Stephen Spindler, a professor of biochemistry at the University of California at Riverside, has helped mice to live longer by putting them on a reduced calorie diet. He agrees with Aubrey de Grey, that the average life span of humans can reach 1000 years or more.

"It sounds crazy, I know, but when I started in research as a graduate student we didn't really know what a gene looked like, but just in those intervening years, we're designing drugs to specifically target specialist genetic problems and they working fairly well," Spindler said.

"The same kind of growth in knowledge could have a dramatic impact on aging."

"...If people want to do something for their health right now, they should quit smoking if they smoke. Eat more fruit and vegetables and less meat and that will reduce cardiovascular risk by half. Rather than think about taking supplements there are simpler things they can do to help."