Humanity is headed off a cliff as infertility becomes the 3rd most common disease of the 21st century, according to @WHO. Why infertility is increasing at such a pace is unclear
A new study may shed light. Microplastics are shown to cause abnormalities in the mobility & structure of sperm🐁 & reduce mitochondria in nurse cells by inhibiting SIRT1-PGC-1a ... sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
20% of couples struggle with infertility (50-60% are male issues). By 2100, 97% of countries will be unable to maintain their population
"The implications are immense...These future trends in fertility rates and livebirths will completely reconfigure the global economy and the international balance of power and will necessitate reorganising societies." healthdata.org/news-events/ne…
Sources of polystyrene microplastics: water, fish, "cosmetic products, drugs, paints, medical & electronic devices. In cosmetics, mostly in face-cleansing products, exfoliating agents for hand washing, and peeling formulas" sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
The general fertility rate in the United States decreased by 3% from 2022 to 2023, reaching a historic low. From 2014 to 2020, the rate consistently decreased by 2% annually. The birth rate for women ages 20–24 (55.4) reached a record low. cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom…
"Among the cultural shifts affecting fertility rates, one of the more prominent changes has been Americans delaying or forgoing marriage..." @pewresearch
"Women are marrying later in life, and birth rates for single women are less than half that of those who are married"...
"Women are also delaying having children until later in life—part of the reason why fertility rates have dropped among women in their 20s, which has more than offset increases for women in their late 30s and 40s..."
Low fertility is likely to affect several major revenue streams in the coming decades... pewtrusts.org/en/research-an…
In recent budget proposals or revenue forecasts, several states noted declining fertility. California called out the combination of early retirements that have taken place during the pandemic and lower fertility and migration rates... lao.ca.gov/Publications/R…
California’s senior population will nearly double by 2030...“With rising cost of living and an already tight housing market, it could become increasingly difficult for the remaining working-age Californians to support the aging population."
As income from taxation declines due to fewer people in the workforce. Who will pay for the debt?
There are two viable solutions: 1. Slow the birth rate decline 2. Delay aging and keep people in the workforce
Our calculated economic benefits of extending healthspan by 1 year in the USA = $38T nature.com/articles/s4358…
@WHO .@elonmusk is 🎯 about the existential risk of low birthrates
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This study in 2008 was the first evidence for the information theory of aging in mammals - the idea that DNA breaks and other major stresses cause chromatin modifiers like SIRT1 to relocate, which disrupts the epigenome & changes the expression of genes in ways that cause aging
Just re-read this paper and I’ve realized it was 15 years ahead of its time. Still is
Some plant polyphenols (resveratrol, quercetin & berberine) turn out to be dual modulators of both SIRT1 & GSK3b - important pathways for neuroprotection & epigenetic age resets... 🧵
In 2008, we showed movement of the NAD-dependent enzyme SIRT1 away from regulated genes to DNA breaks (which happen every day in every cell) is a key process in the loss of epigenetic information that we have proposed leads to aging and diseases cell.com/fulltext/S0092…
And in 2023, we showed GSK3b inhibitors are a key component of epigenetic age reversal cocktails, in vitro aging-us.com/article/204896
Can cheek swab DNA reveal meaningful signals about your health, diseases and biological age?🏃♂️🏃♀️🧵...
Background: DNA methylation (DNAme) is a chemical modification of DNA on the "Cs" in DNA, which changes over time, the rate of which depends on how healthy you live over the course of your life... ⏰
Smoking and obesity accelerate DNAme changes, and healthy diets slow them. We can read these changes using DNA sequencing or DNA hybridization chips. This is how we arrive at DNAme age clocks...
Exciting new paper @nature that could explain why inflammation rises as we age and why healthy diets and exercise suppress inflammation 👏 🧵
Various mitochondrial stressors, such as pathogen infection and metabolic deficiencies, trigger the release of mtDNA into the cytosol and an inflammatory response, but why?
Under certain circumstances, including in senescent cells, there are decreased levels of deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs) for making DNA, with a corresponding increase in the levels of ribonucleotide monophosphates (rNMPs)…
NEW STUDY: The amino acid L-theanine, first isolated from green tea in the 1940s, is used to improve mood and sleep 🍵 Study in mice finds L-theanine suppresses metastasis of prostate cancer, the second most common cause of death in men worldwide... 🧵
L-theanine is known to reduce inflammation, stress and anxiety, among other effects. It is primarily found in tea leaves, especially green & black. Also in supplements. Common doses are 100 - 400 mg/d
A great way to get L--theanine is a green tea matcha = 30-140 mg L-theanine 🍵
I drink 1-3 double-scoop green tea matchas. I use organic ceremonial grade tea, frothed almond milk, allulose, and dont burn it with boiling water. Learned from @chefserenapoon