About us
Anti-Aging-Plan.com
Life extension and |
History of the development of the method “Anti-Aging Cyclic Nutrition”,
The state of gerontology as a science today, and
The fate of some gerontologists.
The state of gerontology as a science today, and
The fate of some gerontologists.
Welcome to one of the most beautiful cities in the world – Budapest, Hungary. Budapest houses the main office of the Anti-Aging company and is the primary location of our anti-aging, fasting and cleansing programs. In addition to Budapest, we also conduct similar programs using the Anti-Aging Cycle Nutrition method in Croatia (in Opatija and Makarska). We are excited to announce new programs scheduled to begin in Spain, Italy and Greece in 2010-2012.
The Anti-Aging Center’s main objective is to develop methods of human life extension. These methods are based on theoretical and practical research of gerontology and related sciences; data which has been accumulated over the past 80 years. We promote and market specially-designed anti-aging nutritional programs and implement the “Anti-Aging Cyclic Nutrition” method. This method postpones aging and the development of almost all age-related diseases. The creator of the method and scientific director of the Anti-Aging Center is Dr. Arcady Economo, Ph.D., Pharm.D.
Dr. A. Economo is a well-known gerontologist who combined traditional and innovative approaches and techniques in gerontology to create a revolutionary anti-aging method called “Anti-Aging Cyclic Nutrition”. This method slows down aging by means of cyclic nutritional regimens. These regulated nutritional programs provide an opportunity to significantly extend the human life span by up to 50 percent, according to expert analysis. The cyclic method also has a strong healing and rejuvenating effect. It has the capability to prevent aging for several years, even up to two decades. It can actually turn the aging process backwards. The main principles of this method combine two approaches in gerontology that have been proven to be extremely successful. The first approach is “intermittent fasting”, and the second is “calorie restriction”. The first approach takes its source from the clinical and experimental data that showed the importance of fasting for optimal health and the second approach is based on a well-known calorie restriction paradigm in gerontology.
Dr. Economo earned his master's degree in Chemisty from Moscow State University in the former Soviet Union. After graduating, Dr. A. Economo began working at the Institute of Pharmacology in Moscow. At that time, his research focused on the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of various psychotropic drugs. Dr. A. Economo (known in Russia as Arkady Lvovich Ekonomov) was one of the inventors of the famous original tranquilizer “phenazepam” (this drug became very popular in the USSR and later in Russia). In 1982, Dr. A. Economo earned his Ph.D. in biology and pharmacology and became more interested in gerontology research. The ‘80s were a time of supreme optimism – it seemed feasible to invent medicines against any disease, even against age itself. The race was on; a great number of scientists were looking for the “elixir of life” or “silver bullet.” Dr. A. Economo entered into this race filled with energy of his youth, however, as time went on he began to understand that aging is a very complicated and multifaceted process. At that time gerontologists used to say, “Aging is a heterogenic and heterochronic process.” Many theories about why we age were presented during that time and a lot of them still exist today. Unfortunately, because of such a disparity in research findings, the early optimism of scientists gradually turned to pessimism when no single conclusion emerged above the others. But research, conducted during those years, was not without merit. Pharmacologists discovered anti-aging drugs (called geroprotectors) that can extend the lifespan of animals. However, their effect was not strong enough. Geroprotectors can extend the lifespan (of rats and mice) by only 5-15 percent. In addition, these results were not always statistically verifiable and different laboratories of the world often were not able to repeat the same results. Step by step, it became obvious that new approaches and ideas were needed to boost gerontology to its ultimate goal: putting a stop to aging. Scientists gradually realized that unprecedented challenges require unprecedented approaches to find a solution. Looking for “elixirs of life” may be not the right direction at all.
It was necessary to look for other efficient factors – strong influences (not necessarily of pharmaceutical origin) that were statistically significant – that could make animals, and ultimately humans, live longer. At long last, these significant new factors have been discovered. As is typical, “new” doesn’t actually mean new at all; just old factors that have long been forgotten.
