In popular culture, Count Dracula is a character who drinks blood from young maidens to retain his youthfulness. Now, a new study conducted by a leading geneticist at University College London has suggested that the transfusion of young blood on old age people will allow them to stay healthy without any diseases.
Youngblood transfusion to retain youthfulness?
Dame Linda Partridge, the geneticist who conducted the study argues that young blood will allow people to live more without getting affected by diseases like cancer, dementia and other cardiac diseases. The study report which is now published in Journal Nature also talks about the vitality of conducting similar experiments as it is one of the promising ventures in medical science.
In the initial phases of the research, Dame Linda Patridge conducted experiments on mice. After being transfused with young blood, old mice did not develop any age-related illness, and they also showed improvement in their cognitive abilities. It should be also noted that the health of younger mice started deteriorating when they were given blood of older animals.
Dame Linda Patridge believes that more blood analysis should be done to identify those molecules that elevate the physical health.
"Identification of these is a high priority for research. The practical accessibility of both the human microbiome and blood system makes therapeutic manipulation a particularly attractive approach, but research in animals is needed to establish the long-term consequences and possible side effects," said Linda Patridge, Inquistr reports.
After tests in mice, Linda Patridge and team started a limited human trial which involved 70 participants. All these 70 participants paid $8,000 from their pocket to be a part of this study. These participants were given plasma, the main component of the blood from people aged between 16 to 25. Surprisingly, most of the participants showed considerable improvements in their physical health.
The effects noted include a ten percent reduction in blood cholesterol levels. It should be noted that high blood cholesterol level is often considered one of the prime reasons which elevate the risk of cardiovascular disorders.
Transfusion of younger blood also helped to reduce amyloid protein levels. An increased amount of amyloid protein levels will form toxic clumps in the brain among people who suffer from dementia.
The unusual case of Kim Il-sung
Just like Count Dracula, Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of reigning North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un too believed in young blood transfusions. As per reports, Kim Il-sung used to receive blood transfusions from younger people in an attempt to live until the age of 100.
Despite continuous efforts to retain youthfulness, Kim Il-sung died in 1994 at the age of 82. Supporters of Kim Il-sung believe that their leader lost his life just because his personal doctor defected to South Korea in 1992.
