Mar
02
2024

Living with the Aging Process

The following article describes living with the aging process. Older adults undergo the process of aging between the ages of 50 and 80. This is a complex process affecting various systems parallel. There are hormone factors that are particularly prominent in women during menopause. Joints are affected by degenerative changes, which can lead to total knee and hip replacements. The aging process was described in an article by Monica Jimenez at Tufts University.

What is aging?

Aging is the loss of function over time. The body is much more complex than a car, so there are more possible points of failure.  Christopher Wiley is a scientist on the Basic Biology of Aging Team who studies the role of nutrition and metabolism in aging at a cellular level at Tufts University. He said:” The fact that life works is amazing”. He went on to say: “The body tries to maintain itself and restore homeostasis(self-healing) even in the face of all this stress and all this damage. We have these really sophisticated programs for dealing with these points of failure.”

Aging goes on relentlessly

He explains the aging process this way: “It can start with something as simple as a broken molecule, one little thing that goes wrong in one cell, and then it’s like the butterfly effect,” Wiley said. “The tissue starts struggling, and then the organ, and then your entire body.”

Dr. Wiley warns about those who say physicians could make people “immortal”. “There’s definitely a misconception out there that we’re trying to make people immortal. But there is never going to be an immortality vaccine,” Wiley said. “There’s never going to be one thing that defeats all of aging. There’s always going to be another point of failure.”

Slowing down biological aging

The emphasis of research about aging is not to add chronological years. It is on biological aging and on how well our cells and tissues are functioning. Dr. Sarah Booth is the director of the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts. She said: “Lengthening the time in which we can continue to move around, care for ourselves, and participate in social life and activities, is a worthier goal than extending years of suffering.” Many people become disabled in their last years of life, then they die. “Healthspan” is a new term for our years of freedom from disability, Booth noted.

Factors that prolong healthy aging

  1. Telomere length: One of the factors of longevity is our telomere length. Telomeres are the protective caps at the end of each chromosome. When they wear down, it leads to mistakes in the DNA copies of genetic information. There are supplements and herbs that can elongate telomeres. Exercise and the fasting mimicking diet also make telomeres longer. Older adults in good shape have longer telomeres, which stabilizes the DNA in their cells.
  2. Healthy diet: Researchers have determined that several diets are healthier than others. The Mediterranean diet is anti-inflammatory, so is the DASH diet, which was developed for people with high blood pressure. The HNRCA of Tufts is one of six organizations that got research grants recently to investigate life-prolonging diets. The amount was for $8.5 million.

Exercise and lifestyle factors

  1. Regular exercise: Over the years a lot of research accumulated data that shows regular exercise makes people biologically younger. Heart vessels have less atheromatous deposits and the brain stays younger as well. One study reported that 30 minutes of exercise daily prevents dementia.
  2. Other lifestyle factors: other factors are whether or not you are smoking (it goes without saying that you must quit). In addition, genetics (longevity gene), the environment (polluted or not), stress levels and socioeconomic class all play a factor in how fast we age. These latter points are difficult to tease apart, but they influence us globally. Target organs for aging are: the brain, heart, eyes, and bones, along with cancer, obesity, and more.

Hormone replacement 

  1. Bioidentical hormone replacement: One factor about delaying aging significantly was not mentioned in the review article by Monica Jimenez. But I am including it, because bioidentical hormone replacement is important for women who undergo menopause in their 50’s. I also mention it because men enter andropause in their 60’s. BiEst estrogen and progesterone cream make a big difference for the symptoms of menopausal women. Similarly, men experience a lot of relief with testosterone injections twice a week, when blood testosterone levels are low. If they have a lack of erections (erectile dysfunction) they may in addition need to take the “happy pill”. Sildenafil or tadalafil can treat erectile dysfunction by giving a good erection to a menopausal male. Hormone replacement can add as much as 10 healthy years to your life.

Discussion

Dr. Booth said: “We’re looking at the same question through different lenses with different tools, technologies, and perspectives. Progress in aging research is only going to be achieved by bringing together different disciplines addressing the same problem.”

Christopher Wiley added: “The biggest change I’ve seen in the past ten years is that we really are finding new, different ways of actually intervening somewhere that could potentially extend the healthy years of life, and prevent people from getting age-related diseases.” He mentioned that scientists are gradually reducing the suffering associated with aging: “What aging research is really trying to do is compress the morbidity and make it as small as possible – to alleviate suffering,” Wiley said. “I think that’s a much more humanitarian goal, and I think we’re having a lot of success with those efforts.”

Living with the Aging Process

Living with the Aging Process

Conclusion

Aging is a slow process that starts the moment we are born. But between the age of 50 and 80 we age faster. I mentioned 5 specific areas that can slow down the aging process. If somebody smokes, he/she must stop smoking. Cigarette and tobacco smoking  the biggest aging factor. The protective caps at the end of each chromosome go by the name of telomeres. When they shorten prematurely, mistakes occur in the DNA copies of genetic information. This leads to premature aging.

What keeps you younger for longer

The good news is that exercise, the fasting mimicking diet and several supplements can elongate telomeres. A healthy diet like the Mediterranean diet and regular exercise keeps the arteries open preventing heart attacks and strokes. Bioidentical hormone replacement helps to rebalance your hormones, which is important for normal cell function. In anti-aging circles they talk about life prolongation of about 10 years for hormone replacement alone. It comes down to not simply extend your lifespan, but to extend your years of healthy living without disability.

Jun
17
2023

Telomeres can Protect you from Premature Aging

Longer telomeres can protect you from premature aging, and shorter telomeres lead to premature death and various diseases. But recently new research showed that sometimes longer telomeres can be responsible for cancer and lower life expectancy. I will discuss this further below.

Some facts about telomeres

Telomeres are the caps on the chromosomes that do not contain genes, but are important for cell division. When cells divide, the DNA with all the genetic information about us replicates. With cell division each copy of our DNA ends up in a new cell, but the telomere gets shorter with every cell division. The enzyme telomerase is able to lengthen our telomeres. A healthy Mediterranean diet, regular exercise, not smoking cigarettes, sleeping 7 or 8 hours every night are all factors that stimulate elongation of our telomeres. When telomeres are short, they can no longer divide, but the cells turn into senescent cells. They no longer divide, but they stay metabolically active and are significant in the diseases of the aging. They cause osteoarthritis, hardening of the arteries and cancer.

Mice with hyper-long telomeres live much longer than control animals and they have lower LDL cholesterol levels.

Animal studies confirm that short telomeres mean shorter lifespan

There were animal studies that showed that telomeres shorten more slowly in long-lived birds and mammals.

A study looked at the telomere shortening rates of different animal species. They found that those species that had the fastest telomere shortening rate were also the ones with the shortest life span.

Shorter telomeres can also cause several chronic health conditions.

Telomerase helps to keep telomeres from shortening

An important ingredient in every body cell is the enzyme telomerase. It attaches to telomeres and adds DNA to telomeres thus elongating them. Many healthy lifestyles increase telomerase and help shortened telomeres to get longer again.

What preserves the length of your telomeres?

I have previously reviewed factors that elongate telomeres. Here is a summary of this information.

Telomere length enhancers

  1. Lifestyle changes can have positive effects on telomere length. Examples are smoking cessation, weight loss and stress reduction.
  2. Dietary changes: we know that fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids) supplements elongate telomeres as does a low-fat diet.
  3. Supplements like vitamin D3, antioxidants (vitamin C and E) and astragalus (TA-65) elongate telomeres as well.  The astragalus supplement, TA-65 showed a significant elongation of telomeres after 12 months while controls lost telomere length.
  4. Exercise: in a 24-week experiment of care workers regular aerobic exercise increased the telomeres by 67.3 base pairs.
  5. Bioidentical hormone replacement in aging people: when hormones are missing after andropause and menopause, the natural hormones need replacing, or the telomeres are shortening.
  6. High cortisol levels cause telomere shortening.
  7. Human growth hormone elongates telomeres via telomerase activation.
  8. The fasting mimicking diet (FMD) was shown to extend life and telomeres as well.

