Crossref journal-article
Wiley
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (311)
Abstract

AbstractThe mean life span has plateaued in the developed countries at around 70 years. Future substantial increases in the mean life span are apt to be due to inhibition of the process(es) involved in aging. One potentially practical means of inhibiting the rate of human aging is based on the hypothesis that free radical reactions play a significant role in the degradation of biological systems. Experiments based on this hypothesis have been encouraging. For example, several inhibitors of free radical reactions have been found to increase the mean life span of mice when added to the daily diet; 2‐mercaptoethylamine and butylated hydroxytoluene were the most effective. Likewise, decreasing the amount and degree of unsaturation of the dietary fat of female C3H mice resulted in a decrease in the mortality rate. The probable role of free radical reactions in the pathogenesis of four age‐associated diseases—cancer, atherosclerosis, hypertension and amyloidosis—is discussed.It is suggested that the addition of one or more inhibitors of free radical reactions to nutritionally adequate and acceptable natural diets selected to minimize the intake of substances that might participate in random endogenous free radical reactions, may increase the average life span of man by five or more years, with accompanying increases in the years of useful, healthy life.

Bibliography

Harman, D. (1969). PROLONGATION OF LIFE: ROLE OF FREE RADICAL REACTIONS IN AGING. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 17(8), 721–735. Portico.

Authors 1
  1. Denham Harman (first)
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Dates
Type When
Created 10 years, 4 months ago (April 29, 2015, 3:50 p.m.)
Deposited 1 year, 10 months ago (Oct. 19, 2023, 5:39 a.m.)
Indexed 3 days, 2 hours ago (Sept. 4, 2025, 10:21 a.m.)
Issued 56 years, 1 month ago (Aug. 1, 1969)
Published 56 years, 1 month ago (Aug. 1, 1969)
Published Online 10 years, 4 months ago (April 27, 2015)
Published Print 56 years, 1 month ago (Aug. 1, 1969)
Funders 0

None

@article{Harman_1969, title={PROLONGATION OF LIFE: ROLE OF FREE RADICAL REACTIONS IN AGING}, volume={17}, ISSN={1532-5415}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.1969.tb02286.x}, DOI={10.1111/j.1532-5415.1969.tb02286.x}, number={8}, journal={Journal of the American Geriatrics Society}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Harman, Denham}, year={1969}, month=aug, pages={721–735} }