X-Message-Number: 19017
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 10:23:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: 58'th update on fly longevity experiments

    This is the 58'th update of my fly longevity experiments. Maximum
longevity was increased from 75 days for Run #57 to 103 days for this run.
However average temperature was 25.6 C for Run #57 but only 22.9 C for Run
#58. Since fly longevity is known to increase at lower temperatures this
increase was not unexpected.
    Although high dose soy protein increased mortality, I doubt that soy
itself was toxic. Instead I attribute this to a desiccating effect, from
my not adding enough extra water to the dry protein. Unfortunately I
continued this practice "in the future" for quite a few more runs.
    Soy lecithin reduced average lifespan, but had no adverse effect on
maximum longevity. Although the lecithin was "de-oiled", it was still 50%
fat. Flies have consistently shown increased mortality when fed any source
of fat in published experiments. Unlike humans, flies have no requirement
for essential fatty acids.
    I provisionally attribute the positive results with soy isoflavones,
to antiviral activity. This is mildly interesting, because there appears
to be a very low threshold for maximum effect.

Run #58                          Percent Survival on Day
supplement             23 27 32 38 43 52 59 64 69 74 84 90 95 103 110
_____________________________________________________________________
control                85 85 85 85 85 62 38 38 31 23  8  8  0   -   -
soy protein 2 tsp      87 80 67 53 47 27 13 13 13 13  0  -  -   -   -
soy lecithin 1/4 tsp   86 57 57 50 50 43 43 43 43 14  7  0  -   -   -
soy lecithin 1/2 tsp   60 60 60 53 53 40 33 33 27 27 27  7  7   7   0
soy isoflavones 50 mg  85 85 85 85 85 77 69 69 69 69 46 23  0   -   -
soy isoflavones 100 mg 83 75 75 75 75 67 75 42 33 25  8  0  -   -   -
soy isoflavones 200 mg 83 75 75 75 75 75 67 67 50 42 33 25  8   8   0

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