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| Yurij Nikolaev |
Basic therapeutic fasting can be traced back to ancient times. The positive effects of periodic fasting were well-known by physicians and philosophers of ancient Greece, Middle East, India and Tibet. Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato fasted for health reasons and in order to stay sharp-mided. They believed that while fasting, their brains were hyper-productive. Hippocrates and Avicenna (Ibn-Sina) recommended fasting as a core curative method to their numerous patients.
Another reason periodic fasting is common in everyday life is because of religious beliefs. Many religions practice fasting and have special days and weeks when they abstain from eating anything or follow a very strict low-calorie diet. These religions teach thier followers the process of cleansing their bodies physically and spiritually through fasting.
Comprehensive scientific analysis of fasting as a highly-efficient method for treating disease started just recently in the 20th century. Today, therapeutic fasting is applied in hospitals and institutes across Europe (such as Büchenger’s, the famous fasting clinic in Germany) and many other parts of the world. It is also important to mention the fundamental studies about the health benefits of fasting conducted by Americans Dr. Paul Bragg and Herbert Shelton and, of course, Yurij Nikolaev.
Let’s return to A. Economo. Deciding to study gerontology, he started working at the Russian State Medical University, where together with its director – Professor Vladimir Yarigin he organized the Anti-Aging Group. This group explored the theoretical and practical aspects of gerontology. The theoretical aspect was based on influences of another outstanding gerontologist of that time: L. Gavrilov. Dr. A. Economo used Gavriolov’s theories to conduct a thorough analysis of statistical data concerning human mortality in various countries through different periods of the 20th century. He looked for differences in the mortality age dynamic, and tried to determine the cause of these differences. Dr. A. Economo (known at that time under his family name, Ekonomov) published a series of scientific papers about mortality statistics. (See his scientific publications at www.pubmed.org)
As for the practical application, the Anti-Aging Group was working tirelessly, determined to create a different anti-aging nutrition regimen. This regimen later became widely used for treating patients primarily suffering from obesity, diabetes, arthritis and cardiovascular diseases.
For each patient, low-calorie diets were developed taking into account each individual’s particular health problems. Computer programs were used to create and balance individual diets. During those years, the Anti-Aging Group (based in the Russian Medical University) prescribed anti-aging nutritional programs to thousands of patients. The patients of the Anti-Aging Group could successfully lose weight, while more importantly defeating many chronic diseases. For Dr. A. Economo, the 1980s were the years of seeking the foundation on which the successful future of gerontology could be constructed. Completely different ideas, directions, and approaches in gerontology were tested and analyzed theoretically as well as practically. The ultimate goal was to construct an efficient, reproducible and simple method for fighting aging and age-related diseases.
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| L. Gavrilov |
As they both were students of Moscow University at the same time, they could meet often to discuss their ideas. They were regular visitors and lecturers at the seminars at the Moscow Society of Gerontology, a forum for discussion of diverse, and sometimes extreme, theories about aging and methods of life extension. Gavrilov had already been a practicing gerontologist by that time. He started his gerontological research during the first years of studying at Moscow University. He did not dabble superficially in many aspects of this science, but rather spent all his energy studying a very narrow part of gerontology – mortality statistics and demography. He analyzed different aspects of mortality and disease statistics in populations of different countries around the world. He found and confirmed a number of regularities; in particular he showed on a wide statistical basis that aging is not a linear, but an exponential process. That means that the probability of death grows geometrically and doubles every 7-8 years. This leads to a 100 percent probability of death at the age of about 120 years. Using mathematical models he proved that almost all types of animals and human beings age in the same manner from a statistical point-of-view. Age related mortality growth and mechanisms of aging seem to be the same in all living systems. Gavrilov was one of the first who successfully applied mathematic models to the theory of reliability in gerontology.
Being strongly influenced by Gavrilov’s ideas, Dr. A. Economo devoted five years of scientific study to analyzing variables of mortality. In particular, he studied mortality in different states of the USA, analyzing American life tables of different years of the 20th century. The purpose of his research was to find conclusive fundamental factors that he believed are hidden behind differences of mortality in different populations and groups of people. At first the research of exploring mortality statistics and constructing various mathematical models of mortality and aging was very interesting, but he gradually came to recognize that this approach (studying mortality statistics) leads to a dead-end because no significant differences in overall mortality in different regions and different countries were found. Finally, Dr. A. Economo made a difficult decision (after spending so much time studying mortality statistics) to break away from this direction of gerontology and return to the nutritional paradigm as the primary method of anti-aging.
