Bacteria Causing Aging Found? Scientists Believe Aging Should Be Classified as a Disease

The matter of aging has been an age-old problem, pun not intended. Scientists and medical practitioners have been struggling for centuries how to interpret and understand problems related to health and mortality. 

However, a lot of scientists are starting to reconsider their stance on aging as a naturally occurring phenomenon. British biologist Aubrey de Grey first proposed the idea that aging may be a disease and was met with criticism, and a lot of scientists are now starting to support his idea.

According to Futurism, it's important to consider that the matter of pathologizing aging in itself has already been gaining attention through the years. According to Reuters, some consider aging as just "damage" that the body has sustained throughout life. Meaning at some point, this can be stopped.

De Grey's hypothesis is that aging is the result of the accumulation of "garbage" material that cells cannot break down. De Grey and his team opted to look into the phase after "death" for a solution to sustain life and youth, which is decomposition.

Decomposition is the process where bacteria break everything in the human body, including things we cannot break down on our own.

In 2012, they identified that there really are bacteria that releases enzymes that can effectively and completely break down 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC), a substance responsible for cardiovascular disease. By modifying the genes of these bacteria, they successfully protected the body from the substance.

This means scientists may finally be one step closer to finally stopping cardiovascular disease on its roots. A lot of scientists are now beginning to share this view that will eventually lead to an amazing paradigm shift.

Futurism added that there's an ongoing clinical trial where blood plasma from young people are successful in improving the physical performance and cognitive functions of Alzheimer's patients.

Meanwhile, Mutaz Musa at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine said that the matter of pathologizing aging is largely "semantic," and he also agreed in his opinion piece in the Scientist that it should be treated as a disease.