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I'd just like to say: Simpsons did it first.

July 11, 1991, episode "Blood Feud", the last episode of season 2. The scene is around the 7 minute mark. The implication is that the blood transfusion has made him feel young again.

There's actually a few references like this throughout the seasons of the simpsons.

It's honestly weird to me this wasn't tried in the early days of performing blood transfusions. I mean honestly the study wouldn't even be ethically questionable. You find patients that need routine blood transfusions and track their health over a period of time, you then administer blood transfusions from sources where you can control for the age of the blood donor.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was never even thought of because people seem all too willing to think of the body as "just a machine".

Given that we literally urinate out neurotransmitters, and that young people tend to be happier (it's actually called the happiness U-bend, in that 18-21 year olds are as happy as 70 year olds, and 50 years old is the lowest point in peoples reported happiness) so we could just be shooting people full of--quite literally--happiness. Given that severe depression can lead to myocardial infraction, I don't doubt general depression also has long term health effects. Also I don't think antidepressants would benefit, just because they generally make people "not feel" rather than "happy".

discuss

rsync|11 years ago

"It's honestly weird to me this wasn't tried in the early days of performing blood transfusions."

It's weird to me it wasn't tried the day after the first successful blood transfusion. A child would think of it.

That's what's so stupefying...

davorak|11 years ago

If memory serves me it was tried, many times soon after blood transfusions become known to the public. Many rich in europe claimed the blood transfusions from the young rejuvenated them in many respects.

I do not remember where I read this any more 10+ years ago now.

Here is a small snippet I found with a few minutes of search that seems to be reference to the same behavior I remember reading about: https://books.google.com/books?id=bdIBlQXSKi8C&pg=PA78&dq=hi...

wallaceowen21|11 years ago

No, Simpsons wasn't first. See the movie "Being there" with Peter Sellers - the wealthy but aged and ill king-maker in this imagined U.S. gets regular blood infusions of 'young blood'.

ams6110|11 years ago

There was also the classic "All in the Family" when Archie Bunker learns he's received blood from a black donor.

serf|11 years ago

goes back further than that! [1]

[1] : How to live forever: lessons of history http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119261/

gnaritas|11 years ago

Vampires did it first.