1 00:00:00,885 --> 00:00:09,880 This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. 2 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:19,874 The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones to the mysteries we will examine. 3 00:00:19,874 --> 00:00:32,866 They say that somewhere there is a fountain whose waters can make one young again. 4 00:00:32,866 --> 00:00:41,861 Ponsadaleon landed in Florida in 1513, seeking the legendary fountain of youth. 5 00:00:41,861 --> 00:00:47,858 Centuries later, the search continues. 6 00:00:47,858 --> 00:00:56,852 Modern science is replacing legend in the quest to turn back the clock and regain lost youth. 7 00:00:56,852 --> 00:01:05,847 For some, the fountain of youth is a reality. 8 00:01:05,847 --> 00:01:08,845 And it has changed their lives. 9 00:01:18,839 --> 00:01:28,834 Old age, life's inevitable condition. 10 00:01:28,834 --> 00:01:34,830 Man's refusal to accept his own mortality has driven him to seek eternal life. 11 00:01:34,830 --> 00:01:43,825 A quest to learn the secrets of the process we call aging in the hope that somehow we can stop or reverse it and stay forever young. 12 00:01:43,825 --> 00:01:46,823 But do we know what aging really is? 13 00:01:46,823 --> 00:01:59,816 Aging represents a group of processes and the most significant kind of change that probably takes place is that change within the nervous system, 14 00:01:59,816 --> 00:02:11,809 followed very closely by the changes in the glands of the body, secreting the very important hormones that sends messages everywhere in the body. 15 00:02:11,809 --> 00:02:16,806 And probably the third system that would be very important would be the immune system. 16 00:02:16,806 --> 00:02:23,802 Dr. Ruth Weg is both a gerontologist and biologist at the Andrus Gerontology Center at USC. 17 00:02:23,802 --> 00:02:26,800 For specialty, the body's aging process. 18 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:36,794 It is possibly misleading to try to choose any one system or any one process and say this is aging. It's all aging. 19 00:02:36,794 --> 00:02:49,786 I am convinced that we will be able to delay, retard and effectively eliminate aging, maybe 100 and 150 years from now. 20 00:02:53,784 --> 00:02:58,781 There are as many ways to stay young as there are ideas and people in the world. 21 00:03:00,780 --> 00:03:04,778 In the mountains of Mexico is a place called Rancho La Puerta. 22 00:03:07,776 --> 00:03:22,767 Eating well, exercising and having a relaxing vacation amidst natural beauty is very pleasant. But can it make you younger? 23 00:03:22,767 --> 00:03:30,762 Certainly with all the young people doing active things, I try to participate along with them and keep up with them. 24 00:03:30,762 --> 00:03:35,759 It makes me feel like I'm younger and I act younger, feel younger. 25 00:03:35,759 --> 00:03:43,755 I come to be kind of rejuvenated and get myself into an exercise routine that I slip up on after I'm not here for a while. 26 00:03:43,755 --> 00:03:53,749 I can come down here exhausted and in two or three days I'm doing four and five hours of very vigorous exercises and I don't even feel tired. 27 00:03:53,749 --> 00:04:00,745 I feel exhilarated. I feel this place is good for the soul as well as good for the body. 28 00:04:01,744 --> 00:04:08,740 The beautiful setting, the relaxed atmosphere and the chance for people to forget their troubles and relax in the sun. 29 00:04:08,740 --> 00:04:14,737 That's as close to the fountain of youth as you can find and then the only thing to do is enjoy it. 30 00:04:14,737 --> 00:04:29,728 A 70-year-old woman feels she looks old and finds she can turn back the clock through the miracle of plastic surgery. 31 00:04:36,724 --> 00:04:41,721 Like that woman, Helen Demetrio wanted to look and feel younger. 32 00:04:45,719 --> 00:04:53,714 Helen found what she was after by having cosmetic surgery or what is commonly known as a facelift. 