Ex-Navy diver claims bizarre experiment has de-aged his body age by 20 YEARS – but he SHRUNK in the process
A FORMER Navy diver claims he has de-aged his body after spending a record 100 days underwater.
Dr Joseph Dituri, 56, of the University of Florida, said the stint 30ft under the surface of the Atlantic Ocean has reversed his ageing process on a cellular level.
He said the high pressure environment caused his body to make 17 times the number of stem cells it had previously.
Dr Dituri claimed it also increased the length of his telomeres — DNA structures found at the end of chromosomes that usually become shorter as you age.
He told WKMG News: “I’m 56 now. My biological age was 44. When I got out of the water, my biological age was 34.
“So, my telomeres lengthened. I actually got younger when I was under the water.”
Dr Dituri went under the sea on March 1 last year, living in the Jules Undersea Lodge in Key Largo Undersea Park.
He credited the changes in his body to the high-pressure “hyperbaric” environment of the lodge.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurised environment.
It is usually used to treat decompression sickness that can be caused by scuba diving, as well as serious infections, bubbles of air in blood vessels and non-healing wounds.
The therapy may also be suggested for severe anaemia, brain abscesses, burns, carbon monoxide poisoning, sudden deafness, gangrene and skin infections.
Sports stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Novak Djokovic, as well as celebrities like Kendall Jenner, are all fans of the tanks.
Air pressure inside the chamber is usually increased two to three times higher than normal, allowing the lungs to gather much more oxygen.
This can trigger the release of stem cells —- cells that can turn into different types of blood cells — according to Mayo Clinic.
A study, published in the Chinese Medical Journal, suggested stem cell therapies could “delay or even reverse ageing” because of the cell’s abilities to self-renew.
Separate research suggests that the usual decline in stem cells seen as people age may contribute to conditions related to ageing, like dementia.
The lodge Dr Dituri stayed in was built in 1970 and the previous record time spent underwater there was 73 days by two teachers from Tennessee in 2014.
I shrank by three-quarters of an inch
Dr Joseph Dituri
He broke that record but found some other less helpful effects from the added pressure underwater.
Dr Dituri said: “I shrank by three-quarters of an inch, I had some significant problems, I cracked a tooth while I was down there.
“When you go underwater you increase the pressure – in my case I almost doubled it.”
What is a hyperbaric chamber and what do they treat?
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurised environment.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a well-established treatment for decompression sickness, a potential risk of scuba diving.
Other conditions treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy include:
- Severe anaemia
- Brain abscess
- Bubbles of air in your blood vessels, known as arterial gas embolism
- Burns
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- Crushing injury
- Deafness, sudden
- Decompression sickness
- Gangrene
- Infection of skin or bone that causes tissue death
- Nonhealing wounds, such as a diabetic foot ulcer
- Radiation injury
- Skin graft or skin flap at risk of tissue death
- Vision loss, sudden and painless
Source: Mayo Clinic