Conflicting research about longer telomeres

A publication in the New England Journal of Medicine dated May 4, 2023 showed that patients with a POT1 mutation had long telomeres.  This mutation caused cancers, brain tumors, B- and T-cell lymphomas and bone marrow cancers. The long telomeres facilitated cancer growth. Normally this type of mutation is rare and in patients without this mutation long telomeres would lead to longevity.

Dr. Joshua Berkowitz, the Medical Director of IV Boost UK, said that further research needs to focus on the following: “Identifying genetic and epigenetic factors that contribute to aging and longevity, understanding the role of the microbiome in aging and longevity, and investigating the role of senescent cells in aging and age-related diseases.”

Telomeres can Protect you from Premature Aging

Telomeres can Protect you from Premature Aging

Conclusion

Our telomeres are needed for cell division. When telomeres get shorter with age there is a consensus that this leads to a potentially dangerous situation. The cells turn into senescent cells. They no longer divide, but they stay metabolically active and are causing the diseases of the aging. These are osteoarthritis, hardening of the arteries, cancer and many more. On the other end of the spectrum with regular exercise, a Mediterranean diet and a normal weight, telomeres can get elongated, which for most people means a longer life expectancy. However, recent research showed that patients with a POT1 mutation are vulnerable to facilitating cancer growth and premature death. Fortunately, the POT1 mutation is rare. Future research will clarify what the safest way is to achieve longevity.

Jun
26
2021

Being A Morning Person Can Prevent Depression

A British study concluded that being a morning person can prevent depression. It was reviewed also in CNN. The study used sleep data from 85,000 UK participants in the Great Britain Biobank Study. They wore wrist activity monitors that provided sleep data. Researchers compared the sleep data with the self-reported mood changes. They found that if the sleep pattern is misaligned with the circadian rhythm, those who are night owls are at a higher risk of developing mood disorders. The controls were those who were morning persons. They were not affected by the misalignment effect.

Normal sleep pattern

Natural sleep habit or the circadian rhythm starts between 10 PM and 11 PM and continues for 7 to 8 hours. Your hormones are replenished during your sleep. This helps your body’s hormones and the immune system to restore itself overnight.

“The health problems associated with being a night owl are likely a result of being a night owl living in a morning person’s world, which leads to disruption in their body’s circadian rhythms”. This is what sleep specialist Kristen Knutson said. She is an associate professor of neurology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Reclaim your natural sleep habit

The key is to learn to live within your circadian rhythm pattern. Caffeine is a powerful stimulant and will stop you from falling asleep. For this reason, it is best to avoid caffeine-containing beverages. If you cannot live without your favourite cup of java, switch to the decaffeinated version. Stop using LED lights (from TV, computers, tablets or smartphones) 2 hours prior to your bedtime. Use dark curtains and enjoy a comfortable bed. Maybe read that thriller, earlier in the day instead of making it your bedtime story. And do yourself a favour: you do not need the eleven o’clock news on TV!  They will probably stop you from falling asleep. Go to sleep between 10PM and 11PM.

Children can have problems with sleep disturbances and depression

Another study published March 22, 2021 in the Jama Network showed that depression had an association with sleep disturbances in youth and children.

A meta-analysis of 16 publications looked at depression and disturbed sleep. It showed that depression was 1.5-fold higher in sleep disturbed youths/children compared to controls with a normal sleep pattern.

Other studies re. being a morning person can prevent depression

Another study with Dr. Knutson as the lead author appeared in 2018. The authors found that various health conditions, mood disorders and mortality were on the increase the more the sleep rhythm deviated from the circadian rhythm. Morning persons were protected from this effect. But night shift workers and night owls were at a higher risk of disease. Specifically, they found the following associations for evening types.

  • Evening types compared to morning types had a 1.94-fold risk of psychological disorders
  • The risk of diabetes was 1.30-fold for evening types
  • Neurological disorders had a 1.25-fold risk in evening types
  • Gastrointestinal/abdominal disorders occurred 1.23-fold more often in evening types
  • respiratory disorders were 1.22-fold more common in evening types
  • Evening types had a 10% increased risk of all-cause mortality

The researchers concluded that externally imposed timing of work and social activities has potentially serious health consequences.

Circadian misalignment responsible for disease

Dr. Knutson also said: “Circadian misalignment could also lead to inadequate sleep duration and quality, which could also impair mood and exacerbate mood disorders.”

In other words, circadian misalignment to circadian rhythm problems. This can cause mood disturbances, but eventually lead to the diseases listed above.

Evidence of health risks in night shifts workers

The medical literature is full of examples that the health of night shift workers is significantly affected by circadian misalignment. Here are a few examples.

1.Here is a random selection to illustrate the health risks of night shifts workers. A study from 2015 examined the sleep patterns of 315 shift nurses and health care workers in Iranian teaching hospitals. They found that 83.2% suffered from poor sleep and half of them had moderate to excessive sleepiness when they were awake.

2.This South Korean study examined 244 male workers, aged 20 to 39 in a manufacturing plant. Researchers compared blood tests from daytime workers to blood tests from night shift workers. They also obtained inflammatory markers like the C-reactive protein and leukocyte counts. Night shift workers had significantly higher values. The investigators concluded that shift workers have increased inflammatory markers. This is a sign of a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the future.

Higher mortality and higher cancer risk in nighttime workers

3. A Swedish study found that white-collar shift workers had a 2.6-fold higher mortality over a control group of daytime white-collar workers.

4. Another study compared night workers in the age group of 45 to 54 with daytime workers and found a 1.47-fold higher mortality rate in the night shift workers.

5.In a study from China 25,377 participants were part of a study that investigated cancer risk in males with more than 20 years of night shift work. They had a 2.03-fold increased risk to develop cancer compared to males working day shifts. Women with night shift work in this study showed no effect with regard to cancer development.

Healthy telomeres with healthy sleep pattern

It is true that you can suffer multiple health problems, as all of your hormones depend on the resetting during your deepest sleep between 2AM and 4AM triggered by the nighttime melatonin response. Even your telomeres, the caps of chromosomes in every cell get shortened from too much stress and too little sleep.

One example of such a study comes from Milan, Italy. https://oem.bmj.com/content/75/Suppl_2/A480.1

In this 2018 study researchers compared 46 nurses who had worked in night shifts with 51 nurses working day shifts. Among the night shift workers breast cancer was common, but not among day workers.

Shortened telomeres, hypomethylation of BRC1 gene and p53 gene

In the night shift nurses from Milan there was hypomethylation of the breast cancer gene BRC1. There was also hypomethylation of the general cancer gene p53. At the same time significant telomere shortening occurred in night shift nurses who had worked night shifts for more than 15 years. This likely all worked together in causing night nurses to develop breast cancer more frequently.

Shortened telomeres mean a shortened life span. The reason for this is that people with shortened telomeres develop heart attacks, strokes and cancer. This is what shortens the life span. How do we avoid this risk? Go back to healthy sleep habits. As mentioned above it is best to start going to sleep between 10PM and 11PM and sleep for 7 to 8 hours. Night owls delay going to sleep by 2 to 3 hours.

Being A Morning Person Can Prevent Depression

Being A Morning Person Can Prevent Depression (click image to enlarge)

Conclusion

A publication in Molecular Psychiatry demonstrated that evening person (night owls) are more likely to develop depression. This is in comparison to morning persons. As discussed, other researchers showed that evening persons also can develop diabetes and neurological disorders. In addition, respiratory disorders and gastrointestinal disorders are more common in night owls as well. When it comes to mortality, evening persons have a 10% increase of mortality over morning persons. There is a large body of literature regarding diseases of night shift workers. Night Shift work is perhaps the most extreme example of a circadian misalignment. It leads to poor sleep, inflammation in the body, increased cancer risk and higher mortality compared to day shift workers.