33 00:04:53,714 --> 00:05:00,710 As far as people knowing and those that have not seen me for a little while say, oh Helen, you've lost weight. 34 00:05:00,710 --> 00:05:04,708 You look so pretty and they carry on like that. 35 00:05:04,708 --> 00:05:13,702 I like people, I love my work and if I'm going to continue as I have been, I might as well make the best of what I can do and what I have. 36 00:05:13,702 --> 00:05:17,700 And this is one of the reasons I decided to go ahead and have it done. 37 00:05:17,700 --> 00:05:29,693 When I had thought about doing this, it was just a matter of, I didn't want to look like I was 18 years old, which we know it cannot be done. 38 00:05:29,693 --> 00:05:30,692 Morning ladies. 39 00:05:30,692 --> 00:05:31,692 Hi. 40 00:05:31,692 --> 00:05:32,691 Is she over here yet? 41 00:05:32,691 --> 00:05:38,688 Dr. Stanley Freilich is the plastic and reconstructive surgeon who performed Helen's surgery. 42 00:05:38,688 --> 00:05:49,681 Patients come to this office and to the office of any plastic surgeon seeking to realign as it were that feeling of youth with what they see in the mirror. 43 00:05:49,681 --> 00:05:52,680 And this was what we call a crisis of body image. 44 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:57,677 She felt considerably more youthful than her physical appearance would indicate. 45 00:05:58,676 --> 00:06:10,669 She came to me originally because she had some problem with her neckline and the jowl area around here, her lower eyelids and her upper eyelids. 46 00:06:10,669 --> 00:06:17,665 And basically it was making Helen feel a little bit out of proportion with the age that she really felt. 47 00:06:18,664 --> 00:06:26,660 The results of my surgery has been, to me, very successful and I'm very, very happy about it. 48 00:06:26,660 --> 00:06:30,657 And inwardly I feel very, very good about it. 49 00:06:30,657 --> 00:06:33,656 It's given me a lot to go on. 50 00:06:35,654 --> 00:06:41,651 What you're about to see is an actual operation containing explicit surgical footage. 51 00:06:42,650 --> 00:06:51,645 The actual process involved in a facelift is demonstrated here for us by Dr. Lawrence Seifert. 52 00:06:51,645 --> 00:06:57,642 It is most important to find a qualified plastic and reconstructive surgeon. 53 00:06:57,642 --> 00:07:02,639 Ask your family doctor and ask to see the surgeon's credentials. 54 00:07:03,638 --> 00:07:10,634 After carefully marking the areas involved, the surgeon releases the facial skin from its underpinnings to the face. 55 00:07:14,632 --> 00:07:21,628 Neck muscles are rearranged, facial fat removed, and the skin pulled back to appear more smooth. 56 00:07:23,626 --> 00:07:30,622 Though it looks painful, the operation will leave no visible scars and the patient will be home that same day. 57 00:07:32,621 --> 00:07:39,617 This 70-year-old woman provides graphic evidence of what can be accomplished in only 18 days. 58 00:07:39,617 --> 00:07:59,605 Music 59 00:07:59,605 --> 00:08:03,603 For her, the fountain of youth is a reality. 60 00:08:04,602 --> 00:08:12,598 On a playground in Los Angeles, a group of senior citizens play like teenagers. 61 00:08:12,598 --> 00:08:17,595 At 73, Warren Blaney thinks he's young. 62 00:08:17,595 --> 00:08:22,592 Usually when a person takes a look at me and they think, my goodness sakes, 63 00:08:22,592 --> 00:08:28,588 I guess that fellas about ready for, well, most any place but living and action. 64 00:08:28,588 --> 00:08:35,584 And I just feel well, that certainly is the attitude of the individual, not the appearance of a person. 65 00:08:35,584 --> 00:08:40,581 Because time has nothing to do with it as long as you keep yourself active and busy. 66 00:08:42,580 --> 00:08:48,577 Keeping active and busy are easy for Warren. His typical schedule would wear out a 30-year-old. 67 00:08:49,576 --> 00:08:57,572 As founder of the senior Olympics, he's used to putting in full days, running the office, and recruiting old friends. 