FUNCTIONAL DECLINE SYNDROME

“Facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty.”

Galileo Galilei

Human biological components bear no resemblance to machine parts that slowly wear down over time. Regardless of any extrinsic factors, the cells and other biological components that comprise the human organism have very short lifespans. The intrinsic damage that results from that constant dying off of biological components (and less than perfect replacement thereof) is an inexorable force. A multicellular organism is capable of surviving beyond the lifespan of its individual components only because it has maintenance processes that remove and replace the cells and other components that suffer from intrinsic damage. Those processes are so fundamental to the survival of all complex organisms that it’s long past time that the scientific establishment acknowledges the existence and importance of maintenance systems generally and of the human maintenance system in particular.

Intrinsic damage has been a pervasive challenge to survival for every complex organism that has ever existed on the planet. In order to counter that intrinsic damage, all complex organisms have maintenance systems that are designed to prevent the accumulation of that damage. Since no biological process can be perfect, some accumulation of damage is inevitable. Thus longer-lived species, such as humans, have elaborate backup maintenance processes that operate at higher levels of biological organization.

Since intrinsic damage is an inexorable force, any interference with the proper functioning of the maintenance system will result in the accumulation of intrinsic damage. If uncorrected, further accumulation of intrinsic damage will eventually impair the functionality of the affected organs and systems. Substantially all degenerative diseases – diseases that are characterized by the progressive deterioration of the function and structure of an organ or system – are caused by the accumulation of damage resulting from the disruption of one or more maintenance processes.

This essay will discuss perhaps the most controversial hypothesis that flows from the New Paradigm, and the reason that this website is labelled “The New Aging Paradigm.” The New Paradigm suggests that the progressive loss of functionality that results from the physiological deterioration that substantially all humans experience with advancing chronological age (the phenomenon typically labeled “biological aging”) is itself a degenerative disorder. In other words, most of the symptoms of biological aging are neither natural nor inevitable – they result from a preventable and curable disorder that the New Paradigm labels “Functional Decline Syndrome” (FDS).

The pervasive belief that FDS is the defining feature of a monolithic natural aging process is a foundational preconception of the aging paradigm. Normal scientists (and laypeople) are so convinced that the current paradigm cannot be mistaken that, to date, no one has even suggested that there could be an alternative reality. To accept the New Paradigm requires the reader to embrace the proposition that our understanding of the nature of aging itself is flawed.

From time immemorial, mankind has shared the belief that the reason that we undergo physiological deterioration as we advance in chronological age is that evolution, or some higher power, wants us to die, and thus we all have a genetically inherited aging process that is designed to result in death. But just because everyone believes X does not mean that X is consistent with objective reality. In the absence of a scientific theory that explains what aging is and why it occurs, everything that we think we know about the nature of aging is nothing more than a set of preconceptions based on subjective perceptions. Those preconceptions have no more scientific basis than the longstanding belief that the Earth is flat.

Distinguishing FDS From “Aging”

In the absence of a generally accepted definition of the term “aging,” the use of that term has resulted in a great deal of confusion. Since the term “aging” can mean the passage of chronological time and at the same time mean all of the physiological changes that humans typically experience with that passage of time, the two concepts are conflated. (1)

The New Paradigm introduces the term “Functional Decline Syndrome” (FDS) to describe the age-associated functional declines that humans typically experience commencing in about their third decade of life. Using the term FDS rather than “aging” is intended to highlight the critical notion that the physiological changes that are symptoms of FDS are neither caused by nor the inevitable result of the passage of time. Like all degenerative disorders, the symptoms of FDS will worsen over time if the underlying cause is not corrected. But that is the only connection between FDS and chronological aging.

The reason that the New Paradigm does not simply use the term “biological aging” is to highlight a second critical notion. Contrary to conventional wisdom, not all physiological changes that are statistically associated with increasing chronological age result from a single genetically inherited trait. In order for all such changes to result from a single inherited trait, there would have to be a specific physiological mechanism that causes all of those changes. That notion would be plausible if humans had a distinct physiological aging process that caused the organism to deteriorate. But despite what the proponents of the PA rationale would have us believe, humans have no such pro-active physiological process. And if there is no pro-active aging mechanism, there is absolutely no logical reason why one should assume that progressive loss of hair, age-associated degenerative diseases, and the infirmities of aging generally are integral aspects of, or are caused by, a single, genetically inherited trait.

