Re: Why is tempature important to the aging process?

I am not sure what information you need. If you are asking how temperature affects aging in objects that are not alive, there is a lot of data. Do an internet search on 'temperature and aging' and you will get many pages like these: http://flux.aps.org/meetings/YR97/BAPSPC97/abs/G2200055.html

Temperature affects aging in nonliving objects because increased temperature increases molecular activity, causing and increase in random movement of molecules and making the compunds the object is made of break down faster. Most objects age slowest as a cold solid. I will admit I don't know much about this, since I am not well versed in the physical sciences.

My area is biology, and dead biological structures last longer than normal as cold solids, like the 'iceman' http://info.uibk.ac.at/c/c5/c552/Forschung/Iceman/iceman- en.html One reason dead biological structures last longer as cold solids is because the organisms that break down dead plants and animals can't live in extremely cold conditions. These organisms can't live in extremely dry conditions either, and very cold conditions are also very dry because most of the water freezes out of the air. Very dry dead plants and animals such as mummies also last a long time http://www.si.umich.edu/ CHICO/m ummy/

But you may be asking about temperature and aging in living plants and animals. I don't think there is much data to support the idea that living organisms age more slowly at low temperatures, but there is some.

I found one web page that supported this idea: http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag97/april-update97.html Let me tell you why I do not believe what this web site has to say. First, it is not associated with any organization I have ever heard of, like a college, university, hospital, or government program. But it still might be ok, there are lots of organizations and foundations that are not associated with colleges, hospitals or government. But this web site is selling stuff. This is a big concern. Are they trying to INFORM me, or are they trying to GET MY MONEY? Those are different things. If I go to the web page of the American Association of Retired Persons, I expect to get a lot of information, most of which will be presented from the view of aging adults. So it may not be the same information that I would get from the American Association of Teenagers, if there were such an organization. This difference in view is called bias and we all have it. But when someone is trying to sell something to someone else, the difference in view can go way past BIAS to SKEWED, that is, only telling me the information that will convince me to spend money, and not telling me why that information may not be reliable, or what the limitations on the information are. (As fellow aging adult Bob Dylan said, "Money doesn't talk, it swears.")

There is some work that suggests that aging of animal cells, or animal aging at the cellular level, may be affected by temperature. This information is most relevant to cloning studies, and also to research in increasing lifespan. However, these studies are not easily applied to human aging. Here is an exapmle

Wolf NS. Pendergrass WR. The relationships of animal age and caloric intake to cellular replication in vivo and in vitro: a review. Journals of Gerontology Series A-Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences. 54 (11):B502-17, 1999 Nov.

This brief review examines aging at the cellular level as expressed by cell replication rates in vivo, clone size limits in vitro, and cell function in several tissues and organs. Studies are presented in which in vivo and in vitro cell replication measurements were made for several cell types and organs in relation to animal age, diet, life span, and specific age-related pathologies. Among the events examined that affect cell replication and cell survival in vitro and in vivo over a lifetime are oxidative damage, telomere shortening, and hormone and hormone receptor level changes. Long-term caloric restriction (CR) is favorable or protective for all of these events when measured in later life and comparisons are made to ad libitum (AL)-fed animals, and it is accompanied by more youthful rates of cell replication. It is proposed that in vivo and in vitro measures of cellular replication constitute biomarkers of aging when applied to comparisons of CR and AL diet rodents, where they correlate with the delay of disease and extension of life span. Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm this. However, direct evidence is lacking that diminished cell replication in specific organs contributes to the limitation of life span.

A reliable and more applicable study regarding aging and temperature can be seen on the web site of the National Insitute on Aging (http://www.nia.gov).This report suggests that the lower body temperatures and lower blood insulin levels which occur with limited calorie intake are associated with longer lives in animals. http://www.nia.nih.g ov/ news/pr/2002/0801.htm This association is not strongly supported yet, and the reason temperature and aging may be associated is less understood. More information about aging is available here: http://www.nia.nih.gov/health/pubs/secrets%2Dof% 2Daging/p2.htm and here: http://www.nia.nih.gov/news/pr/1997/08%2D14.htm

The idea seems to be that genetic control of glucose (sugar) metabolism influences body temperature, and so temperature may be an indicator of metabolic activity, rather than having a direct effect on aging.