We all age and become prey to wear-and-tear and maladies. But what if age was considered a disease itself rather than the cause of our woes? What if something could be done at the molecular level to head off the inevitable and give everyone a longer, healthier life? In this technical but promising book, Barzilai, founding director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, scrutinizes the lives of centenarians to find the key factors behind their healthy longevity. He chooses a group of Ashkenazi Jews as subjects because of their common genetic backgrounds and their proximity to the college. While all remain spry, not everyone exercises, eats the same foods, or refrains from smoking and drinking. Barzilai's studies involved genes that keep aging in check, and the testing of drugs that could make similar alterations to human DNA. This is not a casual read. Barzilai goes into great detail while recounting clinical tests and the development of new drugs. But readers who enjoy learning the science behind medical theories will be fascinated.

Why do some people live past 100 in good health, while others succumb to disease at much younger ages? Barzilai (Inst. for Aging Research, Albert Einstein Coll. of Medicine) explains the latest research into these questions. He studies centenarians to uncover how they differ from the rest of us genetically, biochemically, and physically. One surprising finding: the dietary and exercise habits of healthy people over age 100 do not differ significantly from those of the general population. Some theories of aging--decreasing levels of sex hormones, shortened chromosomal telomeres, calorie restriction as protection from aging--have proved to be less predictive than thought. Barzilai discusses the importance of high levels of "good" HDL cholesterol and the genetic variants that produce them, the research into growth hormone factor, and the difficulty of developing drugs that can replicate these actions. The author is concerned with extending people's well-being into their later decades and concludes with a series of recommendations based on current research, advising readers to be patient: anti-aging drugs will become available someday. VERDICT A thoughtful take on aging that should be of interest to all concerned with the overlap between health and aging.--Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL