X-Message-Number: 19959 Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 09:30:17 -0400 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: partial answer for Steve Jackson Hi Steve! It's far from certain that a single mixture of substances wil significantly prolong your lifespan. I have been a member of LEF for some time, and their Life Extension Mix has never attracted me. However they do provide a larger variety of (possible) life extending drugs than any other source I know. Some time ago I wrote a book, A GUIDE TO ANTIAGING DRUGS, which I have updated whenever any new drug or substance fits my criteria. Those criteria are basically simple: it must be shown to prolong the lifespan' of some healthy strain of mammal. I do not accept work with flies, worms, or clearly unhealthy animals. I also have an appendix which discusses drugs which just might work even if the critical experiment has not yet been done. Because such experiments take some time, only 15 drugs pass that test. Two such drugs passed that test after the first publication of the book: human growth hormone (which increased the lifespan of mlce) and a special extract of ginkgo biloba (which increased the lifespan of rats), with experiments reported in 1997 for Human Growth Hormone and 1999 for the special extract of ginkgo biloba. The extract is made in Germany and named Tanakan for short; I would not accept any arbitrary extract of ginkgo biloba (and frankly I haven't even gotten an answer from LEF for THEIR ginkgo extract). I am now in the middle of arranging the printing of a new edition; all but one copies of the first edition have been sold. The one which remains is for my own reference. A variety of experiments have been done on other drugs, and I hope to update my Appendix ("Drugs Waiting in the Wings") to add them. So far, I don't know of any experiment satisfying my criteria above for these drugs. Some other claims need to be traced down, and I hope to do that soon, if not for the new edition. I am hoping that it will less expensive than the previous one, but ultimately we'll have to see. Best wishes and long long life, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19959