{"id":11,"date":"2012-10-03T03:20:41","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T03:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshmitteldorf.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=11"},"modified":"2012-10-03T03:22:35","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T03:22:35","slug":"when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2012\/10\/03\/when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar\/","title":{"rendered":"When we get old, the Pancreas Re-programs itself to Poison us with Sugar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/10\/02\/health\/under-stress-insulin-making-cells-revert-to-nascent-state.html?ref=science\">article in today\u2019s Science Times<\/a>, Amanda Schaffer reviews findings by Chutima Talchai and Dr. Domenico Accili at Columbia concerning the fate of insulin-producing \u201cislet\u201d cells in the pancreas.<\/p>\n<p>One big and nearly universal manifestation of aging is that our sugar metabolism becomes less responsive to insulin. Insulin signaling is a cry of \u201cenough!\u201d to the liver, and in response to insulin, the liver is supposed to cease dumping sugar (fuel) into the blood stream. When the system loses sensitivity to insulin, the body begins to poison itself with sugar, which can result in heart disease, nerve damage in the extremities, and loss of vision \u2013 all hallmarks of Type 2 Diabetes.<\/p>\n<p>For a while, the pancreas tries to compensate by pumping more insulin. But then the pancreatic cells poop out.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe used to say that the beta cells poop out,\u201d said Alan Saltiel, director of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan. In reality, he added, this shorthand meant \u201cwe have no idea what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>From the perspective of this blogger, it\u2019s very clear what\u2019s going on: the body is poisoning itself with sugar. In order to insure suicide on a schedule, our bodies come with multiple, redundant programs of self-destruction as \u201cstandard equipment\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The primary purpose of the fixed life span is an aid to population stabilization. Aging brings death under control of the genome, so that the population can avoid unrestrained growth which leads inevitably to overshoot and population crashes, risking extinction. Without aging, deaths would be very \u201clumpy\u201d. When there\u2019s an epidemic, everybody is dying at once; otherwise practically no one is dying. When there\u2019s a famine, the whole population goes down at once; when food is available, the population just keeps expanding until there is a famine. This is no way to run an ecosystem! In fact, it\u2019s a recipe for any species to trash its own ecosystem, risking extinction.<\/p>\n<p>This evolutionary theory explains why overeating triggers diabetes earlier. \u00a0It&#8217;s a signal to the body that there is plenty of food, certainly no famine in sight, and the death rate from hunger is probably pretty low. \u00a0The death rate from aging is programmed to complement death from starvation, so when the latter is low, the former is elevated.<\/p>\n<p>What Schaffer and Talchai have found is that the insulin-producing islet cells don\u2019t wear out. Rather they regress to an earlier stage in their development, in which they cannot produce insulin. This happens as a result of gene expression.<\/p>\n<p>Every cell in your body has exactly the same genes as every other cell. But in any given cell, most of the genes are covered up by histones, and inactive. It is the choice of which genes are active that determines the cell\u2019s morphology and function. Gene expression separates a bone cell from a nerve or muscle cell. Gene expression also can vary over time. It is gene expression that distinguishes an old cell from a young cell.<\/p>\n<p>If islet cells are \u201cstepping back in time\u201d, then this is certainly a process under genetic control. You might still talk about it as something that has \u201cgone wrong\u201d if you\u2019re wedded to the idea that programmed aging cannot, as a matter of theory, be a purposeful adaptation. But if you\u2019re an adaptationist (like me) it seems natural to see this regression as part and parcel of the aging program.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIn Dr. Accili\u2019s research, some of the progenitor cells went on to produce another hormone, glucagon, which acts to raise blood sugar.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In other words, the islet cells are not just pooping out, they are actually pouring gasoline on the aging fires! They become active agents of self-destruction. Do you still think this is just a random \u201cdisregulation\u201d? Looks like an aging program to me!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIf something similar occurs in humans with Type 2 diabetes, scientists may find ways to nudge de-differentiated beta cells to return to their mature, insulin-producing form.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yes, \u201cprogrammed aging\u201d is a very hopeful perspective! If the body is not wearing out, if aging is merely a matter of signaling, then we can hope to modify nature\u2019s signals and stop aging in its tracks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an article in today\u2019s Science Times, Amanda Schaffer reviews findings by Chutima Talchai and Dr. Domenico Accili at Columbia concerning the fate of insulin-producing \u201cislet\u201d cells in the pancreas. One big and nearly universal manifestation of aging is that our sugar metabolism becomes less responsive to insulin. Insulin signaling is a cry of \u201cenough!\u201d &#8230; <a title=\"When we get old, the Pancreas Re-programs itself to Poison us with Sugar\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2012\/10\/03\/when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about When we get old, the Pancreas Re-programs itself to Poison us with Sugar\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When we get old, the Pancreas Re-programs itself to Poison us with Sugar - Josh Mitteldorf<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2012\/10\/03\/when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When we get old, the Pancreas Re-programs itself to Poison us with Sugar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an article in today\u2019s Science Times, Amanda Schaffer reviews findings by Chutima Talchai and Dr. Domenico Accili at Columbia concerning the fate of insulin-producing \u201cislet\u201d cells in the pancreas. One big and nearly universal manifestation of aging is that our sugar metabolism becomes less responsive to insulin. Insulin signaling is a cry of \u201cenough!\u201d ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2012\/10\/03\/when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Josh Mitteldorf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-03T03:20:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-10-03T03:22:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Mitteldorf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Mitteldorf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/03\\\/when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/03\\\/when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Mitteldorf\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/214c5d1dad9f15c48f03128d5cfccdb1\"},\"headline\":\"When we get old, the Pancreas Re-programs itself to Poison us with Sugar\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-03T03:20:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-03T03:22:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/03\\\/when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":716,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/03\\\/when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2012\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/03\\\/when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/03\\\/when-we-get-old-the-pancreas-re-programs-itself-to-poison-us-with-sugar\\\/\",\"name\":\"When we get old, the Pancreas Re-programs itself to Poison us with Sugar - 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. 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