Prevent telomere shortening

Even the telomeres get shortened in night owls and night shift workers. We can prevent problems like these by going to bed in time and sleeping according to our circadian rhythm. If you had a poor night’s sleep, make up for it with the help of an afternoon nap. Do not sleep all afternoon though; half an hour or one hour will be enough. Even a short, restful nap after coming home from work can restore your feeling of wellness.

Nov
07
2020

Removal of Senescent Cells Can Extend Life

Several animal and human studies by the Mayo Clinic showed that removal of senescent cells can extend life. Researchers Xu et al. showed in 2018 that senescent cells weaken the body. Senescent cells are damaged cells that are still living. They can cause the release of inflammatory cytokines. The researchers showed in mouse experiments that intermittent senolytics increased life expectancy by 36%. Senolytics are drugs that dissolve senescent cells; the senolytic cocktail consisted of dasatinib plus quercetin.

In these mouse experiments their risk of dying was reduced by 65% compared to control mice that did not take senolytics.

Senescent cells causing premature aging

In the past 5 years research on aging and on chronic diseases made a lot of progress. Researchers realized that the accumulation of senescent cells is what causes both. All this happens because the process of apoptosis, the removal of dead cells, is impaired in the aging person. It appears that in older age there is a problem with dying cells and their removal. Instead they linger on and start producing cytokines, which cause inflammation. This can damage other cells and lead to organ failures. All this explains why older people often get chronic diseases and do not reach their normal lifespan. The accumulation of senescent cells also blocks regenerative factors that improve one’s health.

Senolytics

Dasatinib is a kinase inhibitor that was developed to treat acute myelogenous leukemia in adults and children. Researchers did animal experiments with a combination of dasatinib and quercetin for several years. They also have started smaller pilot clinical trials in humans. It appears that the human findings are very similar to the animal findings. But more research is needed to answer questions about side-effects and effects of removal of senescent cells.

Details about animal experiments with senolytics

The Mayo Clinic research showed that old mice treated with senolytics (dasatinib and quercetin) live 36% longer than controls that did not receive senolytics. Another part of this series of experiments showed that senescent cells are indeed what kills prematurely. They took senescent cells from old mice and transplanted them into young mice. Soon the young animals showed deterioration health wise and they died prematurely. Another control group were older mice that received senescent cells from old mice. They too died prematurely. Treatment with senolytics (dasatinib and quercetin) improved physical functioning and also survival.

Details about human trials regarding senolytics

For three days 11 participants received senolytics (dasatinib and quercetin). The effect of the drugs was evident for 11 days. The subjects took 100 mg of dasatinib daily and 500 mg of quercetin twice per day for 3 consecutive days. This dose was repeated twice more on a weekly basis for a total of 3 weeks. These patients had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This is an incurable disease where senescent cells accumulate. These patients showed significantly improved gait speed, walking endurance, chair rise test performance and scores of other physical performances. All this occurred on day 5 after the initial dose of senolytics.

Alternative senolytics, so removal of senescent cells can extend life

Dasatinib as a senolytic has significant side effects.

For this reason, researchers looked for alternatives. Theaflavins, isolated from black tea fits this bill. It is non-toxic, but it is also effective as a senolytic. Researchers from Life Extension have developed a senolytic product containing theaflavins and quercetin. Instead of regular quercetin they included quercetin phytosome, which has 50-times more potent bioavailability. One capsule contains 74 mg of quercetin phytosome (the equivalent of 1250 mg of regular quercetin) and 275 mg of theaflavins.

Discussion

Future research needs to show whether or not the Life Extension senolytic indeed does what it promises. It claims that only one capsule per week stimulates apoptosis, reduces cytokines and increases longevity. I would like to see a clinical study that examines all these parameters. One measure of longevity is to determine the length of leukocyte telomeres. All the other laboratory tests are readily available. Research in this field will certainly continue and scientists will likely develop other senolytics.

Removal of Senescent Cells Can Extend Life

Removal of Senescent Cells Can Extend Life

Conclusion

The accumulation of senescent cells causes both aging and chronic diseases. Research showed that in older age the process of apoptosis, the removal of dying cells, is incomplete. As a result dying cells accumulate. They produce inflammatory cytokines, can damage other healthy cells and lead to chronic organ failure. In addition, cancer cells can develop and the patients can die prematurely. Senolytics are substances that clear out senescent cells. In mouse experiments they have already led to improved survival and health. Clinicians performed a clinical trial on patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which is an incurable disease where senescent cells accumulate. They showed significantly improved gait speed, walking endurance, chair rise test performance and scores of other physical performances. One pill once per week with dasatinib and quercetin can achieve this. More research in this area can clarify why senolytics work and what the side effects are.

Mar
14
2020

Telomeres are Important

In the first place, Dr. Joseph Raphaele reviewed why telomeres are important at a Conference in Las Vegas in December 2019. This was at the 27th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas from Dec. 13 to 15, 2019. The actual title of his lecture was: “Telomeres in 2019; clinical developments and cutting-edge applications”.

Notably, Dr. Raphaele reviewed how various animals have quite different life expectancies. First, the Aldabra giant tortoises, for instance can live up to 152 years. Second, the house mouse can at the most live up to 6 years, but its predator, the cat lives up to 38 years. Finally, humans can live up to 122.5 years.That is to say, the average mortality rate doubling curve of man is 8 years. Dr. Raphaele introduced the terms “lifespan” and “health-span”.

Lifespan versus health-span

The first thing to remember is that our lifespan is defined by the number of years we live. On the contrary, the health-span is defined by the number of years you do not have any disease and your physical and mental health are good. Dr. Raphaele explained that for the most part the body’s organs have a limit of functioning after 80. For this reason the kidneys, the maximum heart rate, the maximum breathing capacity and the maximum work rate (oxygen uptake) all decline after the age of 80. It is important to realize that in 1961 Dr. Leonard Hayflick showed that there is a limit of how often cells can divide. After 60 doublings cells in tissue culture either die or just stop dividing. The built-in molecular clock resides in the telomeres. The telomeres are the caps at the end of the chromosomes in the cell’s nucleus.

Telomeres and their function in aging

In a word, what is the function of telomeres? In essence, the telomeres protect the integrity of our genes. For the most part, they protect the chromosomes from deteriorating, prevent DNA fusion and massive instability of the genes. In addition, the telomeres allow the cells to divide in an orderly fashion, but only up to the Hayflick limits. In short, the bottom line is that telomeres prevent cells from mutations of the DNA, from senescence and from death.

Shortening of telomere length with age

Dr. Raphaele said that one of the important findings was that telomere length is shortening with age. Notably, he showed a slide similar to this. To clarify, this graph shows telomere length as a function of the lifespan in years. The telomere length is obtained by a blood test. This determines the length of the telomeres in white blood cells. At a young age it has a length of between 8 and 10 kb. kb stands for kilobase. A kilobase consists of 1,000 pairs of nucleic acid sequences. So, 10 kb means 10,000 pairs of nucleic acid sequences. Around the age of 80 people have much shorter telomeres, only 4 to 6 kb. There is an enzyme, called telomerase that can elongate telomeres by approximately 10%. But this may not be desirable as too much telomerase activation can also stimulate cancer growth.