68 00:08:59,570 --> 00:09:03,568 Hi, Warren. Hi, Bert. Come on in. 69 00:09:03,568 --> 00:09:08,565 We want people that are active and willing and ready to do things. Because action is the key word. 70 00:09:08,565 --> 00:09:10,564 And are you still working out? 71 00:09:10,564 --> 00:09:16,560 Oh, I work out all the time. I run a 50-yard, 75-yard wind sprints, work out with the weights. 72 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:19,559 Bert Goodrich was the original Mr. America. 73 00:09:20,558 --> 00:09:29,553 Over the years, he has managed to remain incredibly youthful, whether 62 or 72 years young, as seen here. 74 00:09:31,552 --> 00:09:35,549 Have these two men discovered still another way to turn back the clock? 75 00:09:35,549 --> 00:09:41,546 What is their special secret? Have they somehow found the fountain of youth? 76 00:09:42,545 --> 00:09:44,544 Hey, gang! Warren Blaney! 77 00:09:45,543 --> 00:09:49,541 Take one of these and you might like to see the senior Olympics. 78 00:09:49,541 --> 00:09:53,539 I don't know the secret myself. I just drink a lot of milk and eat a lot of graham tracts. 79 00:09:53,539 --> 00:09:56,537 And boy, they agree. And ice cream. 80 00:09:57,536 --> 00:10:06,531 Whatever his formula is, Warren keeps going at an incredible pace, meeting new people and promoting his passion, the senior Olympics. 81 00:10:06,531 --> 00:10:08,530 Thanks a lot, fellas. 82 00:10:15,526 --> 00:10:21,522 Finding the fountain of youth is within everybody because it's only in their mind and in their heart. 83 00:10:21,522 --> 00:10:28,518 Yes, I really believe that I found living youthfully is the best way or the fountain of life. 84 00:10:29,518 --> 00:10:31,517 Thank you. 85 00:10:31,517 --> 00:10:35,514 Warren, thank you. Yeah, boy! Yeah, boy! 86 00:10:38,513 --> 00:10:46,508 For some, staying young is a matter of attitude, but the real fountain of youth may lie in a simple pill. 87 00:10:48,507 --> 00:10:51,505 What you are seeing has been called the fountain of youth drug. 88 00:10:52,504 --> 00:10:56,502 I feel a young man. Without Jerovatal, I would never have done it. 89 00:10:58,501 --> 00:11:03,498 I had a work treadmill, a cardiograph that measures the ability of your heart to perform work. 90 00:11:03,498 --> 00:11:08,495 After taking the drug, I had almost 100%, over 100% improvement by the end of a year. 91 00:11:08,495 --> 00:11:11,493 And I decided that this was a worthwhile drug. 92 00:11:12,493 --> 00:11:17,490 Jerovatal. But in much of the world, it is simply known as GH3. 93 00:11:19,489 --> 00:11:27,484 Formulated by Dr. Anna Aslan in Romania over 30 years ago, people around the world have claimed it effective against senility, 94 00:11:27,484 --> 00:11:29,483 high blood pressure, 95 00:11:29,483 --> 00:11:31,482 AIDS spots, 96 00:11:31,482 --> 00:11:33,480 varicose veins, 97 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:35,479 gray hair, 98 00:11:35,479 --> 00:11:37,478 and many of the other effects of aging. 99 00:11:39,477 --> 00:11:43,475 There are people who use it every day and swear it works. 100 00:11:44,474 --> 00:11:48,472 A doctor here suggested to me that I should take Jerovatal. 101 00:11:48,472 --> 00:11:52,469 And after I took Jerovatal, my whole body was in pain. 102 00:11:52,469 --> 00:11:55,468 I could think better, much more alert. 103 00:11:55,468 --> 00:12:02,464 I used to have real gray hair, the fuse I have left, but they disappeared. 104 00:12:02,464 --> 00:12:07,461 I had arthritis in my knees very badly, that all disappeared completely. 105 00:12:07,461 --> 00:12:13,457 And I used not to be able to mow my own lawn, that's how I was out of breath, had asthma, all those things. 106 00:12:13,457 --> 00:12:15,456 I haven't got any more. 107 00:12:15,456 --> 00:12:17,455 I'm completely a new man. 108 00:12:17,455 --> 00:12:22,452 Good evening. Welcome to Primetime Tours and the Jerovatal Information Center. 109 00:12:22,452 --> 00:12:25,450 So far, it is legal only in Nevada. 