Today, L. Gavrilov is living and working in the USA as a scientific consultant to the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago. He has written several books, the most famous being “Biology of Lifespan.” L. Gavrilov successfully continues to develop new theoretical approaches in gerontology, based on expanded demographical data of mortality in human populations, and has become increasingly more grounded in mathematics, statistics, demography and the theory of reliability. Demography, due to its role in politics, will always have the backing and financial support of politicians to encourage new studies. But if we can be honest to gerontology, which is not quite the “golden child”, that demography is, we will realize that there were other revolutionary discoveries (with really strong effects) made in gerontology in XX century and first decade of XXI century, which are worth studying first.
Using demography to study the aging process canl only reveal weak differences, or factors, that affect the process. Statistical differences of overall mortality between countries and different populations are not very great at all. That is why it is not correct to make fundamental conclusions and generalizations based on the “weak” differences that demography studies. On the other hand the results of demographic studies are easier to popularize among the general public and it can even be an effective instument of various manipulations on public opinion. A lot of interesting speculations can be derived based upon demographical differences.
Gavrilov’s devotion to studying the demographic aspects of aging led Dr. A. Economo to terminate his research with Gavrilov because the differences in mortality between different populations were generally weak. If we go back from manipulations and speculations to real science we have to say that gerontologists must study primarily, strong effects (differences) like differences in the life spans between different species, differences in lifespan of “knockout” (gene mutant) animals compared with controls and differences in the rate of aging depending on how many calories one intakes daily.
That is why Dr. A. Economo decided to turn his attention solely in the directions of gerontology with observed strong effects on the rate of aging and life expectancy. Therefore, in the late 1980s and in the early 1990s, he began to analyze one of the strongest anti-aging effects known at that time – calorie restriction. This calorie restriction paradigm gave rise to one of the two fundamental components of the future developed method “Anti-Aging Cyclic Nutrition” method.
The calorie restriction paradigm is not new in Gerontology.
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| Clive M. McCay |
Just over twenty years ago, similar experiments on monkeys (our closest biological kin), were started. Research began in two US centers at about the same time. The first project started in 1987, under the leadership of Dr. George S. Roth of the National Institute of Aging. Tests on rhesus monkeys (average life span is 35 years) and squirrel monkeys (life span is approximately 20 years) were carried out at the National Institute of Aging. The second project on rhesus monkeys began in 1989 by a group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Richard Weindruch, William B.Ershler, Joseph W.Kemnitz and Ellen B. Roecker). In both cases, the experimental group of monkeys' calorie consumption was decreased by 30 percent in comparison with those in the control group. The tests have been going on for twenty years, and the results of the research show that monkeys following the calorie-restricted diet are much healthier, more active and function better. All indicators show that monkeys react to the diet in the same way as rats. Bio-markers of aging (there are about one hundred such indicators), such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood-sugar levels, all look better in the reduced-calorie group. In 2009 the first data regarding mortality rates started to appear. Not surprisingly, mortality was much higher in the control group, which had unlimited access to food, compared with the other calorie-restricted animals.
Can we expect a similar life-prolonging effect in human beings?
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| Roy L. Walford |
When it finally became clear for scientists that low-calorie diets are able to make life longer, they tried to find out how certain factors, such as calorie reduction and decreasing certain components of nutrition like fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, would impact the length of life. Experiments showed that reducing only fats or proteins or carbohydrates in food content didn’t influence the maximum life span in animals. There was no life span extension if food was simply filled up with multivitamins or antioxidants
There was a correlation between the age that calorie-restrictive diets began and the degree of impact on the length of life – the earlier the diet was implemented, the greater the life-extending effect. Theoretically, if a person started the calorie-restrictive in their 20s, they could increase their lifespan by up to 50 percent. Even if they didn't start the diet until they were in their middle ages, they could still extend their life up to 15-20 extra years. Dr. Roy L. Walford’s studies had a decisive importance on Dr. A. Economo who finally chose the calorie-restriction paradigm to be the main focus of his further studies. Dr. A. Economo had intensive correspondence with Dr. Walford during that decisive time. By taking this expert gerontologist’s works into account it became possible to move forward rapidly, and ultimately create an integrated method of life-extension – "Anti-Aging Сусlic Nutrition".