Age changes telomere length

Dr. Raphaele explained further that a telomere loses about 100 base pairs per cell division. But there are other factors that shorten telomeres. Smoking, sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, stress and a low antioxidant status all can shorten telomeres. Certain congenital conditions can shorten telomeres by 28%. Dyskeratosis congenita is such a condition where 80% patients die by the age of 30 due to aplastic anemia. This is associated with bone marrow failure. 10% of these patients die from cancer. Apart from age, which shortens telomeres slowly, lifestyle factors are very important. A good lifestyle where you exercise regularly, you don’t smoke and you eat a healthy diet will slow down the shortening of your telomeres. Controlling your stress, sleeping enough hours per night and taking supplements also delays telomere shortening. Certain medications that control diabetes, high blood pressure or thyroid medication that treats hypothyroidism also delay telomere shortening.

Telomeres and shortened lifespan

Researchers could show that good lifestyle practices work by increasing telomerase to a certain degree. This results in lengthening of telomeres and translates into up to 10 years of increased life span. Jerry Shay, PhD said in 2011: “While the aging process is complex and certainly cannot be explained solely on the basis of telomere biology, there is a growing consensus that in some situations telomere biology and telomere tests may have important utility similar to cholesterol assays or blood pressure monitoring measurements.”

Telomeres are not just a biological clock inside our cells. They have a great influence on the function of mitochondria and on how many mitochondria multiply inside cells. This latter process is called mitochondrial biogenesis. In addition, telomeres regulate gene expression.

Chronic diseases associated with shortened telomeres

Here is a list of chronic diseases where all the patients have shortened telomeres.

  • High blood pressure
  • Hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis)
  • Cancer
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Diabetes and obesity
  • Chronic stress
  • Metabolic syndrome

Telomeres in cardiovascular disease

Telomere length was found to be shortened in those who developed a heart attack. Researchers compared the telomere length in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients to people with no history of heart attacks. In comparison to this normal group the heart attack victims had telomeres typical for people who are chronologically 11.3 years older than the healthy controls. The researchers calculated that people with telomere shortening had a 3-fold higher risk of coming down with a heart attack.

Telomere length enhancers

  1. Lifestyle changes can have positive effects on telomere length. Examples are smoking cessation, weight loss and stress reduction.
  2. Dietary changes: we know that fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids) supplements elongate telomeres as does a low-fat diet.
  3. Supplements like vitamin D3, antioxidants (vitamin C and E) and astragalus (TA-65) elongate telomeres as well. The astragalus supplement, TA-65 showed a significant elongation of telomeres after 12 months while controls lost telomere length.
  4. Exercise: in a 24-week experiment of care workers regular aerobic exercise increased the telomeres by 67.3 base pairs.
  5. Bioidentical hormone replacement in aging people: when hormones are missing after andropause and menopause, the natural hormones need replacing, or the telomeres are shortening.
  6. High cortisol levels cause telomere shortening.
  7. Human growth hormone elongates telomeres via telomerase activation.
  8. The fasting mimicking diet (FMD) was shown to extend life and telomeres as well.

Therapeutic rationale for telomere lengthening in CAD and AD

Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) are at risk for developing heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases. Here is an overview of many clinical trials that have been done in humans with CAD. It shows shortening of telomeres in these high-risk patients. But the review also shows that telomeres can lengthen by changing the risk factors of cardiovascular disease. Researchers were increasing the enzyme telomerase that indirectly lengthens telomeres. Both approaches prevent serious cardiovascular disease and increase life expectancy significantly. In severe cases of telomere shortening the physician can consider TERT gene therapy.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) also is a condition where telomeres are shortened compared to normal controls. Time will tell whether TERT gene therapy is possible to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Telomeres are Important

Telomeres are Important

Conclusion

Telomeres are the caps of the chromosomes in our cells. In the past the word “telomere” appeared obscure and only scientists discussed this among themselves. Now we know that telomere shortening is often the reason for chronic illnesses like high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and obesity. Patients who have these conditions often have shortened telomeres in their white blood cells. Over the years we have learnt that lifestyle changes can have positive effects on telomere length. Smoking cessation, exercise, weight loss and stress reduction are elongating telomeres.

Additional factors elongating telomeres

In addition, supplements like antioxidants (vitamin C and E), vitamin D3 and astragalus root (TA-65) elongate telomeres as well. By elongating telomeres, a person can add 10 to 11 years of disease-free life to the normal life expectancy. Researchers showed that telomerase activation by human growth hormone increased telomere length without causing cancer. Dr. Thierry Hertoghe, an endocrinologist from Belgium spoke about HGH replacement in aging people on other occasions. He said that cautiously treating patients with low doses of HGH when blood tests showed deficiency, adds about two decades of life-expectancy to these patients’ lives.

Feb
22
2020

Clinical Applications of the Fasting Mimicking Diet

Dr. Kurt Hong, professor of clinical medicine spoke about clinical applications of the fasting mimicking diet in Las Vegas. This was at the 27th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine on Dec. 14, 2019. Although he spoke on various forms of fasting, he concluded that the fasting mimicking diet had the best results and was most consumer-friendly.

How we age

Dr. Hong reviewed the processes of aging. We age, because our cells experience oxidative damage and our telomeres (the end caps of our chromosomes) get shorter in time. We also age, because there are genetic mutations in our cells’ DNA and our mitochondria are aging as well. The mitochondria are the small energy packages inside the cells that give us energy. When people age, they have lost mitochondria, there is less energy that the body makes out of food and we feel chronically tired.

Above the age of 65 we are also likely to develop diseases of various organs:

  • Heart disease: 31%
  • Cancer: 24%
  • Chronic lung disease (lower respiratory disease): 21%
  • Alzheimer’s disease: 13%
  • Diabetes: 11%

Women are generally healthier than men and their life expectation is 4 to 5 years longer than that of men.

Cellular and molecular aging

Longevity researchers have done mouse experiments and human clinical trials for decades. Dr. Hong asked the question: how much longer could humans live, if we could cure cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes? The answer is: 13 years. But if we transfer the animal data to humans it should be 30 years of longer life. Why is there such a discrepancy? The answer is that it is easy to force good lifestyles onto animals, but humans are resistant to changes. Humans have their habits; they like to continue to smoke and eat fast food instead of switching to a healthier Mediterranean diet. Humans also resist a regular exercise program. And they do not want to hear that they should replace missing hormones with bioidentical ones. The result is that we humans will prolong our lives only by less than 50% of what we could achieve.

The concept of intermittent fasting

Dr. Hong stated, that ten thousand years ago, people did not always have enough food to eat. They were forced to intermittently fast. That did not mean that they had long life expectancies, as there was no cure for any disease. But one fact was true: the body learnt to rejuvenate itself during periods of fasting. And these longevity genes are still present in our genes. But they will only help us when we actually fast for some periods of time.

Dr. Hong reviewed what kind of fasting methods are available.

Prolonged fasting and juice fasting are not among the options. With prolonged fasting electrolyte disturbances become an issue. Juice fasting does not remove enough calories and nutrients. This, however is needed to allow the body to stimulate the longevity genes.

How fasting diets work

Dr. Hong explained that there are essentially 5 fasting diets that are effective in regulating the key nutrient sensitive pathways of IGF-1, TOR and PKA. This increases cellular protection and maintenance. It also increases activation of stress resistance pathways and removes and replaces damaged and dysfunctional cells. Finally, a fasting diet also reduces inflammation, which is often the start of disease.

A review of the 5 fasting diets

Time-restricted eating (TRE)

With TRE the person fasts for 12 to 16 hours every day. The person restricts the daily food consumption to a 4- to 12-hour window. The disadvantage is that this fast is done every day. The period of fasting may not be long enough to change the metabolism, where the above-mentioned effects take place.

Alternate-day fasting  

This is a 24-hour fast every other day with a 1:1 day eating-fasting cycle. This does not appear to be physiological and is disruptive with regard to social activities.

