This chemical cocktail can reverse ageing, claims Harvard researchers

A Harvard study has reportedly found a cocktail of drugs that can help reverse ageing in humans. The discovery was shared on Twitter by Harvard researcher David Sinclair.

The study, which has been published in the medical journal Aging, was conducted on mice using three drugs that included growth hormone and Metformin.

"We've previously shown age reversal is possible using gene therapy to turn on embryonic genes," read the tweet by Sinclair. Now we show it's possible with chemical cocktails, a step towards affordable whole-body rejuvenation."

The chemical cocktail is made up of drugs that are already being used to treat various physical and mental disorders. The same chemical has been used to make the cocktail that can reverse cellular ageing.

"Studies on the optic nerve, brain tissue, kidney, and muscle have shown promising results, with improved vision and extended lifespan in mice and, recently, in April of this year, improved vision in monkeys,'' added Sinclair.

They have not yet tested the chemical cocktail on humans, but the trials are expected to start late next year.

Meanwhile, the experts have warned that the study is "mostly hype and preliminary" and that further research is needed to ensure that these chemicals are safe for human use.

Over the years, several studies have tried to understand the ageing process and have come up with different theories about the complex process. Earlier this year, a study claimed that the human ageing process cannot be fully reversed, but it can be slowed down. It used artificial intelligence and machine learning to study the biological process of ageing and how it works.

The researchers studied a key component of ageing called "resilience." It is said that a thermodynamic process is what drives the loss of resilience. The paper defined "true age" as a thermodynamic biological age (tBA).

It added that tBA "causes the linear and irreversible drift of physiological state variables, reduces resilience, and drives the exponential acceleration of chronic disease incidence and death risks." The statement essentially implies that tBA increases with age and lowers resilience in people.

"According to our measurements, the number of people demonstrating the loss of resilience increases in the population exponentially and doubles every eight years, exactly as fast as the mortality rate doubles," added Peter Fedichev, longevity research academic.

Similarly, one such study in 2013 was able to find a way of reversing the ageing process in mice's muscles by improving communication between cells. The study, published in the journal Cell, focused on a chemical called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD, which naturally decreases in the body as we get older.

It explained that the ageing process occurs when communication between an area of the cell known as the mitochondria, which produces energy, gradually stops communicating with the cell's nucleus. By injecting the NAD compound, the ageing process was reversed in mice, although muscle strength did not improve.

Similarly, some researchers have shown that it is possible to reverse the ageing process by reprogramming cells but have not successfully identified the mechanisms behind ageing.

In 2015, a Japanese study also claimed that the ageing process could possibly be reversed. Over the years, several studies have been able to come up with several theories about the ageing process in humans by conducting experiments on animals. But none of the studies so far have been able to reverse or stop the process in humans.

Developments in science and technology have made life easier for humans, but finding a way to stop ageing remains a far-fetched dream.