Bacteria May Not Contribute to Aging
While the researchers admit it is not possible to conduct the same study on larger organisms as bacteria are needed to aid the process of digestion, their findings to challenge what the idea that microorganisms found in the body contribute to the aging process. The former theory was that because the amount of bacteria increased on a larger organism as the animal aged and the response of the immune system decreased, that this process triggered many of the symptoms that come with aging. As that does not seem to be the cause a new theory will have to be developed.
The researchers used three groups of flies. The control group was raised in a normal environment and exposed to bacteria as they normally would have been in nature. The second group was disinfected in adulthood and the third group was given disinfectant treatments starting from the egg. While the flies that were exposed to the bacteria showed normal increased immune responses as they got older, they did not live longer than the group kept free from the single celled organisms. All the flies in the study lived for approximately three months.
Lead researcher Dr Steven Finkel said: "I think a lot of people would just assume that if you're increasing bacterial load in an ageing human, it must be bad. "It might not just be bad, it just might be. Prior to this study, I would not have thought that." One of his colleagues further added that he found the results surprising.So it seems that while being afraid of germs and cleaning everything in site may make someone afraid of germs less likely to catch flus and colds it will not affect how long they live. For those who like playing in the mud, it seems they have nothing to worry about after all except needing a bath more often than those who abstain from getting dirty.
Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6935037.stm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070809-16213300-bc-us-flygerms.xml
Published by S. Landis
Born early in one February morning in 1977, the world has since graced me with its presence View profile
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1 Comments
Post a Comment"When fruit flies were raised an environment that was virtually free of bacteria, the fruit flies did not live any longer than their counterparts raised in non-bacteria filled environment." Read this sentence carefully. Either you are saying that both fruit flies were raised in bacteria free environments, or else you're saying that one lot were raised in an environment filled with a lot of things that were not bacteria. Either way it's not what you meant to say.