5:2 intermittent fasting

With this fast you fast for 2 days every week. With this 2:5 eating-fasting cycle the person fasts for 2 days every week; the other 5 days you eat as much as you desire.

Although this is effective, it can be quite disruptive to your lifestyle.

Periodic fasting

You fast for 48 to 72 hours every couple of months. This fast is socially more acceptable. It is not that often, just a couple of times in a year. The question remains whether it is effective in changing the metabolism to trigger the effects mentioned above.

Fasting-mimicking diet (FMD)

The original suggestion by Dr. Longo, the inventor of the FMD was that you should fast for 5 days once every month. Since then he has modified it and said that you can achieve similar metabolic changes, if you only fast for 3 days and do this a couple of times per year. I have done the FMD since December 2017 and I adhere to the original schedule of doing the FMD monthly for 5 days. This has provided me with more energy. It is easier to keep my body mass index in the 21.0 to 22.0 range. Dr. Hong explained that the FMD allows you to eat, but it tricks the body into acting like you are fasting. Because you are eating 500 to 600 calories per day, you are getting some fluid and nutrients, so the hunger pangs are tolerable.

More details about the FMD

Here is Dr. Hong’s summary about the FMD: “The stomach sees food, while the cells see fasting”. Dr. Hong said that the FMD is the most user-friendly method of fasting. It also has had the most scientific studies to validate that it is indeed working. Poorly functioning mitochondria and misfolded proteins are removed by a process of phagocytosis. The FMD reduces heart disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders. Stem cell production also gets a boost. This promotes cell regeneration and reduces risk factors of premature aging.

Publication on the effectiveness of the FMD

A publication came out in 2017 reporting about the findings of a clinical trial regarding the FMD.

Researchers followed markers of aging, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease in 100 volunteers. They underwent a FMD for 5 days on 3 consecutive months. The results were astounding. The body mass index, the fasting blood sugar level, triglycerides, total and LDL cholesterol and the CRP were all lower. CRP stands for C-reactive protein, which measures the degree of inflammation in the body. The blood pressure was also lower. Overall the 5-day FMD was a safe method with no side effects. The FMD reduced markers and risk factors of aging and age-related diseases. In doing so it prolongs life by reducing the likelihood of coming down with disease.

Who should abstain from fasting?

Dr. Hong mentioned that the FMD is not for everybody. Pregnant women should refrain from going on it, also type 1 and type 2 insulin dependent diabetics. Anybody who has a sign of an active infection (coughing, having a fever or diarrhea) should be excluded. Other exclusions are people who are underweight (BMI less than 18.5) or are malnourished (protein deficiency). Patients with heart failure and advanced kidney or liver disease should not take part in a fasting program.

Autoimmune diseases and FMD

The myelin sheath around the axon of nerve cells in the central nervous system are supported by oligodendrocytes. In multiple sclerosis (MS) patients T lymphocytes activate macrophages and B cells to produce autoantibodies. They destroy oligodendrocytes breaking down the insulating barrier of the myelin sheath. In MS patients the broken-down myelin sheath suppresses the electrical impulses transmitted through the nerve fibers. The FMD led to clinical improvements.

In a pilot study intermittent fasting changed the gut flora into a healthier flora.

This triggered the immune system in the gut to make less inflammatory T cells producing the IL-17 cytokines. There was also an increase in regulatory T helper cells.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBM) can be improved with several courses of FMD. As the authors showed, intestinal inflammation improved with FMD. The intestinal gut flora improved with the FMD and it promoted intestinal regeneration.

Reversal of physical and functional decline

The fasting mimicking diet (FMD) has a variety of effects on the human body. Dr. Hong showed a slide where we could see that ketone bodies, cortisol and ghrelin levels are increased in the blood. At the same time glucose, insulin, leptin and IGF-1 levels are reduced. In addition, triglycerides and LDL levels are getting lower. Inflammatory markers including the C-reactive protein (CRP) are reduced as well.

Effects of the FMD on various organs in the body

A look at all of the organs shows that in the liver the ketone body production and insulin sensitivity are up. Glycogen production in the liver as well as the liver size are down.

The intestines produce ketone bodies. In the skeletal muscles the insulin sensitivity is increased, while the muscle structure and function are improved. In the brain the hunger feeling increases the release of neurotropic factors including the neuropeptide Y. Cognitive function and stress resistance increase with the FMD. The FMD reduces inflammation and oxidative stress in the brain. With respect to the cardiovascular system the heart rate drops down and blood pressure gets lower. The insulin production in the pancreas is reduced.

Fatty tissue

In fatty tissue lipolysis is up and also the production of adiponectin. This is a protein hormone involved in glucose and fatty acid metabolism. Insulin sensitivity with the FMD is also increased. On the other hand, the FMD reduces fat mass, leptin production and inflammation.

The FMD is the solution to preventing disease and prolonging your life

All of these effects lead to a reversal of physiologic and functional declines. Age-related metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes are postponed or eliminated. The FMD prevents neuro-cognitive decline like Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, the risk of developing cancer is getting lower. In summary, the FMD improves the health-span, quality of life and can prepare you for a long life.

Clinical Applications of the Fasting Mimicking Diet

Clinical Applications of the Fasting Mimicking Diet

Conclusion

Dr. Kurt Hong is a professor of clinical medicine at UCLA. He gave a talk at the 27th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine in Las Vegas on Dec. 14, 2019. He discussed what we could do to help patients with various autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. It turns out that the fasting mimicking diet (FMD) is the best solution to reduce inflammation and modify  the autoimmune response from aggressive T lymphocytes. With the FMD you consume only 500 to 600 calories per day for 5 days every month. The rest of the days of the month you eat a healthy Mediterranean-type diet.

Fasting mimicking diet, the best way to treat autoimmune diseases

Dr. Hong explained in detail what cellular mechanisms are at work to achieve the modification of the immune system in autoimmune diseases. The FMD is also the solution to slow down aging in healthy people. Dr. Hong discussed clinical applications of the fasting mimicking diet fort autoimmune diseases. It is easier to prevent disease than it is to cure an illness. The FMD is an easier way, because you don’t fast completely, you only reduce your food intake to the bare minimum, but your body “thinks” that you are fasting.

Ultimately, this approach does take some effort, and it does take time to familiarize yourself with it. If patients do it for the first time, they will experience some hunger, the first and second day tend to be a hurdle! Once you make it part of a health routine on a regular basis, it is a lot easier.

Aug
10
2019

Fasting Mimicking Diet For 5 Days Every Month

In December 2017 I heard Dr. Longo speak at a medical conference in Las Vegas. He suggested the use of the fasting mimicking diet for 5 days every month. I am getting into the age group where a little help from nature would not harm (I am 74 years old). I started immediately in December 2017 to do a fasting mimicking diet (FMD) for 5 days.

Effects of fasting mimicking diet

In the beginning you just notice that you are not as hungry as you thought you would be, because you do take in three mini meals of about 200 calories each, which curbs your appetite. It is also important to consume enough liquids. Please note: liquids! Not liquor! Wine, beer or any alcoholic drinks are not part of the diet. You can drink water, but, this may get boring, and you can take water with lemon, herbal teas, black tea and coffee, as long as you stay away from sugar-laced drinks.

How the FMD works

Your total calorie intake will amount to no more than 600 calories per day for the 5 days where you do the fasting mimicking diet. Your body mass index (BMI) decreases between 0.1 and 0.4 per day to a total of 0.5 to 0.9 for the 5 days. This does not seem much, but if it is accumulating every month, a person who is obese now could have a normal weight within one year. The first day of this fast may present some challenges. I found that in the afternoon I felt hungry. What helped was a hot drink( tea, coffee, clear broth). Day two was better, and from day three it has become a routine. There are  no ferocious hunger pangs, no headaches or feelings of weakness or tiredness. I am always surprised that my energy level is improving when I do the fasting mimicking diet for 5 days every month.Dr. Longo suggests not to exercise during the fast. It is obvious that this time is not suitable for half- marathons or taxing hikes, but I found that thirty minutes of aerobics and thirty minutes of weight training felt good. Listen to your body! If you feel lightheaded at any time, stop! The emphasis is on “moderate”.