Humans undergo certain nonfunctional physiological changes with advancing chronological age that are natural and inevitable. But those changes (e.g. wrinkles, graying and thinning of hair, etc.) are not the result of a pro-active aging process. Those non-functional changes occur because the human maintenance system is not designed to prevent or reverse all age-associated physiological changes. Natural selection makes cost/benefit choices relating to the optimal way to allocate finite resources. A maintenance process that prevents or reverses hair loss does not confer significant evolutionary benefits. As a result, that trait (a robust hair follicle maintenance process) would not be genetically inherited. And in the absence of a countervailing maintenance process, accumulating intrinsic damage will take its toll on hair follicles.

By contrast, evolutionary principles dictate that any mutation that would allow the maintenance system to ensure optimal functionality throughout the natural lifespan of an organism would confer an evolutionary advantage, and thus such a trait would be genetically inherited. A critical variable in this instance is “natural lifespan,” which the New Paradigm defines to be the period of time before substantially all members of the pertinent species will die from non-age-associated reasons in the evolutionary environment. As the precursors to modern humans developed, through brainpower, the ability to extend the period of time before they would necessarily starve or be killed by predators, there would have been a concomitant adoption of mutations to the maintenance system. Evolutionary principals dictate that human have maintenance processes that would be able to prevent and/or correct the accumulation of intrinsic damage that would impair functionality, at least throughout the natural lifespan of the human species.

Certain age-associated diminutions in physiological performance (e.g., sarcopenia, compromised skeletal system, compromised respiratory system, etc.) can not only be delayed, but actually reversed, through lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise. Such reversals are possible only because humans have physiological processes (i.e., maintenance processes) that remove and replace the accumulated damage that caused those diminutions in physiological performance. The original diminutions in physiological performance were the result of extrinsic factors (i.e., lifestyle choices) that disrupted the optimal performance of the maintenance systems. Positive lifestyle changes have the effect of neutralizing the extrinsic factor that was disrupting those maintenance processes.

Degenerative Disorders

Degenerative disorders are characterized by the progressive deterioration of the function and structure of an organ or system. FDS is characterized by the progressive deterioration of the function and structure of all of the organisms and systems that make up the entire human organism. Thus, FDS is a degenerative disorder.

As discussed in the essay entitled “Degenerative Disorders,” degenerative disorders are caused by some extrinsic environmental agent or factor interfering with the effective functioning of one or more of the maintenance processes that collectively comprise the human maintenance system. Intrinsic damage is an inexorable force, but intrinsic damage accumulates only when an environmental factor interferes with the effective functioning of the maintenance system. That interference impairs the ability of the maintenance system to remove and replace biological components that are harmed or destroyed as a result of intrinsic damage. Ultimately, if the environmental factor is not neutralized, sufficient intrinsic damage accumulates that functionality is compromised to such an extent that it is recognized as a clinical problem – a degenerative disease.

Like other degenerative disorders, FDS must result from some extrinsic agent or factor interfering with the effective functioning of the human maintenance system. As a result of that interference, intrinsic damage accumulates, and the accumulation of that damage leads to the progressive loss of functionality throughout the entire human organism that characterizes FDS.

Symptoms of FDS

Like all degenerative disorders, FDS has a variety of symptoms. A person with severe FDS suffers substantial diminution in functionality of multiple organs and systems. The question of which age-associated degenerative disease is first diagnosed is typically determined by a combination of genetics and risk factors. Different individuals have different “weakest links.” (2) A person with a less robust circulatory system may manifest cardiovascular disease, while another subject who suffers from the same degree of FDS may be diagnosed with osteoporosis. In any event, both subjects are suffering from reduced functionality in all organs and systems. It’s typical for a person with severe FDS to be diagnosed with multiple age-associated degenerative disorders.

