The passage below is from a WSJ summary of an article that appeared in the December 2007 issue of Discover:
(p. B12) Scientists are increasingly hopeful that controlling inflammation will allow them to turn back the clock on aging, writes Kathleen McGowan in Discover magazine.
Inflammation is already a well-established predictor of many chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. . . .
. . .
Many prominent gerontologists reason that if these chronic diseases are the product of an overactive immune system, then they can be countered with the right anti-inflammatory drug. . . .
“The research is really to prevent the chronic debilitating diseases of aging,” says Nir Barzilai, a molecular geneticist and director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. “But if I develop a drug, it will have a side effect, which is that you will live longer.”
For the full summary, see:
“The Informed Reader; Health; How Scientists Hope to Shrink Aging Effects.” Wall Street Journal (Weds., Nov. 14, 2007): B12.
(Note: ellipses added.)