From: Doug Skrecky (oberon@vcn.bc.ca)
Date: Wed Aug 05 1998 - 10:05:40 MDT
This is the 23'rd update on my fly longevity experiments. The high summer
temperatures of 30 to 35 C have accelerated fly aging, so that this
experiment was concluded in a month, as opposed to a typical duration of
around two months during the winter months.
In this run I was primarily interested in seeing the results with
methyl-sulfonyl-methane. Although this supplement proved to be a bust, both
low and high dose marjoram and royal jelly appear to enhance average life
span somewhat. Neither of these lenghtened maximum life span, so no
antiaging effect could be claimed.
The high temperatures encouraged pathogen growth in one of my breeding
bottles, which had to be destroyed. The other breeding bottles also had
fewer flies than I had hoped for, so the eleventh run is rather small. I
am creating more breeding bottles so as to insure a larger twelveth run.
Many of the supplements I have tested in the past were spices. This had a
disadvantage, in that the amounts of these materials fed the flies were
much larger than the amounts (relatively speaking) that humans typically
consume. I am now mostly switching over to foods that humans typically
consume much larger quantities of. Thus if a food exerts an antiaging
effect in flies, it would be at least possible for humans to consume
similar quantities.
The eleventh run focuses exclusively on fruit juices. The most
interesting juice IMHO is cranberry juice, which is known to exert a
protective effect on urinary infections. If this exerts a protective effect
against pathogens for flies it might increase their average life
expectancy.
Other juices have other interesting properties. Orange juice exerts a
significant anticancer effect in rodents. Grapefruit juice increases the
absorption of many drugs, but also increases the risk of kidney
stones. Pineapple juice is very effective in inhibiting the browning of
apple rings. (J Food Sci 58(2): 399-404 1993) Whether any of these juices
can increase fly life span is open to conjecture. There exists only one way
to answer this question - do an experiment!
Tenth Run Number Percentage Survival on Day
Supplement of flies 4 8 12 16 20 23 30 36
_____________________________________________________
Cntl 1 28 82% 71% 39% 29% 11% 11% 0% -
Cntl 2 35 83 69 40 17 11 9 3 0
Allspice 47 81 72 45 32 15 9 0 -
Allspice 4X 19 74 37 37 21 5 5 0 -
Ephedrine 19 74 63 53 11 5 0 - -
Ephedrine 4X 9 56 22 22 22 11 11 0 -
Henna 14 64 29 21 0 - - - -
Henna 4X 14 79 29 21 14 0 - - -
Licorice Root 17 65 53 35 6 0 - - -
Licorice Root 4X 14 43 29 21 7 7 7 0 -
Mahlab 15 93 87 73 47 27 13 0 -
Mahlab 4X 13 92 62 46 23 8 8 0 -
Mango 15 100 73 67 27 0 - - -
Mango 4X 13 85 85 77 38 23 15 0 -
Marjoram 23 91 87 74 39 17 9 0 -
Marjoram 4X 11 82 82 64 64 36 36 0 -
MSM* 13 92 69 46 31 8 8 0 -
MSM 4X 10 90 80 60 10 0 - - -
MSM 16X 16 94 75 31 19 6 6 0 -
Royal Jelly 19 95 89 63 37 16 16 5 0
Royal Jelly 4X 9 100 100 78 44 33 33 0 -
*Methyl-sulfonyl-methane
Run 11
Cntl 1
Cntl 2
Apple: Sun-Rype Apple Juice
Blackcurrent: Barker's Blackcurrent Juice
Cranberry: President's Choice Cranberry Cocktail
Grape: McCain's Grape Punch
Grapefruit, red: Sun-Rype Rio Red Grapefruit Cocktail
Grapefruit, white: Sun-Rype Grapefruit Juice
Orange: Sun-Rype Orange Juice
Pineapple: Dole Pineapple Juice
Tomato: Heinz Tomato Juice diluted with 50% water
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