our average lifespan is over 70 years, yet most women pass menopause around age 45. There's a 25 year lifespan discrepancy, in which evolution has no effect, because the population (at least of women) can't reproduce!

Re:Think of the children

[MarcoAtWork]

Do you have any links/info that corroborate your assertion?

A *lot* of people I know would have died much earlier than they did (or they aren't dead yet, me included) due to illnesses they contracted after age 5...

Considering all of the people older than 5 going in hospitals for heart surgery, appendicectomies, assorted cancer removals etc. that go on living for decades afterwards (rather than dying), I find it counter intuitive that a lower infant mortality is the only reason why the average lifespan has increased so much during the past decades.

Note that I don't necessarily think it's wrong, mind you, just very counter intuitive, that's why I'd like to know if you have some sort of proof to back your statement with.

Re:There goes one industry down the toilet!

[shayne321]

Really? Do you have any names?

Err, two words: Organized Religion

If someone has been making money for thousands of years, I'd say their claims are pretty well-founded

Well, that's debatable.. I'm not going there, though.. :)

Shayne