Dr. Longo noticed the following findings in a mouse model as well as on humans. I summarized this before in a previous blog:

Specific results when on the fasting mimicking diet for 5 days every month

  • Obesity diminishes, because of the weight loss effect due to missing calories.
  • Diabetes: insulin resistance becomes lower and blood sugar levels drop.
  • High blood pressure reduced: many patients were able to reduce their medications or discontinue them
  • Pain conditions improve as all kinds of pain disappears, an effect for which there is no explanation at this point
  • Autoimmune diseases like MS and rheumatoid arthritis improve, likely because of the effect of increased stem cell circulation
  • Prevention of heart attacks and strokes because of reduction of LDL, triglycerides and CRP
  • Cancer cure rates improve by protecting normal cells, the bone marrow and stimulating the immune cells
  • Longevity improved in mice with a 3-fold increase of their life span. Telomere length in humans was increased. Increased stem cells will find defective areas that need repair. This effect leads to less disease in older age.

Meal samples of fasting mimicking diet

Dr. Longo developed a kit containing all pre-packaged foods for 5 days under the name “ProLon Fasting Mimicking Diet”. The package is not larger than a shoebox, and the diet is plant-based, has some nutrition bars, drinks as well as freeze-dried soups. You can argue about the nutritional value, as it has an average rating of 3.5 out of 5. It also comes in at a hefty price of 300.00 USD. In reality it is a matter of calorie-math to consume very little food. There are plenty of tables available on the Internet that tell you the nutritional value of foods, and it does not take much effort to compose your own menu.

Here is a fairly typical list of foods

Breakfast: A typical breakfast consists of 2 slices of rye crisp bread (Wasa or Ryvita) with a bit of almond butter on it, a cup of coffee and either black or with stevia and milk.

Lunch: 8 oz. of tomato soup and coffee or tea.

Dinner: A tossed salad with organic bell peppers, ½ tomato, and two thin slices of avocado, vinegar and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Here is an alternative meal sample:

Breakfast: Eat a nutrition bar that is based on nuts. It should not be more than 250 calories. Alternatively make your own! Have tea or coffee.

Lunch: 8 oz. of homemade vegetable soup without the addition of pasta or beans.

Dinner: Miso soup and 4 rice crackers, alternatively a small tossed salad with olive oil and vinegar.

Results of fasting mimicking diet for 5 days every month

Here are typical results that I found over several months. I am using body composition scales every day to measure my weight, body fat percentage, visceral fat percentage, muscle percentage, calories burnt and the BMI.

One month the BMI went from 21.9 to 21.1 during a 5-day FMD. Another month the BMI experienced a reduction from 21.7 to 21. 2. Here is a list of the some of the 5-day losses of my BMI on a couple of occasions: 0.8, 0.4, 0.9, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.7 and so on.

It is important that you are not going on an eating binge after those five days. The FMD conditioned your body to be content with very small amounts of food. Enjoy your food, but stick to moderate portions.

Discussion of fasting mimicking diet for 5 days every month

An intermittent fasting mimicking diet was shown to have a diversified positive health effect in both animal models and humans. For instance, inflammatory bowel disease improves on FMD by improving the bowel microbiota and by promoting the intestinal regeneration.

Intermittent fasting, as this article shows, can prevent age-associated diseases.

This article suggests that T-killer cells that attack cancers are promoted by the intermittent fasting mimicking diet.

A FMD in type 1 diabetic patients has been shown to restore insulin generation in islets of the pancreas of these patients. The result was an improvement of their type 1 diabetes.

More research data on fasting mimicking diet

A clinical trial with 100 subjects was undertaken by Dr. Longo and his research team. He measured markers after 3 cycles of a fasting mimicking diet for 5 days every month. They found that the FMD reduced aging markers, improved diabetes and reduced susceptibility for cancer and cardiovascular disease. In another publication Dr. Longo and co-authors describe how autoimmune diseases can be improved by the use the fasting mimicking diet for 5 days every month.

Another publication by Dr. Longo describes that “age-related disorders including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and stroke” can be prevented by fasting mimicking diet for 5 days every month.

Even cancer prevention and cancer treatment can be helped by the fasting mimicking diet.  The FMD makes chemotherapy more tolerable.

Fasting Mimicking Diet For 5 Days Every Month

Fasting Mimicking Diet For 5 Days Every Month

Conclusion

I have shown that with the fasting mimicking diet (FMD) done for 5 days in every month you can lower your body mass index (BMI) by 0.4 to 0.9 units. On the long-term this helps you to keep your BMI stable and in the 21.0 to 22.0 range. Dr. Longo has researched the effect of the FMD in both mice and humans. He found that you age better with less age-related diseases. In addition, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune diseases like MS, rheumatoid arthritis and type-1 diabetes improve. Cancer patients who need chemotherapy tolerate it better. Their immune system also produces more killer T cells that destroy cancer cells. The FMD prevents heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Dr. Longo also has shown that there is stimulation of stem cell production and telomeres are increasing in length. Telomeres are important for longevity, which allows you to age healthier with less disease.

Incoming search terms:

Jun
08
2019

How Can We Prolong Our Lives?

The question “How can we prolong our lives?” is something that fascinates many people. It is not one thing, one activity, one diet, or one lifestyle factor that determines longevity. It is the combination of all of the things listed below that are necessary.

Longevity is partially inherited from your mother

The reason for this is that mitochondria in your body cells come from your mother’s body. As you know, the egg (ovum) contains the mitochondria (the energy packages of the cell). The sperm that is the winner penetrating the ovum is shedding the tail outside the ovum. The tail of the sperm had loads of mitochondria in it to give it the energy to wiggle its way up the Fallopian tube to meet the ovum. This is the reason why we all inherit our mitochondria from our mother. If there is longevity on your mother’s side, you likely will have the longevity gene as well. So, this certainly helps, but on the other hand, we cannot pick our ancestors! Don’t be discouraged! There is enough that you can do.

Diet

The best type of diet is a Mediterranean-type diet. There is a new fasting mimicking diet, that likely turns on latent longevity genes that need to be intermittently activated, if we are serious about wanting to increase longevity. Dr. Longo is the inventor of the fasting mimicking diet. I have discussed this in detail here. Briefly, it consists of eating 500 to 600 calories on 5 consecutive days. The rest of the month you eat normally. The important part is that Dr. Longo has shown in humans that telomeres get elongated by the 5-day protocol per month. Longer telomeres means longer life. This is what we want, because this adds life to our life expectancy!

Lifestyle

Don’t smoke and don’t do drugs. Drugs interfere with our hormone- and other cell surface receptors. Our body cells don’t like artificial chemicals from outside. Don’t overlook the fact, that alcohol is also a drug! Alcohol is a nerve and cell poison. It has been shown to even be toxic, so don’t drink all the time. If you want a drink here and there, you probably get away with it. But binge drinkers (6 drinks or more in one evening) are out of luck; their life expectancy is shorter than that of non-drinkers.

Exercise

Regular exercise recharges your mitochondria to give you extra energy. It conditions your heart and lungs and also your muscles. Many people think exercise would cause weight loss. But it is not leading to that much weight loss at all! What is more important is the fact that it is reducing the overall mortality from many diseases by up to 47%! Exercise also improves blood sugar control, energy levels and sleep patterns. There are also hidden benefits, as the heart is being conditioned and the lungs are improving their vital capacity from regular exercise, particularly aerobic exercises like running or using a treadmill. But muscle strength also benefits from regular exercise.

