Dr Craig Willcox and Dr Giovanni Scapagnini explore the impact of global population ageing with Gold Mercury President, Nicolas De Santis One of the world's leading gerontology scientists, Dr Craig Willcox, and top neurology/brain ageing scientist Dr Giovanni Scapagnini visited Gold Mercury's headquarters in London, to present their work and discuss critical challenges to global ageing, particularly with regards to the impact of nutrition and brain disease. Healthy Ageing and Food Diet - Okinawa Centenarian Study
Dr. Willcox’s research focuses on the interconnection between the ageing and disability processes among the oldest people in Okinawa and Hawaii, while Dr. Scapagnini’s research focuses on the cellular stress responses and molecular mechanisms of brain ageing and neurodegenerative disorders. These are two pressing research areas, given the generally ageing demographics in the developed world; with the developing world soon to follow suit. According to the World Population Report by the United Nations (2002), by 2050, the number of older persons in the world will exceed the number of young for the first time in history; a startling demographic phenomenon which will have untold and powerful consequences in many areas. Dr. Willcox, member of the Okinawan Centenarian Study, and Dr. Scapagnini have written several papers on Okinawans and on the Okinawa Diet. This dietary study is based on the eating patterns of a group of elderly inhabitants in Okinawa; a collection of over a hundred islands off the coast of Japan. These people are reported to have some of the world’s longest life spans and best health.



Changing Our Views on Nutrition and Physical Activity is Crucial to Healthy Ageing
Global Health is one of the 8 main global areas of governance broken down by GLOGO® - Gold Mercury’s Global Governance Model and Centre for Sustainable Globalisation.

Gold Mercury has identified that an ageing population, when growing in conjunction with unhealthy lifestyles and diets, is a key obstacle to worldwide sustainability. As such, Gold Mercury are conducting a series of talks with leading global ageing experts, to develop intelligence and solutions with regards to nutrition and health education. With the increasing dependency associated with an ageing population, and the world population predicted to reach 16 billion by 2100, the issues of neurodegenerative illness, disability, and unhealthy lifestyles, and their impact on ageing, need to be further researched and understood.

"Gold Mercury’s intelligence on globalisation and especially GLOGO®; their unique global governance model, is a visionary approach to re-invent the way that we see global challenges and how we can organise our world. GLOGO® does not see global areas as fixed, separate compartments, but as an interconnected system that is constantly changing. This model can provide a lot of clues as to how to improve decision-making, governance and collaboration; to solve global challenges in health, ageing and other areas.”
Dr Giovanni Scapagnini, discussing GLOGO® and its applications to help solve global challenges

If you are interested in the scientists' visit to Gold Mercury,please read the related article on our website. If you wish to learn more about Gold Mercury or GLOGO®, please feel free tocontact us via email.