Pill that can add 30-yr to anyone's lifespan!

According to Scottish daily Scotsman, a pill by Aberdeen University Professor John Speakman, if taken once a day, would keep a person healthier, able to work longer and would also extend age limit by up to 30 years.

Medieval alchemists had earlier tried in vain to make an elixir of life by dissolving gold in different liquids, while ancient Egyptians believed they could harness the power of the earth to create the Aqua Vitae.

But Speakman has identified a more realistic candidate - a hormone called thyroxine.

According to him, by altering the crucial biological process called metabolism, it is possible to reduce damage linked to ageing inside animal cells.

"If you increase the metabolic rate of a mouse then it increases its lifespan," he said.

This idea of metabolising fast and dying old turns traditional scientific thinking - which assumes an animal's lifespan depended on the amount of energy it burned up - on its head.

Speakman claims the normal metabolic cycle that occurs every time we breathe results in highly reactive, toxic molecules of oxygen called free radicals that damages the DNA and other essential building blocks - resulting in the ageing of body tissues.

According to him, animals with faster metabolic rates actually produce fewer harmful free radicals.

By creating drugs to replicate the effect, it would take longer for the damage caused by free radicals to occur, he said.

"Because free radicals also play a role in causing cancer and other diseases, reducing the number produced can not only increase the length of time someone lives but increase their healthy lifespan," Speakman said.