110 00:12:25,450 --> 00:12:30,447 Primetime Tours helps people get to Las Vegas and Jerovatal. 111 00:12:30,447 --> 00:12:33,445 But what is Jerovatal? 112 00:12:33,445 --> 00:12:39,442 Curiously, it is mainly made of pro cane, the main element in the Jerovatal. 113 00:12:39,442 --> 00:12:44,439 Is it possible that something as common as novocaine can reverse the aging process? 114 00:12:44,439 --> 00:12:46,438 What's the reason you want to take Jerovatal? 115 00:12:46,438 --> 00:12:53,434 Well, I've had some arthritic condition for the past three years and I've heard that it's supposed to do wonders for that. 116 00:12:53,434 --> 00:12:56,432 Dr. Charles Venetti believes it is possible. 117 00:12:56,432 --> 00:13:01,429 Now, Mr. Sheldon, I'm going to check your blood pressure and check your blood pressure. 118 00:13:01,429 --> 00:13:04,427 And then we'll talk some more about Jerovatal. 119 00:13:04,427 --> 00:13:08,425 Most of the elements that people have that they seek Jerovatal for are age-related. 120 00:13:08,425 --> 00:13:14,421 Jerovatal, as far as being an anti-aging drug, I definitely think it is. 121 00:13:14,421 --> 00:13:18,419 We have had people who have had their hair turned dark again. 122 00:13:18,419 --> 00:13:21,417 We've had people who say the wrinkles have left. 123 00:13:21,417 --> 00:13:24,416 The question is, what's the difference between the two? 124 00:13:24,416 --> 00:13:30,412 People who have had their hair turned dark again, we've had people who say the wrinkles have left. 125 00:13:30,412 --> 00:13:34,410 The question is, is it because they feel better and they look younger? 126 00:13:34,410 --> 00:13:36,409 Or is it actually retarding aging? 127 00:13:36,409 --> 00:13:39,407 Now, at the cellular level, I think it retards aging. 128 00:13:39,407 --> 00:13:42,405 Above that, I won't say. 129 00:13:42,405 --> 00:13:45,403 But not everyone agrees. 130 00:13:45,403 --> 00:13:50,400 The agency responsible for the testing of new drugs in the United States, 131 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:54,398 the Food and Drug Administration, is not convinced. 132 00:13:54,398 --> 00:14:00,395 The drug has been tested, undergone clinical testing, some years ago. 133 00:14:00,395 --> 00:14:12,388 None of these tests revealed that it had any, in any way, could do the things that are claimed by the sponsor. 134 00:14:12,388 --> 00:14:21,382 And therefore, the drug for our agency is an unapproved new drug, which is misbranded. 135 00:14:21,382 --> 00:14:29,378 If it should occur that after testing that the drug is an effective drug to make people stay younger, 136 00:14:29,378 --> 00:14:31,377 this would be a marvelous thing for us in our society. 137 00:14:31,377 --> 00:14:36,374 We would all look looking for this, but as now, there is no evidence. 138 00:14:37,373 --> 00:14:44,369 Given the FDA's position for this moment in time, Gerobital is not an acceptable answer. 139 00:14:44,369 --> 00:14:46,368 But are there others? 140 00:14:46,368 --> 00:14:51,365 I've become a woman of 30 or 35 again, as far as the way I feel and think. 141 00:14:51,365 --> 00:14:54,363 I have clear skin. My skin is smooth. 142 00:14:54,363 --> 00:14:57,361 My hair is normal, not dry or brittle. 143 00:14:57,361 --> 00:15:01,359 I wake up in the morning full of energy. I walk three miles a day. 144 00:15:01,359 --> 00:15:05,357 I couldn't walk any further than a brisk walk to the bathroom before I came here. 145 00:15:05,357 --> 00:15:10,354 For the people at the Pritikin Longevity Center in Santa Monica, California, 146 00:15:10,354 --> 00:15:17,350 a diet and exercise program that includes up to eight meals a day is having dramatic results. 147 00:15:17,350 --> 00:15:24,346 These people are reversing the effects of two age-related killers, diabetes and heart disease. 