吃了唐僧肉可以长生不老的故事向来只存在于神话中，然而科技或许能让这一神话变成现实。最近一项科学研究表明，吃一种经过特殊处理的肉类可能让你增寿十年。
科学家表示，食用一种富集了自然同位素的鸡肉或牛肉能够帮助人体抵御衰老的征兆。这个研究是由牛津大学的科学家所做的。领头人是米克海尔·什切佩诺夫（Mikhail Shchepinov）。这一成果刊载在3月27日出版的《化学与工业》（Chemistry and Industry）杂志上。
科学家表示，多次食用这种特制的肉类能够让抵御衰老的优点进一步发扬，因为这种肉类能够强化人体的DNA，让DNA能与致癌的自由基相抗衡。
这种同位素能够强化DNA的结构，弥补那些不牢固的链接，这使得DNA能够与衰老进行对抗，研究人士说。尤其是，这种同位素能够阻止氧化的自由基产生破坏作用。氧化的自由基能够破坏DNA，这也被视为是人体衰老的一个主要的原因。
科学家们称这一突破“影响深远”。目前什切佩诺夫教授已经在蠕虫身上试验了这一研究。他们发现，蠕虫的寿命延长了10%。科学家估计，如果同样的作用施加于人体上，人类的寿命将延长10年，并且没有明显的副作用。
要制造出这种肉类，只需要在给动物喂食时，在食料中加入同位素。这会使同位素在动物体内富集起来，从而形成自然的不含添加剂的鸡肉牛肉。这种同位素同样可以用于宠物食品。
什切佩诺夫说，人体DNA的分子链易受自由基的攻击，然而利用同位素来代替普通的原子后，自由基将很难撼动分子链。“由于分子链更为牢固，这能够延缓人体氧化和衰老的进程。”
但也有研究人员称这一想法“异想天开”。一位研究人类衰老的科学家表示，“我认为这种想法不可能实现。”
英文原文
Public release date: 25-Mar-2007
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Meat and two neutrons -- the key to a longer life
Long-life isotopes of a different variety
Indulging in an isotope-enhanced steak or chicken fillet every now and again could add as much as 10 years to your life. Scientists have shown for the first time that food enriched with natural isotopes builds bodily components that are more resistant to the processes of ageing. The concept has been demonstrated in worms and researchers hope that the same concept can help extend human life and reduce the risk of cancer and other diseases of ageing, reports Marina Murphy in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI.
A team led by Mikhail Shchepinov, formerly of Oxford University, fed nematode worms nutrients reinforced with natural isotopes (naturally occurring atomic variations of elements). In initial experiments, worms' life spans were extended by 10%, which, with humans expected to routinely coast close to the centenary, could add a further 10 years to human life.
Food enhanced with isotopes is thought to produce bodily constituents and DNA more resistant to detrimental processes, like free radical attack. The isotopes replace atoms in susceptible bonds making these bonds stronger. 'Because these bonds are so much more stable, it should be possible to slow down the process of oxidation and ageing,' Shchepinov says.
The isotopes could be used in animal feed so that humans could get the "age-defying" isotopes indirectly in steaks or chicken fillets, for example, rather than eating chemically enhanced products themselves. Shchepinov says an occasional top-up would be sufficient to have a beneficial effect.
Ageing experts are impressed with the isotopic approach. Aubrey de Grey, the Cambridge-based gerontologist, says it could be very relevant to the rates of several chemical and enzymatic processes relevant to ageing 'It is a highly novel idea,' he says. 'But it remains to be seen whether it can be the source of practicable therapies, but it is a prospect that certainly cannot be ruled out.'
Charles Cantor, a professor of biomechanical engineering at Boston University, said: 'Preliminary data indicates that this approach can potentially increase lifespan without adverse side effects. If this is borne out by further experiments the implications are profound.'
Isotopes could also be used in pet food or as a means to protect workers or soldiers from radiation. Deuterium, a natural isotope of heavy hydrogen, having one proton and on neutron, whereas normal hydrogen has one proton and zero neutrons, could be used routinely.
Previous successes in extending lifespan have involved withdrawing food to the point of near starvation, a process called caloric restriction.
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