A typical human exhibits minor symptoms of FDS early in the third decade of life. Enough intrinsic damage has accumulated that the functionality of certain organs or systems are already suffering noticeable impairment. For example, humans who become less physically active once they take on full time sedentary occupations tend to show declines in the functionality of their skeletal muscle and cardiovascular systems before they turn 30. The medical establishment typically ignores these early symptoms of FDS. Gradually declining functionality in multiple biological systems as humans progress through the decades has always been treated as the normal aging process. But ultimately, the declines in functionality resulting from FDS become so acute that an organ or system is impaired to such a degree that it is labeled an age-associated degenerative disease.

Recognized age-associated degenerative diseases that are manifestations/symptoms of the FDS disorder are most, but not all, cases of age-associated dementia, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, arthritis and kidney disease. And the symptoms of FDS encompass much more than the recognized age-associated diseases. Other symptoms of FDS include most, but not all, cases of muscle loss or declines in effectiveness of the skeletal muscle system, decline in effectiveness of the immune system, erectile dysfunction, memory and other cognitive loss that is not recognized as dementia, etc. Substantially all age-associated declines in functionality are symptoms of FDS.

FDS is by far the greatest pandemic in the history of the planet. Substantially everyone who dies from “natural causes” – over 100,000 humans per day — is actually dying as a result of FDS. The symptoms of late stage FDS — the gradual deterioration of every organ and system in the human body – are horrific. The symptoms of FDS are not just a problem for “old” people. The New Paradigm posits that any deviation from optimal functionality is a symptom of FDS. Thus, practically everyone over the age of 30 is afflicted to some degree.

FDS is a Non-Acute Degenerative Disorder

The critical distinction between the New Paradigm and the current paradigm is that the New Paradigm posits that FDS itself is a degenerative disorder. Evolution had over a billion years to get it right from a genetic standpoint. Absent genetic defects, all of our organs and systems are designed for optimal functionality. That functionality is safeguarded by the human maintenance system. Any decline in functionality is the result of some factor interfering with the proper functioning of our maintenance systems.

So why doesn’t the human maintenance system prevent or reverse the accumulation of intrinsic damage in a typical 20-year old human? Academicians who have asked similar questions have tried (unsuccessfully) to rationalize why evolution did not program humans to function effectively past the age of 20. (3) The New Paradigm posits a different answer. The only answer that is consistent with natural selection is that the human maintenance system is capable of preventing or reversing the accumulation of damage. Like other degenerative disorders, some extrinsic environmental agent must be interfering with the performance of the maintenance system.

A common misconception is the assumption that if the human species were endowed with an effective maintenance system, that system would function automatically regardless of environmental conditions. If that premise were correct, then the fact that humans are mortal and typically accumulate intrinsic damage over time proves that the human maintenance system is inherently ineffective. In fact, the human maintenance system does function automatically and quite effectively under the proper environmental conditions. But if environmental conditions vary significantly from evolutionary environmental conditions, the maintenance system does not operate quite as effectively as it should. A number of examples of well-known disorders that result from suboptimal environmental conditions disrupting the functioning of the maintenance system were discussed in the essay entitled “Degenerative Disorders.”

FDS and the Endocrine System

It’s not surprising that unusual environmental conditions can disrupt the functioning of certain biological systems. A person who is held underwater will quickly find that her respiratory system has been acutely disrupted. But FDS appears to afflict substantially all humans regardless of environmental conditions. Conventional thinking has always been the if humans were endowed with an effective maintenance system, then humans would not suffer from progressive loss of functionality/FDS under normal environmental conditions.

