IF I were an entrepreneur I would seriously consider starting a company called something on the lines of Body Fit with the slogan: We ll keep you going strong until you reach your ton. A new quick fit spare parts market is opening up and the opportuniti

IF I were an entrepreneur I would seriously consider starting a company called something on the lines of Body Fit with the slogan: "We'll keep you going strong until you reach your ton."

A new quick fit spare parts market is opening up and the opportunities for profiting from it seem endless.

For a start, the customer base could be numbered in the billions and a steady demand is guaranteed.

What prompts all this is the claim by scientists this week that centenarians with the bodies of 50-year-olds will one day be a realistic possibility.

Half of babies now born in the UK will reach 100, it is predicted, thanks to higher living standards.

The downside is that their bodies will wear out at the same rate as they do now. So science is set to step in and transform them into bionic men and women.

To achieve the aim of "50 active years after 50", a multi-million pound five-year project has been started by experts at Leeds University looking at innovative solutions to the problem of worn out bits.

Among them could be pensioners getting their own-grown tissues and durable implants.

New knees, hips and heart valves are common fare on the surgeons' menu already but the future could see most of the body parts that suffer with age being upgraded.

Off-the-shelf tissues and organs grown entirely outside of the body may one day be available to help people enjoy being as active during their second half century as they were in their first.

I was going to say that I can't wait for the day, but I suspect I won't be around by the time all this comes to pass.

What I can do now to ease my weary bones is settle back on my comfortable sofa. Some could accuse me of being a couch potato but they would have to change their name-calling if certain farmers get their way.

It was revealed on Tuesday that a number of growers in East Anglia are calling for potatoes to be renamed "supercarbs"

The spud is officially classified as a starchy carbohydrate but is also technically a vegetable. New research claims that this dual identity is confusing consumers.

One of the farmers leading the campaign said that the suggested term "more accurately describes what we know is the nation's favourite vegetable and highlights just how much goodness potatoes contain".

I can't say that I was confused what constituted a potato until the supercarbs idea was floated. The suggestion should be mashed now. You can't expect someone to go into a greengrocer's and ask for five pounds of supercarbs.

Who wants bangers and supercarbs for dinner? Not me, thank you very much. And popping a jacket supercarb into the oven just does not sound right.