It is a traditional Jewish birthday greeting: “May you live to be 120.” And so far, only one person in all of history is officially recorded as having made it that far.
But now a doctor tells The Post that living a full, healthy life to 120 will be attainable — starting this decade.
Dr. Ernst von Schwarz believes that rapid advances in stem cells mean living and even working far beyond current expectations is entirely within humanity’s grasp and that 150 will be normal by the end of the century.
The only downside: stem cells will not work alone. If you want to benefit, now is the time to start eating healthily and exercising regularly.
And, he warns, it might be too late for some — 30 is when you really need to change your life.
“I believe that we can create prolongation of life,” von Schwarz tells The Post. “Probably within a couple of years people can live to 120, 150 years if not longer than that.
“And not just as bed-bound non-communicating individuals, but really as active individuals who can participate in social life, professional life and have a quality of life. Because that’s the goal.”
The provocative claim may seem to stretch credulity.
The only person acknowledged officially as living past 120 was France’s Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997, aged 122 years and 164 days — and even that record has been questioned, with theories circulating that Calment’s daughter was actually posing as her.
But von Schwarz is throwing his full weight — as a triple board-certified internist, cardiologist, and heart transplant cardiologist at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and the Heart Institute of the Southern California Hospital — behind the idea that a healthy 120 years can be our allotted span.
There is, he says, a quiet revolution going on inside medicine.
“In the last few years, we have shifted from what we call reactive medicine to what we now call regenerative medicine using mainly stem cell therapies,” von Schwarz explains.
“Even though stem cells are not FDA-approved, that’s the future of medicine where we are able to repair damage. And by repairing damage we can prolong life, or even reduce certain processes of aging.”
Von Schwarz makes the claim in a new book, “Secrets of Immortality,” which picks up where his previous one, “The Secret World of Stem Cell Therapy,” leaves off.
He is also prescribing stem cells himself. Celebrities clamor for Dr. von Schwarz’s anti-aging facials before the Oscars and Emmys.
While he wouldn’t disclose his patients’ names, his book publicist touts his supporters as including Frank Stallone, Jeff Fahey, Lisa Gastineau, Josie Davis, Drea De Matteo, and Fabio.
“We inject stem cells into their face, and they glow,” he says. “The process repairs superficial skin damage and regenerates collagen in the face. After a few days, they look 5 to 10 years younger.”
Von Schwarz is no stranger to the celebrity scene: his wife is actress Angela Oakenfold, the ex-wife of DJ Paul Oakenfold.
Source: https://nypost.com/2023/09/23/doctor-stem-cells-will-extend-life-to-120-from-this-decade/