During the 1970s through the 1990s Dr. Roy Walford, together with Dr. Richard Weindruch, conducted many decisive studies, which proved that caloric restriction extended lifespan more strongly and efficiently than any other known factor. It is very important to note that the quality of life in these calorie-restricted animals and humans was also greatly increased. Below you can view Dr. Walford talk about calorie restriction method.
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| А. Economo |
The fact that Budapest lies on top of natural thermal springs that burst from underneath the ground, offering great therapeutic advantages, is a unique contribution to the success of the programs conducted by the Anti-Aging Center. It aids the anti-aging therapy, improvement of health conditions and rehabilitation of the clients. Almost all patients visit these spa baths in Budapest during the course of their anti-aging nutritional program.
In the beginning of the 2000s , the “Anti-Aging Center” started issuing a popular health magazine called “Natural Elixir” (in English) or “Натуральный Эликсир” (in Russian). Different anti-aging aspects were discussed in this magazine. Finally, in connection with the fast development of the Internet, printed versions were replaced by a network of websites. Some examples of those that were started by the Anti-Aging Center are listed here:
www.Anti-Aging-Guide.com
www.Antiaging-Europe.com
www.Antiaging-Hungary.com
www.NaturalElixir.com
To learn more about the details of Dr. A. Economo’s method (“Anti-Aging Cyclic Nutrition”) please go here.
Budapest is a very beautiful and energetic city. But it so happens that conducting anti-aging programs in Hungary is not always suitable for all of our patients. So beginning in the 2000s, the Anti-Aging Center extended its geographical area of activity, and started to conduct similar anti-aging programs in Croatia as well. This gives the clients the option to choose between two amazing regions based on their individual tastes.
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The decision of the guests to prefer one or the other destination for the anti-aging program depends on their taste or bias. The clients often make decisions subjectively and spontaneously.
In Croatia. They more often choose Croatia – an amazing country with warm and crystal clear Adriatic-sea. Anti-aging programs are conducted there in the famous resort, Оpatija (that was the main resort of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and in Makarska (in Middle Dalmatia, 100 km in the south from Split).
Peculiarities of Opatija are unique – mild climate, practically without winds, there is dense vegetation because of the high humidity, making Opatija different from southern regions of Croatia. Opatija has rich cultural traditions as well – there are a lot of beautiful villas and other detached houses built already in XIX century mainly by Austrians. I must mention the friendliness and politeness of the local population, the wonderful markets and the Mediterranean cuisine which is rich in seafood.
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It is worth it to mentioning the promenade (named “Langomare”) – the narrow way with 20 km length alongside the sea above cliffs and bays – a wonderful opportunity to take a walk or jog alongside the sea. Such activity is always included our anti-aging programs.
One important factor favoring the setup of the anti-aging programs in Croatia, is the newly built motorway between Opatija and Budapest. You can travel from Budapest to Opatija within 6-7 hours by car. There are also railway connections between the two towns (not expensive at all!) This enables us to combine and diversify the program for those guests who wish to spend a week in Budapest in spa baths and a week in Opatija near the sea.
Another important part of the Program in Opatija, is visiting covered swimming pools with heated seawater in the Talassotherapia spa center. This spa center makes it possible to conduct anti-aging programs and therapeutic fasting even in the winter or spring months when it’s too cold to bathe in the sea.
Apart from Opatija there is another beautiful region on the coast of Croatia, where guests can opt to join us for the program. It is Makarska, a small and beautiful village on the sea (Makarska Riviera). In Makarska, which lies 100 km to the south of Split, the climate is warmer than in Opatija, it rarely rains, and the 2 km high mount is a gorgeous view near the small town. This is a picturesque peninsula! It is peaceful because of its distance from Budapest or Zagreb, however, strong winds and storms do occur, usually in the winter and spring.
