Richard Geller wrote:

> This seems to contradict Faigin's thesis quite completely.
>
> And as I said, how does catabolic metabolism connect with symptoms of
> aging that may be outwardly similar?

 Perhaps cortisol is one link.  Cortisol is a stress hormone that is
powerfully catabolic.  It is one of the "fight or flight" hormones, and
it is also one of the hormones that the body uses to signal the release
of stored glycogen and to increase the rate of gluconeogenesis.  These
two effects are related, since glucose is the fuel of choice for sudden
explosive activity, such as fighting or fleeing.

If we eat no carbs at all, then blood glucose is always being depleted
and must be replenished via glycogen stores and gluconeogenesis, and so
cortisol would continuously be involved in keeping these processes
going.  This is my one reservation about long-term ketosis.  It seems
that it would entail continuously elevated cortisol levels.  But this is
all theoretical; I've seen no studies on it.

Anyway, other research, such as Hans Selye's research on stress, suggest
that at least some of the symptoms of "aging" are the effects of
accumulated stress or, more precisely, the accumulated effects of
chronically elevated stress hormones.  But the elevation in this case
would be caused not by carb depletion but by the annoyances of living.

Highly speculative, I know.  Often we have ways of adapting that are not
considered by these little theories.

Todd Moody
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