Does Anti-Aging Equal Anti-Microbial?

Aging is the dominant risk factor for human disease in developed countries. Could it be that a wide variety of disease states all have their origins in a common mechanism? Major signaling pathways that determine the rate of aging, such as the insulin/insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) pathway, might give clues to the nature of this major disease risk factor. It has now been shown that insulin/IGF-1 signaling influences Caenorhabditis elegans resistance to bacteria in such a way that long-lived worms are stress-resistant and slow to succumb to infection. Perhaps enhanced innate immunity is a feature of genetically determined longevity.