Youth is fleeting, but good health is the true elixir - Scotsman editorial comment

Dorian Gray said he would give his soul if he were always to be young.

The beautiful narcissist would no doubt be enthralled to learn, some 130 years after his creation by Oscar Wilde, that scientist have reversed ageing in human skin cells by 30 years.

Of course, it’s not just Dorian who would find the news a welcome salve given the global anti-ageing market is set to be worth around £306bn by the end of the decade.

The rapid rise in the older population is one factor behind the tremendous and ever growing sums that people are willing to spend in the hope of holding back the years.

Scientists have turned the biological clock on skin cells back 30 years - but the findings also have far reaching implications for the health of older people . PIC: Pixabay.

Fascinatingly, it is Generation X, those born between the mid-1960s and early-1980s, who are the biggest user of anti-ageing products as they see their younger days fall away in the rear view mirror.

Such a need to soothe away the signs of ageing is wholly understandable when society connects youth with desirability, usefulness and relevance.

Now, scientists believe they can rewind the ageing clock by three decades by partly restoring the function of older cells, as well as renewing their biological age.

Intriguingly, the findings potentially go far deeper than their effect on the skin. It is believed they could eventually revolutionise regenerative medicine by applying the same techniques to genes linked to age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or cataracts, it the future.

The path to a healthy disease-free life, and not one that just looks good on the outside, is surely where the true elixir lies.

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