Life span of Korean eunuchs

[JesusA (imported)]

Eunuchs May Hold Key to Longevity

By DR. JULIELYNN WONG

ABC News Medical Unit

ABC News

Sept. 24, 2012

Call it making the best of a potentially bad situation. Eunuchs -- castrated men -- live nearly 20 years longer than other men, a new study has found.

The study of over 80 eunuchs from the Chosun Dynasty, which ruled in Korea from 1392 to 1897, looked at the world's only known record of eunuchs' lives and compared them to genealogical records of other men of similar social rank. The researchers cross-checked their results with other royal records.

They found that the average lifespan of a Korean eunuch was about 70 years, 14 to 19 years higher than non-castrated men of similar social standing.

Three of the 81 eunuchs lived to be over 100 years old. The researchers calculated that the rate of centenarians among this group of eunuchs was at least 130 times higher than the current rate in developed countries.

"Our study supports the idea that male sex hormones decrease the lifespan of men," wrote Kyung-Jin Min, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Inha University in Inchon, South Korea, and lead author of the study published today in the journal Current Biology.

This study does not prove that castration directly increases human longevity, said S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health at the University of Illinois in Chicago, who studies longevity but was not involved with the study. "It may not have anything to do with being eunuchs," he said, adding that this study did not adjust for lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, and stress.

Previous studies have shown that castration -- which removes the source of male sex hormones -- increases lifespan in animals. But studies in humans haven't been conclusive. One past study found that castrati singers did not live significantly longer than non-castrated singers. Another study has shown that castration increased longevity by 14 years in mentally disabled, institutionalized men. That increase in lifespan is similar to the findings in the Korean eunuch study.

Women reach the age of 110 ten times more often than men, said Dr. L. Stephen Coles, a co-founder of the Los Angeles Gerontology Research Group, who was not involved with the study. In a research group of 67 confirmed centenarians, he said, only three are men.

There may be several reasons for a sex difference in lifespan, experts said.

Females may have an advantage in longevity because they have a back-up X chromosome, Coles said. A women's body is a mixture of cells, half containing an active X chromosome from her mother and the other half from her father, he said. If there is a defect on one X chromosome, half of her cells will be unaffected.

Male sex hormones may have a negative effect on the immune system, wrote study author Min in the paper. "Male sex hormones also predispose men to adverse cardiovascular attacks."

While research seems to link male sex hormones to shorter life spans, experts remind us that quality of life matters more than quantity.

"I would not recommend becoming a eunuch," Coles said, "Or taking drugs to reduce your sex hormones." Reducing testosterone levels in men or women would severely affect one's sex drive, he said.

The findings that the absence of male sex hormones may improve longevity runs counter to a growing trend in the anti-aging industry, Olshansky said.

Some companies claim a healthier longer life can be enhanced by the introduction of growth or sex hormones (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Drugs/midd ... d=17203276) at levels that existed when you were younger, he said.

"There's no evidence that introducing hormones at levels that existed when you were younger make you live longer," Olshansky said, "This study suggests that you're better off without them."

Testosterone therapy may be recommended for certain men who lack testosterone, Coles said. A source at the National Institutes of Health said a clinical trial is currently underway to see if testosterone is safe and beneficial for elderly men with low testosterone levels.

What advice do experts have for people who want to live to a ripe old age -- and might not be in the frame of mind to consider castration?

Avoid smoking, Coles said, because we know that nicotine is highly addictive and that tobacco smoke causes cancer.

A healthy diet and exercise are also important for longevity, Olshansky said. While there is no universal prescription for exercise, he recommended, "Avoid being horizontal, be vertical, and keep moving!"

But what also really helps when it comes to living longer, he said, is to "choose long-lived parents."

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/castration ... GC0tI7A6ao (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/castration ... GC0tI7A6ao)

The academic article in Current Biology on which this popular article is based (which has an important figure showing comparative life spans of 81 eunuchs and 2,589 intact, upper-class Koreans of the period) can be accessed and/or downloaded from:

http://download.cell.com/current-biolog ... diate=true

[JesusA (imported)]

In Korea, upper class (yangban) families have maintained careful genealogical records for centuries. Even some farm families have detailed genealogies spanning 15 to 20 generations. Dates of birth and death are recorded, but seldom the cause of death. Only males are included and children who died before marriage are generally excluded from the listings.

Korean eunuchs generally came from very poor families who arranged for their castration to escape poverty (and possible starvation). They became servants of royalty and lived generally prosperous lives. In Korea, eunuchs were allowed to adopt other young eunuchs and some eunuch “families” have many generations of “genealogical” records – though date of birth is less frequently recorded – the reason that the sample was only 81 eunuchs.

The length of life of Korean eunuchs was compared to that of members of three upper class families that had maintained detailed genealogical records for the same time span (2,589 individuals).

At the end of the Chosun (Yi) Dynasty, eunuchs could adopt intact orphan boys. In 1978, I briefly met one of the former court eunuchs through his intact adopted son. That was long before my current research project and I only exchanged a few polite words before continuing my conversation with his son.

Chinese eunuchs were only allowed to formally adopt during brief periods of Chinese history, though some such families extended for several generations, occasionally even adopting intact orphans. The brief Cao Dynasty (3 emperors) was founded by the adopted son of a court eunuch in a family that had had three generations of eunuchs before him.

