Metabolism and Antiaging Medicine: Anti-glycation and Antiaging

Currently, there are 36.4 million elderly people aged 65 and over in our country, accounting for an estimated 29.1% of the total population. The proportion of the elderly population is unparalleled worldwide, especially with over 20.57 million women aged 65 and over, it is reported that one in four Japanese women is over 70 years old. Furthermore, due to the spread of sedentary lifestyles and Western eating habits, the number of patients with metabolic diseases such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes is also increasing. In fact, according to the “National Health and Nutrition Survey” in the first year of Reiwa, the proportion of “people strongly suspected of having diabetes” is 19.7% for adult men and 10.8% for adult women, and if limited to those over 70 years old, the proportion is 26.4% for men and 19.6% for women. On the other hand, our country is also a representative longevity country in the world, with an average life expectancy of 81.6 years for men and 87.7 years for women, and for women, it feels like we have entered the era of living to 90 years old. However, there is a 9 to 12-year gap between the so-called healthy life expectancy, the period in which one can live independently without relying on continuous medical care or nursing care, and the average life expectancy. And diabetes is a major obstacle to extending healthy life expectancy. In fact, in diabetes, various levels of blood vessels are damaged, and the risks of dialysis, blindness, myocardial infarction, heart failure, cerebrovascular disorders, and lower limb amputation increase, significantly impairing “healthy life expectancy”. In addition, it has been clarified that in diabetes, the aging process progresses, and the risk of developing various geriatric diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and osteoarthritis also increases [1–5].