The hidden assumption is that the modern environment is the same as the evolutionary environment. The New Paradigm posits that FDS is caused by some factor in the modern environment differing from the evolutionary environment; it’s that difference that causes the disruption. Identifying that factor is beyond the scope of this essay. Instead, this section will discuss evidence that suggests that the typical human suffers from the disruption of processes that are critical to the functioning of the maintenance system under normal environmental conditions

The endocrine system is an essential physiological component of higher-level maintenance processes. Scientists have long recognized the association between FDS and the performance of the endocrine system. As individuals age, there is a decline in serum concentrations of a host of hormones. According to one article, symptoms caused by deficient hormone levels “include reduced protein synthesis, decrease in lean body mass and bone mass, increased fat mass, insulin resistance, higher cardiovascular disease risk, increase in vasomotor symptoms, fatigue, depression, anaemia, poor libido, erectile deficiency and a decline in immune function.” (4) To a remarkable extent, that list of symptoms resulting from deficient hormone levels coincides with a typical list of the infirmities associated with aging.

The association between a compromised endocrine system and FDS is consistent with the New Paradigm. If the endocrine system secretes insufficient quantities of critical hormones, the maintenance system cannot function effectively, resulting in the damage accumulation that leads to FDS. The conventional wisdom has always been that the human endocrine systems loses the ability to produce critical hormones as a natural and inevitable consequence of the aging process. Under that view, progressive diminution in the effectiveness of the endocrine system is just another aspect of natural aging. The maintenance system fails to repair the damage that causes FDS because a compromised endocrine system renders it incapable of doing so.

The New Paradigm challenges the assumption that FDS results from an endocrine system that, as a result have the passage of time, has become incapable of producing sufficient quantities of necessary hormones. FDS is not restricted to older people whose endocrine systems have been compromised by decades of accumulating damage. Functional declines caused by FDS appear in the typical human by the age of 20. If we are to believe that a compromised endocrine system causes FDS, then there needs to be an explanation as to how the endocrine system becomes compromised at such a young age. But there is no such explanation. If insufficient serum concentrations of critical hormones causes FDS, some factor other than a compromised endocrine system must be the reason why those levels are deficient in a young adult. The only rational conclusion is that some environmental factor is interfering with the proper functioning of the endocrine system in relatively young humans. (5)

Age-Associated Degenerative Disorders

The most intransigent problem confronting the medical establishment is age-associated degenerative diseases, such as dementia, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. An age-associated degenerative disorder typically results from decades of slowly accumulating damage. FDS causes the progressive physiological deterioration of all organs and systems in the body. At some point, an organ or system that is responsible for a critical biological process fails, and that failure is recognized as a degenerative disease.

Age-associated degenerative diseases are chronic because science has failed to pinpoint what causes the damage to accumulate. In the absence of a theory that identifies the causal mechanism, the approach to such diseases is much like the approach to infectious diseases prior to the acceptance of the Germ Theory. Identify risk factors based on statistical correlations and try to control those factors. But the identified risk factors (e.g., smoking, stress, obesity, etc. .) typically act on the damage side of the equation by accelerating the rate at which damage is inflicted. Even if all such factors are controlled, in the typical human, intrinsic damage slowly accumulates over time, and ultimately some organ or system fails, resulting in a degenerative disease. Lacking the knowledge of why the damage accumulates, with rare exceptions, the medical establishment can treat only the symptoms rather than the underlying cause of the disease.

The term “age-associated diseases is typically used to refer to all diseases that tend to afflict older people more than younger people. But there are a number of disorders, the incidence of which increases with age, that are not symptoms of FDS. The various forms of cancer comprise the primary example. Cancer is not a degenerative disease, and it is not caused (at least not directly) by a disruption of the maintenance system.

The New Paradigm addresses only degenerative disorders – disorders that are characterized by progressive physiological deterioration. The New Paradigm does not purport to address the numerous variants of cancer, because cancers are not degenerative disorders. Even if we were able to eradicate FDS, that eradication would not necessarily have a material positive effect on the incidence of cancer. In fact, since the eradication of FDS would eliminate or at least greatly delay death “by natural causes,” it is quite likely that eradicating FDS would increase the number of people who are ultimately afflicted with cancer. (6)

Infectious diseases are also not symptoms of FDS, even though they also tend to take a more serious toll on older persons than they do younger people. That’s because FDS decreases the functionality of the immune system and also renders other organs and systems more vulnerable to the infectious diseases. So eradicating FDS would have a beneficial effect on infectious diseases even though the diseases are not themselves a manifestation of FDS.