The longer life span of Korean eunuchs compares well with at least two earlier studies. James Hamilton and Gordon Mestler compared 297 castrated male mental patients to 735 intact patients, matched for date of birth and diagnosis. (Mortality and Survival: Comparison of Eunuchs with Intact Men and Women in a Mentally Retarded Population, Journal of Gerontology. 1969, 24(4):395-411). Hans Fritz compared the life span of Italian castrati for whom he could find reliable birth and death dates to upper class Italian males of the period. (Kastratengesang: Hormonelle, Konstitutionelle und Pädagogische Aspekte. Tutzing: Schneider, 1994)

[cheetaking243 (imported)]

Part of this may have to do with stress... I've been watching documentaries recently which have showed that, in baboons, aggression from the alpha males in a troop lead to their subordinates suffering from many chronic ailments such as high blood pressure, rapid aging, obesity, heart attacks, and cancer. But in one troop where all of the alpha males were killed off in a freak garbage-dump scavenging accident, and the impetus for aggression and bullying in the troop was suddenly gone, all of those things miraculously disappeared within a single generation. Perhaps the same kind of thing is true of the eunuchs... lacking a constant urge for competition and aggression and a longing for sex, these stressors in their life disappeared and they achieved the "eunuch calm." It has been shown that those who feel peaceful, happy, and socially connected with others actually age slower due to extra production of telomerase, which repairs the ends of DNA strands and and keeps them from fraying. Likewise, though, repeated exposure to stress hormones can break down the ends of DNA strands, called Telomeres, and can result in the breakdown of cellular structures.

I'm sure there's more to it, but that lack of stress certainly helps the cause.

[transward (imported)]

Though it would not account for all the difference in lifespan, the fact that eunuchs were not used as soldiers would account for some part of the difference. I'm a bit weak on Korean history, but I remember they had a reputation for being a warlike culture. Not being killed in battle could definitely increase your lifespan.

Transward

[unencumbered (imported)]

Though it would not account for all the difference in lifespan, the fact that eunuchs were not used as soldiers would account for some part of the difference. I'm a bit weak on Korean history, but I remember they had a reputation for being a warlike culture. Not being killed in battle could definitely increase your lifespan.

Transward

I know Koreans perhaps better than you. Many of them are hot headed so there is much more stress in their lives than perhaps those Koreans who have no testicles. Heck, the north and the south can't even get back together sixty years after the Korean War.

[janekane (imported)]

During my many years of studying biology, I have repeatedly come upon reports to the effect that typical male testosterone levels increase basal metabolism rates of about 10% above that typical with castrate testosterone levels. Also, in women, typical female hormone levels have been reported as increasing basal metabolic rates about 5% above that typical of women who have undergone total hysterectomies.

There may be a possibility that, all else being equal (which it never is), reduced sex hormones leading to a decreased basal metabolic rate may have an inverse functional relationship with longevity.

I came upon opinions to the effect that the decrease in basal metabolic rate for post-menopausal women may be a factor in women tending to have longer life expectancies than men.

This could be of evolutionary benefit to the extent that women, after giving birth for the last time, may persist longer than men to aid their progeny in attaining adulthood.

Fortunately for me, I have long recognized that conjecture is not other than conjecture.

Or, do not all scientific hypotheses begin as conjecture in one way or another?

[Gunpowder (imported)]

As far as I know the study used men/eunuchs of similar social status for comparison to avoid a distortion of the findings.

Besides, in the original study it is mentioned that all the eunuchs had been castrated before their teenage, so these cases cannot make any valid statement of longevity of eunuchs that had been castrated after puberty. However the study mentioned another study from the U.S. where men were castrated (for medical reasons) after puberty and it showed that they had a life expentancy of 13 years more than their uncastrated counterparts.

[devi (imported)]

This thought just occured to me. Being that us eunuchs (and not quite very low hormonal eunuchs) do typically have certain nutritional needs which are similar but also atypical to both females and to males, then there MUST have been some type of knowledgeable healer or nutritional advisor associated with explaining to them what they needed to know, how to eat right, and what to do. (This precedes vitamin pills which even now are not good to rely on but handy.) I know I myself had been advized to eat lots of greens and not be scared of chewing into the bone when eating meat among other things. It seems to me that our heath can in fact go downhill very much faster than either males or females but conversely if we do manage to keep ourselves up then we do also have the potential to even "outlive our adversaries". As my advizor -an elderly lady distantly related to me told me somehow as we were sitting on the sofa together, "yes, ALL of them, your brothers included." It was the only time that I saw her and I think she was from the southeastern part of Colorado that somehow had had figured me out. I don't know how.

[mariemm2 (imported)]

At what age were the Korean eunuchs usually castrated?

[Gunpowder (imported)]

I know I myself had been advized to eat lots of greens.

Right. I had been advised to go for a vegan diet with vitamin B12 supplement. Your body can save B12 for several years, so you need not take the supplment every day. Besides, I was told to stay away from coffee, black tea (however green tea is recommendable), tobacco, bread and other products from white flour (small amounts of whole wheat flour are ok), alcoholic drinks, white rice and carbonated drinks. These foods are either responsible for weight gain (that

eunuchs often suffer from) or abet osteoporosis.

At what age were the Korean eunuchs usually castrated?

Before their teens.