In the first decade of the 21st century the Anti-Aging Center is planning to extend the geographical area of it’s programs. The newest destinations will include:
In Spain in the region of Marbella – in a small seaside resort Estepona
www.AntiagingFasting.com
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In Italy (100 km in the east from Nice) – a nice place – Spotorno at the seaside
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in Greece – on the island of Crete
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Today, the world unquestionably begins a new epoch – an epoch of the postmodern, an epoch of revolutionary scientific breakthroughs. This is the century of information technology and nano-technology. Time is being squeezed and accelerated at the same time. People become more and more transient, independent, atomised. Modern humans travel a lot and don’t want to live and work in one place for too long – they want to see more places and experience as much as possible. As the internet appeared and has been spreading throughout the world, people are ready and able to work online from any place of the world as long as they have a laptop in their hands.
We have taken into account this new lifestyle and it is one of the distinctive characteristics of our method – mobility and geographical flexibility. Our "Anti-Aging Суclic Nutrition" programs are not planted forever in one place. We are not a brick and mortar clinic as other retreats are. Now, our modern guests are not obliged to stick to one geographic location or stay in an expensive hospital, clinic, holiday hotel or retreat and spend all their time in one place. We do not need a clinic with a lot of personnel and expensive equipment. Another feature of our program is that we don’t take seriously sick patients confined to a bed, or to a wheel-chair, neither do we accept very old people. We encourage relatively healthy people, often middle aged or young people who want to change their unhealthy lifestyle to join, get cleaned of contaminants in their body and start a new life without diseases and untimely aging. Clients who apply our method do not spend 24 hours in a confined facitlity, but they live freely as average tourists on holiday - in hotels or apartments depending on their desires or financial abilities.
To make this program, based on the "Anti-Aging Cyclic Nutrition" method, a reality in a chosen destination, we needed only a few necessary things: to have at hand one or two highly-qualified, open-minded medical doctors with a standard, local medical university degree, a nutritionist, a trained masseur, a psychologist or assistant with an optimistic view on life, and finally a good cook who can prepare tasty anti-aging dishes made strictly to our speifications. Basic diagnostic apparatuses are also needed such as an ultrasound, EKG machine, colon hydrotherapy machine and some others.
Concerning the geographical destinations of the programs – this is up to our guests.
We are prepared to offer a variety of options. Our only requirements are that the place is beautiful, comfortable, safe and able to save patients from too much stress and complication. Our company “Anti-Aging Center” intends to expand the geographical area of its anti-aging programs. We can not be content at just one place in the fast paced XXI century. Also, it is possible to implement our method through Internet consulting, but this can be done only after fulfilling at least one program session in one of our resorts.
We are prepared to offer a variety of options. Our only requirements are that the place is beautiful, comfortable, safe and able to save patients from too much stress and complication. Our company “Anti-Aging Center” intends to expand the geographical area of its anti-aging programs. We can not be content at just one place in the fast paced XXI century. Also, it is possible to implement our method through Internet consulting, but this can be done only after fulfilling at least one program session in one of our resorts.
Epilogue:
In this part we would like to talk about some other currently fast-developing directions in modern gerontology. It’s very important not to be backward-looking, but always be aware of new discoveries, in order to be able to use the newest scientific results at any time and apply them in our practice.
At what stage of development is the modern state of gerontology today, at the turn of the second decade of the 21st century?
The human genome has been completely decoded, technology has become available to grow multi-potential cells from skin cells, so scientists can grow any bodily tissues that utimately can go to replacing an dysfunctional or aged organ or tissue.
Highly-efficient methods for early diagnosis of many types of cancers and other terminal chronic diseases have been developed.
Completely artificial organs and tissues are being elaborated and implemented, the technology of implantation of such organs is always improving.
Many new discoveries and new possibilities in gerontology and pharmacology appeared during the last decade. Although the discovery of a pill to stop aging is still far from reality, modern pharmacology now works more precisely, inventing ever-newer drugs that act much more selectively and stronger. You can read in details about all these new discoveries on the corresponding pages of our site in the Theory section.
In the last decade there has been a technological revolution in molecular biology, that gives unprecedented opportunities for analyzing the connections between different genes and aging. Genes defining individual differences in characteristics of the aging process and its rates were found. There are thousands of such genes. Fast and cheap screening of the individual genome of people became possible. Differences between those genes in different people have helped us understand at what age a person becomes gray or bald and whether he is going to have osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration or other diseases connected to aging.