Most cardiovascular disease is characterized by the progressive deterioration in the functionality of the heart or the circulatory system. Those cases are age-associated degenerative diseases for purposes of the New Paradigm. However, there are cases of heart disease that are caused by pathogens. Other heart malfunctions may be caused by genetic defects. Although these cases may be labeled cardiovascular disease under the current paradigm, they are not degenerative diseases for purposes of the New Paradigm. To say that eradicating FDS would only eradicate those disorders and diseases that are symptoms of FDS may sound circular, but it is no different from saying that eradicating any disorder will eradicate only the symptoms of that disorder.

The New Paradigm’ Offers a New Approach to Age-Associated Degenerative Diseases

Within about a year of COVID-19 being recognized as a deadly virus, the pharmaceutical industry was able to develop multiple vaccines that have proven to be remarkably effective. That’s the result of scientific knowledge (based on the Germ Theory) allowing advanced technology to attack the cause of the disease with laser-like focus. We marvel at the technological innovations that allowed scientists to develop vaccines that are effective against COVID-19 in a matter of months. But that wonderful technology is useless in the absence of a paradigm that accurately portrays objective reality.

The critical first step in attacking any physiological disorder is to develop the scientific knowledge of what is causing the disorder. By assuming that FDS is a genetically mandated aspect of a natural aging process, the current aging paradigm has thwarted any efforts to identify the cause of age-associated degenerative disease. The role of technology has been relegated to that of relieving symptoms and extending the lives of terminally-ill patients, all at significant cost. The problem is not with the technology; the problem is that the underlying paradigm is flawed.

The New Paradigm offers a new approach. Age-associated degenerative diseases are symptoms of FDS. FDS is caused by an environmental factor (or the absence thereof) interfering with the proper functioning of one or more maintenance processes. If scientists can identify the environmental factor, it is almost certain that neutralizing that factor is within the capabilities of current medical technology. Acknowledging the significance of the human maintenance system, and identifying how particular maintenance processes are enhanced or disrupted by particular environmental agents, offers a new approach to age-associated degenerative disease.

Additional confusion results from the fact that there is a pervasive presumption that the reason that organisms have a pro-active physiological aging process is to ensure that all organisms have a finite lifespan. Thus there is a presumed, yet completely unwarranted, linkage between FDS and mortality. Uncorrected FDS, like all other degenerative diseases will progress until the subject dies. But FDS is not caused by some presumed need for humans to have a limited lifespan.
Persons who live to extremely old ages do so not because they are not suffering from FDS, but rather because they don’t have a “weakest link,” such as a genetic predisposition to cardiovascular disease.
These rationales are discussed at some length in the essay entitled “Critique of the Non-Programmed Aging Rationale.”
Chahal HS and Drake WM, The endocrine system and ageing, J Pathol (2007).
One of the maintenance functions performed by the maintenance system is maintenance of the endocrine system and thus the maintenance system itself. For example, one hormone that is involved in multiple maintenance processes and is thus critical to the effective functioning of the maintenance system is human growth hormone (“HGH”). HGH is a peptide hormone that is synthesized, stored, and secreted by the anterior pituitary gland. In addition to promoting growth, HGH is strongly associated with maintenance of all internal organs other than the brain. In other words, HGH plays an important role in the maintenance of the very organ (the anterior pituitary gland) that produces it. If an environmental factor interferes with the production or secretion of HGH, then the pituitary gland itself will deteriorate over time. As a result, one of the symptoms of relatively severe FDS is the impairment of the functioning of the endocrine system. But that symptom should not appear until relatively late in life.
Historically, most humans that did not die from starvation or war died from infectious diseases. It was only after infectious diseases were controlled that age-associated degenerative diseases became the primary cause of death. Controlling age-associated degenerative diseases will likely result in cancers being the primary cause of illness-related deaths.

This is the final essay in this Section. The next section is “Implications.”