148 00:15:24,346 --> 00:15:28,343 Fatigue disappears within two or three weeks when you change your diet, 149 00:15:28,343 --> 00:15:31,342 and people feel better than they have in 20 years, people tell me. 150 00:15:32,341 --> 00:15:39,337 Author and nutritionist Nathan Pritikin believes the fountain of youth is simply a matter of diet and exercise. 151 00:15:39,337 --> 00:15:42,335 The American diet is a disaster for good health. 152 00:15:42,335 --> 00:15:49,331 It's a smorgasbord of death in this country by the gourmet foods that we eat. 153 00:15:49,331 --> 00:15:53,329 We've got to get back to the simple foods that don't damage our bodies. 154 00:15:53,329 --> 00:15:58,326 Those are the simple whole grains, fruits and vegetables, beans and peas, potatoes, 155 00:15:58,326 --> 00:16:02,323 and you've got to cut your animal protein to a pound or a pound and a half a week. 156 00:16:02,323 --> 00:16:05,322 You do that and you've got the fountain of youth. 157 00:16:05,322 --> 00:16:10,319 There is no remedy for aging and degenerative diseases. 158 00:16:10,319 --> 00:16:15,316 Heart disease, breast cancer and so on are inevitable unless you change your diet and exercise program. 159 00:16:15,316 --> 00:16:19,313 None of them need happen. They're all preventable. 160 00:16:20,313 --> 00:16:25,310 Is it really possible that just through eating the right food and exercising, 161 00:16:25,310 --> 00:16:29,308 we can live longer and put off the illnesses of old age? 162 00:16:32,306 --> 00:16:38,302 Richard Rockert was only 44 when he had to have emergency triple bypass surgery. 163 00:16:38,302 --> 00:16:44,299 As he describes it, he couldn't even carry his own bags into the Pritikin Center. 164 00:16:44,299 --> 00:16:50,295 Richard was headed for more surgery and felt so low that he was ready to take his own life. 165 00:16:50,295 --> 00:16:52,294 Then he heard about the Center. 166 00:16:53,294 --> 00:16:57,291 One short year later, things are very different for Richard Rockert. 167 00:16:57,291 --> 00:17:00,290 Mr. Pritikin convinced me that he could do something for me. 168 00:17:00,290 --> 00:17:02,288 I was admitted the following week. 169 00:17:02,288 --> 00:17:05,287 I'm jogging an hour a day each morning. 170 00:17:05,287 --> 00:17:08,285 I have stuck rigidly to the diet. 171 00:17:08,285 --> 00:17:12,283 I've lost a total of 33 pounds since entering the Center. 172 00:17:12,283 --> 00:17:14,281 I just feel like a new man. 173 00:17:14,281 --> 00:17:19,278 I don't know if it's a fountain of youth, but if it isn't, it's the closest thing I'm sure that I'll ever find. 174 00:17:19,278 --> 00:17:21,277 Simply amazing. 175 00:17:22,277 --> 00:17:28,273 You eat this diet and you will be young forever, hardly. 176 00:17:28,273 --> 00:17:34,270 You eat this diet and we can reverse your atherosclerosis. 177 00:17:34,270 --> 00:17:37,268 You eat this diet and there will be no hypertension. 178 00:17:37,268 --> 00:17:41,266 Biologist Ruth Weg of USC's Gerontology Center, 179 00:17:41,266 --> 00:17:47,262 an author of the classic textbook, Nutrition and the Later Years, wants more proof. 180 00:17:47,262 --> 00:17:52,259 We do know that food does make a difference, an enormous difference. 181 00:17:52,259 --> 00:18:04,252 We do know that exercise can make an enormous difference in health, in vigor, in freedom from some diseases. 182 00:18:04,252 --> 00:18:13,247 But there is no indication in any of the work that Mr. Pritikin's program has been able to demonstrate 183 00:18:14,246 --> 00:18:23,241 that it is only his diet or the exercise pattern he has recommended. 184 00:18:23,241 --> 00:18:27,239 We need the kind of controlled studies that he has not yet done. 185 00:18:27,239 --> 00:18:34,235 That does not mean that I am ignoring the people he has obviously helped. 186 00:18:34,235 --> 00:18:42,230 What I am asking for is some way to be able to count on the evidence that is now descriptive. 187 00:18:42,230 --> 00:18:49,226 Scientific control is part of a remarkable experiment at UCLA's School of Pathology. 