OLD age will one day be reversed using a cocktail of drugs to flush toxic cells from the body, say researchers.
They believe the approach could usher in a revolution in care and treatment of frail, older people with chronic diseases.
Researcher James Kirkland said: “What we’re looking for is to improve the quality of life.
“We don’t want to have people living to 130 and feeling like they’re 130. It would be good if they could live to 90 and feel like they’re 40.”
It follows a trial in which nine people who had diabetes-related kidney disease were given a mix of drugs.
Over three days they received a medicine usually used to treat cancer and a compound which is found in fruits and vegetables.
The drugs resulted in a 30 per cent drop in senescent cells in fat tissue while levels in the blood fell.
Senescent cells, linked to arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes and dementia, secrete damaging chemicals as they accumulate in the body.
US researcher Dr Kirkland said: “It may be possible to delay, prevent and alleviate age-related diseases as a group, instead of going after them one at a time.”
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