Get enough sleep

You need 7 to 8 hours of sleep, and it is best to go to sleep between 10 or 11 pm. During your sleep your brain is being renewed and your hormones are reloaded. There is a diurnal hormone rhythm that ensures you have enough energy for the following day. A Swedish study found that longtime shift workers had a 28% higher mortality compared to a control group of daytime workers: Shift work and mortality.

Vitamins and supplements

Some minimum vitamin and mineral supplements are helpful for longevity: Mornings: 2 capsules of molecularly distilled fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids). Two tablets of vitamin C 500 mg chewable, one capsule of 150mg of chelated magnesium, resveratrol 500mg, vitamin B complex B-50, zinc 30mg, vitamin K2 two capsules of 100 micrograms, vitamin D3 5000IU every morning, CoQ-10 400mg. Evenings: 2 capsules of molecularly distilled fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids). Vitamin B complex B-50, chelated magnesium 150mg, melatonin 3mg to fall asleep, valerian root 500mg capsule (if you have anxious thoughts); you may repeat melatonin and valerian root in the middle of the night, if you wake up at 2AM or 3AM in the morning.

Brief explanation for vitamin and mineral replacement

In case you wonder about the rationale of my suggestion for vitamin and mineral replacement, here is a brief explanation: vitamin C stimulates the adrenal glands and helps support the immune system. You get more energy and get fewer infections. Molecularly distilled fish oil is anti-inflammatory, helps prevent osteoporosis, but also prevents heart attacks by preventing inflammation of the arteries. Magnesium and zinc are co-factors in hundreds of biochemical reactions inside our cells, so this helps your metabolism.

Resveratrol an anti-aging supplement

Resveratrol is a bioflavonoid derived from red grapes. It has multiple beneficial effects. It lowers blood pressure, helps to control diabetes better and prevents osteoporosis. But resveratrol also elongates telomeres, which translated into a longer life and less diseases. B complex vitamins are good for energy and many metabolic processes. Vitamin K2 and vitamin D3 work together to get calcium out of our arteries and deposit calcium into our bones. This prevents osteoporosis, which is particularly important for postmenopausal women, but is also important for men. Resveratrol also prevents heart attacks and strokes. CoQ-10 is important to lower cholesterol, but also supports the metabolism of mitochondria, the energy packages of our cells.

Hormone deficiencies

We all know that there is menopause for women and andropause for men. But there are silent hormone deficiencies that are less well known. For instance melatonin secretion gets reduced fairly quickly after the age of 20. Between the age of 50 and 60 you are basically deficient for melatonin, so using a supplement of melatonin tablets would be very reasonable. Another hormone, namely human growth hormone (HGH) is very likely deficient in us by the time we are 50 to 60 years old. I will deal with this further below.

Menopause

Women get into menopause between 45 and 55, but they can get there earlier or later. Women are missing estrogen and progesterone. Many women were horrified by the Women’s Health Initiative result in 2002. But this trial involved synthetic hormones that the body did not like. So women got breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes from Premarin and Provera, both synthetic hormones. Had physicians been sensible and put them on bioidentical hormones instead, they would have prevented heart attacks, strokes and osteoporosis. They would also have prevented breast cancer and colon cancer. The proper way to replace missing hormones in women with menopause is to replace them with bioidentical progesterone cream and bioidentical estrogen cream.

Andropause

Men get into andropause between 55 and 65. The testicles will no longer provide the man with enough testosterone. This leads to lack of sex drive, erectile dysfunction, but also to more heart attacks, muscle weakness and a lack of energy. The problem is that there is not enough testosterone to stimulate the mitochondria. Mitochondria are very prominent in the heart muscle, skeletal muscles, but also in the brain. When the doctor confirms a lack of testosterone with blood tests, he orders replacement with bioidentical testosterone cream or by a simple testosterone injection twice per week. The man will feel better after a short period of time (4 to 6 weeks) as all his functions return back to normal.

Many speakers at anti-aging conferences, which I attend every December in Las Vegas, seem to agree that bioidentical hormone replacement adds 10 to 15 years of life both in men and women. It also gives people renewed energy, and they look younger.

Human growth hormone

Many people do not know that human growth hormone (HGH) is important for longevity in adults. In childhood it was important for bone growth. Growth hormone deficiency is the one factor that has been underestimated. The discussion of dwarfs in comparison to their healthy brothers and sisters showed us the following. Growth hormone production can add between 19 and 34 years (average 26.5 years) of life. Dr. Hertoghe, an endocrinologist from Belgium has done blood tests (IGF-1) and lately also 24-hour urine metabolite tests of growth hormone on aging patients and found that many were deficient with regard to HGH production. These were patients where Dr. Hertoghe already replaced their thyroid hormones, if abnormal and replaced their sex hormones when they were low.

Symptoms of human growth hormone deficiency

But they lost hair, developed old looking faces with wrinkles. In addition, a loss of subcutaneous fatty tissue is giving the face a hollow appearance. They also had muscle and joint pains and thin skin, particularly over the back of their hands.

Replacement of growth hormone

He replaced their missing HGH using daily HGH self-injection with a tiny needle (similar to diabetes injections). Within 1.5 to 3 years the wrinkles disappeared, the faces started to look younger and patients did feel younger. Their muscle and joint pains had disappeared and their hair grew back. The dosage range is between 0.1mg and 0.3mg, a tiny amount of HGH daily. This is not inexpensive, but some health care plans pay for this, as a lack of HGH is a true hormone deficiency.

How Can We Prolong Our Lives?

How Can We Prolong Our Lives?

Conclusion

I have given you an overview of the important elements of what increases longevity. The key is to have a healthy, balanced diet and leave junk food out. Don’t smoke and don’t drink excessive amounts of alcohol. No alcohol consumption would be best, because alcohol essentially is a nerve poison and can lead to dementia. Exercise regularly to lower mortality and strengthen your heart and lungs. Get enough rest and sleep to refresh your diurnal hormone rhythm. When we age, it is important to keep an eye on our hormones. You need a physician who is knowledgeable about it.

Hormone replacement

Hormones that are missing need to be replaced by bioidentical hormones. In addition you need to know what the level of IGF-1 is. HGH controls the IGF-1 level. If IGF-1 is low, you need HGH replacement. Studies have shown that replacement of missing HGH may be able to add 2 decades of good life. All of the other hormones replaced by bioidentical hormones will add 10 to 15 years. As stated in the beginning, there is not one thing only that increases longevity, but a combination of all these factors.

First published here: https://www.quora.com/What-increases-longevity/answer/Ray-Schilling

May
04
2019

You Need Consistency With Exercise

In order to exercise regularly, you need consistency with exercise. Many of us have made a New Year’s exercise resolution, but later gave up, because we decided to have other priorities.

A new publication examined why we often fail maintaining a regular exercise pattern. It was reviewed by CNN in this article:

Often with New Year’s come the resolution to exercise regularly. It seems to be the result of overdoing things during the holidays: too many parties, too many drinks, too much turkey dinner. But within a few weeks only 46% are only continuing to exercise, 54% stop doing it. Within the adult population in the United States 80% are not getting the minimum weekly 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise that they would need for good health. This is what the World Health Organization is recommending.

What can we do to belong to the successful minority that exercises regularly?

Figure out why you want to exercise

First of all, you need consistency with exercise and we need to be aware why regular exercise is important. Many people think exercise would cause weight loss. But it is not leading to that much weight loss at all! What is more important is the fact that it is reducing the overall mortality from many diseases by up to 47%! Exercise also improves blood sugar control, energy levels and sleep patterns. There are also hidden benefits as the heart is being conditioned and the lungs are improving their vital capacity from regular exercise, particularly aerobic exercises like running or using a treadmill. But muscle strength also benefits from regular exercise.

