Fascinating but upsetting study of longevity and Ashkenazi Jews

[Mike 03]

I don't know if any of you are XM or ReachMD subscribers, but this week they are running the results of studies on Ashkenazi Jews who have lived over one hundred years.

Naturally, you would wonder what they are doing to live so long and remain in such vigorous health (taking few if any medications).

It's not lifestyle. Many of them are obese, drink and smoke, eat plenty of meat and dairy.

So, this remains a fascinating mystery. Maybe nothing we can do can really prolonge our lives, which would be a frightening thought, since some of us have sweated and deprived our brains out trying to make ourselves healthier.

One thing scientists want to examine is whether or not some of these individuals went through the Holocaust and whether being deprived of food, almost starved, and in some cases basically were starved, had some impact on longevity, as it has in some studies of Mormons who fast.

Just thought this was interesting and relevant, since the topic of aging and health comes up a lot here.

Take care

On Edit, I want to at least post a thread to the site on ReachMD even though you may not be able to register.

I wish I could post it myself for everyone to hear, but I can't.

Link: http://www.reachmd.com/xmsegment.aspx?sid=3895

Program Description
What does the latest research tell us about longevity? Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and chaired professor of medicine and molecular genetics, discusses the development of a study in a homogenous founder population in order to identify the biological and genetic underpinnings of exceptional longevity. The genotype and associated phenotype may modulate aging processes and disease susceptibility. Hosted by Dr. Maurice Pickard.

[LaurenG]

1. Sounds like great genes

Interesting though. I 'd like to hear more about them.

[northzax]

2. on the flip side, Ashkenazi Jews have some bad genetics

Tay-Sachs, for instance, is almost unknown outside the Ashkenazi population, but is carried by almost 1 in 40 inside the population. also highly prevalent is the genotypes for Cystic Fibrosis, 1 in 25 caucasians in the US carry the marker, but as many as 97% of the Ashkenazi do.

Gregory Mendel would tell you that centuries of inbreeding are a bad thing, generally.

[TZ]

3. Indeed

My family is Ashkenazi Jewish ...and my family is full of chronic diseases and dying young from heart conditions.plus I found out the chronic blood disorder I have is ONLY associated with this ethnicity.I would wonder if they looked at sub populations..this conclusion certainly does not apply to my genetics!!!

[northzax]

4. Gaucher?

ouch.

and yes, genetic inbreeding can certainly create advantageous mutations as well.

[TZ]

5. Not Goucher

But related..I should say non Jews do get it, but this is the only group that has a higher than random amounts of it

[latebloomer]

7. Plus breast cancer is more prevalent

among Ashkenazi women.

[FloridaJudy]

6. It can't possibly be 97%

That would mean that for 94% of all Jewish couples, both parents have the gene, so something like 23% of Ashkenazi kids (one in four children of the 94 percent) would have CF. I know we're subject to a whole lot of lethal recessives, but nowhere near that many Jewish children are affected. Maybe it's 97% in some small sub-group of Ashkenazim - reflecting a founder's effect from some shtetl in the Old Country - but not for Jews in general.

[Genevieve]

8. The carrier rate in the Ashkenazi Jewish population is approximately 1 in 25.

http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:je7pZrC_WbYJ:www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Health/genetics.html+tay+sachs+disease+ashkenazi+jews&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[Mike 03]

10. Yes, this is true. You are exactly right. NT

[REP]

13. Yup. Some weird-ass shit

Apparently, a lot of the crazy chronic crap I've got is due to my being Yid-ish.

Being 100% Ashkenazi didn't lead to my father having a long life - he died at age 56.

[Mike 03]

9. This is an experiment to see if I can post the transcript to nonmembers.

Please bear with me. Sorry.

http://www.reachmd.com/downloadTranscript.aspx?sid=3895

Please let me know if this works or not.

It's absolutely true that there are some adverse genetics in this group, but it's quite amazing how long some of them do live, and the reasons are not clear, and it does not yet seem to be linked to anything in the environment, or it could be the HUGE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM, if they were starved during the hideous Holocaust. But it seems like that has not been determined yet.

[TZ]

11. I think your hypothesis about starvation leading to a longer life

is totally off base. Correlation does NOT equal causation. You do realize that the people who were more genetically fit or healthier were more likely to survive the harsh conditions of the concentration camps. ANYONE EVEN THE TINIEST BIT SICK would have a hard time surviving.
I think the people in Africa, where malnutrition is common is argument enough...It is well known that starvation leads to increased risk of heart problems, succeptibility to infectious disease, respiratory issues. I suggest you look at what anorexia and bulemia do to a body to understand that starvation is NOTHING BUT HARMFUL to the body.
Oh and to suggest that the Nazi's starving them made the Jews stronger....I would NOT say that in front of a holocaust survivor..that would be offensive to them. It offends me (a bunch of my family was killed in the concentration camps)

[Sandrine for you]

14. I hear the history of a man, a victim of a camp, who was choose by the Nazi

to help to the process of accompanying other people to the gas chambers. He talk about a compact mass people who suddenly realize that they were right about this : they will die know. He describe what happen. And it's so...I just can't talk about it. Imagine when all this people realize that, when suddenly their most basic instinct to survive take the question : how to survive if a toxic gas come from the up, to go to the ground, because it is heavier than the air ?

But in fact nobody survive.

Probably my saddest post ever.

[Meshuga]

12. It's all about the humor

Ashkenazim are good with the jokes. :-)