Since the mid 1990s, studies have generated evidence that a single gene change can radically extend the life span of mice. First, it was shown by Andrzej Bartke of Southern Illinois University and others that adult Ames dwarf mice (which are one-third the weight of normal Ames mice) live much longer than their normal counterparts.) Then a comparable extension in life span was detected in Snell dwarf mice by Kevin Flurkey of The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine and Richard A. Miller of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The life spans of these mice were extended by 40 percent to 70 percent!
These mouse models have a single mutation-at the Prop-1 locus in Ames dwarf mice and the Pit-1 locus in Snell dwarf mice-which interferes with anterior pituitary development, which causes deficiencies in growth hormone (GH), prolactin (PRL) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). It has been found that the deficiency of PRL is probably not involved in extending the life span of these mice, that the deficiency of TSH may be involved to a small degree, but that the deficiency of GH (and insulin-like growth factor-1, which is made in response to GH) may be a primary reason these mice live so much longer. One finding suggests that mice who cannot respond to growth hormone because their GH receptor gene has been knocked out, live up to 55 percent longer than normal mice.
In the last few years a huge amount of studies with such mutations have appeared.Their number is already over 10 and has continued to rise.
It was shown that the new discoveries were comparable in strength to calorie-restriction, and thus a new "strong effect" emerged in gerontology. Does it mean that the method of fasting and calorie restriction is no longer viable and we should just wait for someone to come adjust our genes and then we will live much longer without practicing fasting and caloric restriction?
It’s too early to answer this question for sure, although the results of such gene mutation experiments are impressive. But to tell the truth, it must be said a majority of such life-extending mutations cause unhealthy conditions in experimental animals (for example, infertility, dwarfism and other defects). That means that the “quality of life”, if we can apply this term to animals, for these mutants usually decreases.
Scientific researchers in this field have just started and it’s not clear how to apply this knowledge and these methods to humans to increase the health and quality of the human life span. There are many more questions here than answers. We suppose, at least 20-30 years might pass before a real alternative to our method will appear on the horizon – a real alternative, which can compete with the “Anti-Aging Cyclic Nutrition” method in aspects such as simplicity, safety, affordability, which guarantees 40-50 percent life extension and a markedly higher quality of life.
There is another piece of interesting data recently obtained by Bartke A, Mattison JA and others. When knockout Ames dwarf mice (which live 50 percent longer then normal mice because of their mutations) are placed on a calorie-restrictive diet, their lifespan is extended another 25 percent. These mutant mice, who are also on calorie-restricted diets, live an average of 75 percent longer than control mice (that are without mutations and without calorie restriction). This means that these two “strong factors” in gerontology work to gether to create a synergistic effect. If in the future a safety method for qualitative human life extension, based on targeted gene mutations is developed, the usage of Anti-Aging Cyclic Nutrition in addition to gene mutations will strengthen its effect. Therefore, this method will not be replaced by the gene mutation method.
Certainly, gerontologists must attentively monitor all gene mutation studies and be ready to use any breakthrough discoveries in gerontological practice. Certainly, a time will come – maybe in 50-100 years - when it will be quite possible to improve human body nature, making people superhuman, and finally increase active human lifespan by many times.
But what do we all do now? Shall we continue to wait for the new discoveries without changing our current lifestyle? This is a rhetorical question. Most of us will not be alive when this happens if they don’t start using the method we already have at hand, and which really works in practice. This method is based on the studies of two famous scientists – Russian doctor Jurij Nikolaev and American scientist Roy L. Walford.
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| А. Economo, “Anti-Aging Conference”, London 2007 |
This “Anti-Aging Cyclic Nutrition” method in its final version was presented in 2007 by Dr. Arcady Economo in London in the annual “Anti-Aging Conference” in the Royal Society of Medicine of London, where he recieved wide recognition among gerontologists.
Anti-Aging Center team, Budapest, January 2010.
+44-2081444719
Diseases which may be prevented or cured by means of
therapeutic fasting and caloric restriction
(experimental and clinical evidence: click to see scientific report)