Change your mindset

Many people don’t consider themselves as “exercisers” and they lack the confidence of being able to exercise regularly. You need to re-program your mindset, but this may not be easy and you need consistency with exercise. You may want to set smaller goals that you can easily achieve. Over time you gradually increase your exercise goals. By actually doing some exercise regularly, you will overcome your temptations to quit exercising. Be flexible, as you may sometimes be faced with barriers to exercise as originally planned. Instead of going to the gym you may want to go for a brisk walk instead. As time goes on you will get regular exercise built into the routine of your day. Consider it as time for yourself and for your health.

Building a better exercise pattern

You want to build a strong pattern of exercising regularly. This way you do not have to decide whether or not you want to exercise today. When exercising is a habit, you simply do it out of habit. Simple cues like placing your exercise outfit somewhere prominently can help to remind you to exercise. There are other cues that can be useful, as a Canadian study showed.

Elongation of telomeres with regular exercise

Twin studies have shown that regular exercise elongates telomeres, the caps on chromosomes. Here is the explanation. This study showed that regular exercise can make your telomeres 9 years younger compared to a group that does not exercise regularly.

You Need Consistency With Exercise

You Need Consistency With Exercise

Conclusion

Exercising regularly brings tangible assets to your life in the form of improved cardiovascular fitness and up to 47% decreased mortality due to reducing the overall mortality from many diseases. You also feel more energetic, and other studies have shown that your telomeres get elongated. This translates into 9 years of longer life just because you exercise regularly! If you want more motivation, just stick a message on a wall, where you see it every day. “I’ll live 9 years longer.”

Apr
20
2019

Some Reasons For Variations In Cancer Rates

It can be confusing to see that various countries have big differences in cancer rates, but here I am giving some reasons for variations in cancer rates.

The following countries have high cancer rates: Denmark, France, Belgium, United States, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia.

These countries have low cancer rates: Niger, Yemen, Oman, Nepal, Mauritania, Gambia, Cape VerSe, Bhutan. These are only samples; it is not a complete list.

Short life expectancy in many low cancer rate countries

People in many low cancer rate countries do not live long lives because of parasitic infestations, bacterial infections and AIDS. Life expectancy in Gambia, for instance is only 61.15 years. People in Yemen suffer from malnutrition and the life expectancy is only 64.95 years. One can make an argument therefore that people do not live long enough to get a lot of cancer. Cancer is a disease of the older population, as DNA mutations, shorter telomeres, and loss of mitochondria in older cells cause many cancers.

These three countries have various cancer rates

Low cancer rates in India

India is one of the countries with lower cancer rates when compared to the US. Scientists have pointed out that 40% of Indians are consuming vegetarian diets without meat; (red meat consumed in high amounts like in the US is carcinogenic). India has some of the highest spice consumption in the world. We know that curcumin, for instance, has cancer-preventing qualities. You could say that Indians inadvertently treat themselves with herbal, non-toxic chemotherapy (curcumin and others spices) before a cancer even occurs. On the other hand India is a nation with high consumption of refined sugar, which is a factor that can cause cancer over a long period of time. The life expectancy in India is only 68.56 years, which skews the statistics towards lower cancer rates when one compares India to countries with a life expectancy of 80.0 years.

Why is Denmark a high cancer rate country?

The biggest factors are a reliable cancer reporting system, but also a high smoking rate among Danish women and high alcohol consumption in the Danish population. See below what these factors do.

Why is Oman a low cancer rate country?

A study done in Oman showed that a lot of people do not know that certain risk factors could be changed to lower the present cancer incidence. Cigarette smoking, passive smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, reduced intake of fruit and vegetables, increased consumption of red meat and processed meats, infection with HPV, being overweight, less physical activity and an age above 70 are all risk factors for cancer. At the present time Oman still compares favorably with the US, as there is less obesity in Oman. But the average person still eats fairly healthy with an emphasis on fruit and vegetables.

Increasing cancer rates in Oman

The cigarette consumption per year per person in Oman is 271.1 versus 1016.6 in the US. The life expectancy has increased from 50.47 in 1970 to 77.03 in 2016. Oman is expecting the cancer rate to double by the year 2030 due to the increasing life expectancy and lifestyle factors (more drinking, smoking and gaining weight from junk food). A lot of the differences in the cancer rates between the US and Oman are simply due to lifestyle differences. 

Cancer risk factors analyzed

What do the various cancer risks mean in terms of cancer development?

Cigarette smoking

About 480,000 premature deaths are caused by cigarette smoking in the US. This is due to a combination of cancer, heart attacks and strokes. Smoking causes cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas, stomach, cervix, colon, rectum, but also acute myeloid leukemia.

Passive smoking

Passive smoking is as bad, if not worse than smoking. This reference explains that a passive smoker has double exposure to cigarette smoke, namely to the smoke from the smoker, but also to the direct smoke from the burning cigarette. This means that a passive smoker may have exposure to a higher concentration of carcinogens than the smoker!

Excessive alcohol consumption

Heavy alcohol consumption introduces a cell poison into your body. If you drink more than 8 drinks per week as a woman or more than 15 drinks per week as a man, you are a heavy drinker. It leads to cancer of the mouth, esophagus, throat, colon, liver, breast and prostate. The data on prostate cancer is somewhat weaker.

Reduced intake of fruit and vegetables

Consumption of fruits and vegetables, but also foods high in fibre are known to reduce the risk of cancer. So, when you lower the intake of fruits and vegetables, you have less of a cancer protective effect, which leads to more cancer.

Increased consumption of red meat and processed meats

Another big factor about cancer causation is when you eat foods that contain known carcinogens. Such cancer causing substances are contained in red meat, processed meat like sausages, and salt-preserved foods.

Infection with HPV

Type 16 and 18 HPV virus is the cause of cervical cancer, penile cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, anal cancer, vulvar and vaginal cancer. It can be of concern for all sexually active people.

Being overweight

When a person gets overweight or obese, there is more estrogen production from the fat cells that circulate in your blood.  There is also more insulin production and IGF-1 production, which is a growth factor for cancer cells. Estrogen dominance due to estrogen production from fat cells with a relative lack of cancer-controlling progesterone tips the balance towards cancer development. These are the cancers that are common in obesity: breast (in women past menopause), colon and rectum, endometrium (lining of the uterus), esophagus, kidneys and pancreas.

Less physical activity

Breast cancer and colon cancer are reduced when people exercise regularly. This seems to be because of a reduction in circulating estrogen in women and because of reduced insulin and insulin-like growth factors. Even prostate cancer can be kept at bay with a regular brisk walk.

An age above 70

The medium age for cancer diagnosis is 66 years. This means that half of the cases are below this age, the other half above it.  25% of new cancer cases are diagnosed in the age group of 65 to 74. Age is an independent, but important risk factor for the development of cancer.

Sugar and starchy food consumption

Refined sugar and starchy foods lead to an accumulation of fat. At the same time there is a metabolic change with more insulin production and growth factors appear in the blood. It is these growth factors and an increase in estrogen (via aromatase) from the fat cells that lead to conditions that favor cancer development. Switch to a low-glycemic diet like a Mediterranean diet, and you can reverse this process.

Some Reasons For Variations In Cancer Rates

Some Reasons For Variations In Cancer Rates

Conclusion

It is never too late to reduce your cancer risk. No matter how old we are, it is never too late to live healthier, which translates into a stronger immune system. We can stop smoking, or cut out drinking too much. If we keep a healthy weight and eat a healthy diet we will stop chronic inflammation in our bodies and strengthen our immune system. We need to stay away from ultraviolet light (direct sun exposure). We also need to stay active, no matter whether it is choosing to take the stairs and take daily walks, or whether we exercise regularly in a gym.