188 00:18:49,226 --> 00:18:57,221 Researchers are working with mice in the hope that they will find a way to extend the human lifespan. 189 00:18:57,221 --> 00:19:01,219 By carefully controlling the caloric intake of the animals, 190 00:19:01,219 --> 00:19:08,215 these scientists are getting ever closer to finding the key that unlocks the mystery of aging. 191 00:19:08,215 --> 00:19:12,212 Project Coordinator, Dr. Richard Weindrug 192 00:19:12,212 --> 00:19:16,210 This is the room where we keep our dietarily restricted mice. 193 00:19:16,210 --> 00:19:21,207 As we mentioned earlier, there are two types of food restriction that we study. 194 00:19:21,207 --> 00:19:28,203 That initiated very early in life and that initiated at in mid adulthood or even later in old age. 195 00:19:28,203 --> 00:19:35,199 Food restriction is the sole way of increasing maximum lifespan in warm-blooded animals. 196 00:19:35,199 --> 00:19:46,193 It is an important tool for which to study slowed aging and therefore may give us hints into the aging process and the mechanisms causing us to age. 197 00:19:46,193 --> 00:19:54,188 The diets that we feed these animals that are food restricted are specifically enriched in proteins, salts and vitamins. 198 00:19:54,188 --> 00:19:59,185 I am now grabbing a food restricted animal which is two years old. 199 00:19:59,185 --> 00:20:09,179 If he does not run up my arm, we can compare him or her to a controlled animal. 200 00:20:09,179 --> 00:20:13,177 You can get some idea of the size difference between these. 201 00:20:13,177 --> 00:20:21,172 These are both two year old animals and based on the results of our experiments and a large number of experiments carried out in other labs, 202 00:20:21,172 --> 00:20:29,168 this normally fed animal which I am holding on to will probably live to be about two and a half or three years old. 203 00:20:29,168 --> 00:20:36,163 Whereas this will probably live to be three to three and a half years old and sometimes four years old. 204 00:20:36,163 --> 00:20:48,156 As we are seeing benefits in survival, we are seeing inhibition in late life disease and we are seeing beneficial effects on many aspects of immune system aging. 205 00:20:48,156 --> 00:20:52,154 This work has significance I think for three reasons. 206 00:20:52,154 --> 00:20:57,151 One, it will allow us to better understand the biology of aging. 207 00:20:57,151 --> 00:21:02,148 Two, it may allow for the later years of people to be better years. 208 00:21:02,148 --> 00:21:08,145 And thirdly, it may eventually allow for actual prolongation of the lifespan. 209 00:21:08,145 --> 00:21:16,140 In laboratories such as this, science is closing in on the secrets within every living thing. 210 00:21:16,140 --> 00:21:25,135 Perhaps someday very soon, the experience called aging will be no more. 211 00:21:25,135 --> 00:21:32,131 When we can reach into a cell and stop the hands of time, we will have the fountain of youth. 212 00:21:32,131 --> 00:21:40,126 Age will be calculated by attitude and spirit then, just as it should be for each of us today. 213 00:21:41,126 --> 00:21:48,121 Up next in the Black Sheep Squadron, Pappy Boynton's got some R&R and it may turn out to be permanent if a colonel gets his way. 214 00:21:48,121 --> 00:21:52,119 Then you couldn't be doing what you're doing right now without it. 215 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:57,116 Television, Modern Marbles takes us through its invention and development right after the Black Sheep Squadron. 216 00:21:57,116 --> 00:22:03,113 And tonight we'll get a close up look at the Predator, one of America's most powerful high tech weapons. 217 00:22:03,113 --> 00:22:09,109 It's the remote controlled drone that delivered pinpoint military information in the war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. 218 00:22:09,109 --> 00:22:10,109 It's at 9 o'clock tonight. 219 00:22:10,109 --> 00:22:15,106 But stay tuned now for the Black Sheep Squadron, here on the History Channel, where the past comes alive.