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Antiaging medicine recognizes that stress of all kinds causes aging, and yet have not developed an individualized treatment for it.
There are countless sources of internal and external stress, and individual stress levels vary greatly.
One of the overlooked causes of internal stress is inadequate hydration.
Water is essential for the proper functioning of many internal functions. Too little or too much water causes age by producing stress. Interestingly, when one is chronologically old (80+) the perception of thirst decreases and dehydration can easily set in.
Other overlooked sources of stress are the antioxidants themselves. High doses (or doses above certain yet unspecified amounts) of supplemental antioxidants are a known cause of stress.
Many antioxidants are essential nutrients. Natural antioxidants, such as vitamin C and E, work synergistically. Antioxidants may be most effective if they are obtained from a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
Nutritionists recommend eating 6 or more daily servings of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. Everyone agrees that the use of antioxidant supplements for aging can be helpful, but there is no agreement on what the most effective supplement doses should be.
To be useful, antioxidant supplements must prevent other types of stress in addition to the stress they themselves create. Knowing the correct dosages of supplements that can do this is an essential part of antiaging treatment.
A healthy young person in their twenties, who is well nourished, will have less internal stress than an older person in their sixties. For a young individual, lower amounts of antioxidants may be safer than higher amounts.
An older person, whose many internal homeostatic mechanisms are less able to cope with internal stress, may benefit more from higher amounts of antioxidants. In theory, an anti-aging treatment based on antioxidants will reduce the rate at which cell damage occurs.
Cells will become senescent more slowly. Over time, as fewer senescent cells are replaced at a slower rate, the number of cells that retain longer telomere chains will be greater.
You can then reasonably expect this to translate into increased life expectancy.
For now, the recommended but imprecise approach to slowing the rate at which cell damage occurs is to increase your daily intake of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, slightly increase your antioxidant intake, and take multivitamins and small of antioxidants – Daily antiaging supplements.
A study has shown that taking a good multivitamin supplement is associated with longer telomere length.
Ideally, anti-aging treatment should be tailored to each individual. The key here would be to measure and minimize the cumulative effects of different types of stress individually. Practical easily measurable biomarkers for various types of stress do not yet exist or are not used.
When used, it will be easy to customize individual antioxidant doses so that everyone has “optimal” levels throughout their lifetime. “Optimal” levels would maintain a safe supply of protective antioxidants in the body.
Longevity & Nutrition
Nutrition plays a huge part on health and longevity. The most popular antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients associated with good health and anti-aging include: beta-carotene (vitamin A), vitamin C, vitamin E, various flavonoids, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. , Coenzyme Q10, lycopene, selenium.
There are dozens of supplements known to effectively treat specific symptoms of aging. Some of the more well-known supplements include: DMAE, acetyl-l-carnitine, L-carnosine, alpha lipoic acid, DHEA, L-arginine, and melatonin.
Good food contains some of the antioxidants mentioned above. Some other popular foods associated with anti-aging include: green tea, turmeric and red wine.
All of the above have unique biological properties and in my opinion are “good” for you if taken in small to moderate amounts.
Some (eg vitamin C) may also be “good” for you in larger amounts. Various studies on each of them may conflict with each other. You have to carefully research each substance on your own, but researchers have already found several nutrients associated with longer-than-average telomere lengths. These include: green tea, Omega-3, vitamins A, C, D and E.
You should also use your own response to each of them as your benchmark.
Vitamin E has been associated with anti-aging properties that lengthen telomeres.
Green tea contains many antioxidants, including vitamin C, E and flavenoids. Flavenoids form a large class of antioxidants (including catechins and quercetin) that have many anti-cancer, anti-hypercholesterolemic, antibacterial (help prevent tooth decay) and anti-inflammatory properties. The leaves of the tea plant are rich in polyphenols. Drinking 3 or more cups of green tea per day has been associated with longer than average telomere length.
Omega-3s are essential long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that are anti-inflammatory and help prevent heart disease, stroke, memory loss, depression, arthritis, cataracts and cancer. Omega-3 slows the shortening of telomeres; that is, they can protect against aging at the cellular level.
Vitamin C is an abundant water-soluble internal antioxidant that protects cellular components from free radical formation caused by pollution and cigarette smoke. Many studies have associated a high intake of vitamin C with lower rates of cancer of the mouth, larynx, and esophagus. Vitamin C has shown promise in treating premature aging and possibly aging itself.
Treating aging as a disease
The sooner you start some kind of antiaging treatment, the better, but it’s never too late to start. All real treatments will help you maintain a longer than average telomere chain length.
The goal of the programmed death theory of aging is to address the root causes of aging. This goal includes attempts to slow or reverse the process of telomere shortening. Two of these treatments are: TA 65 and human genetic engineering.
TA 65 is a telomerase activator product produced and marketed by Sierra Sciences. The key ingredient in TA 65 is Astragalus, a plant extract known to have telomerase-activating properties. The product may work, but I do not recommend it for several reasons. TA 65 is too expensive for the average person. Several expensive spas incorporate TA 65 into their programs. Again, these are beyond the financial reach of the average person. Sierra Sciences’ marketing tactics have been questioned by many and lawsuits are pending against TA 65.
The big problem I see with TA 65 is scientific honesty. The company genetically engineered mice that allowed telomerase to be turned off and on at an early age. TA 65 was able to turn telomerase back on in these mice and allowed them to live normal lives.
Using this to show the effectiveness of TA65 treatment is dishonest. This is not how telomerase normally works, and there was no real extension of lifespan beyond what it would have been without the genetic modification. In normal mice, the effects of TA65 were temporary and little or no life extension was observed.
Human genetic engineering might be the real answer to fighting and defeating aging. It can directly address the root causes of aging.
Advances in this area (eg CRISPR) make it possible to insert or delete DNA base pairs at a specific location in our DNA.
This means that the human genome can now be precisely edited as needed. The lifespan of old mice has been modestly increased by telomerase gene therapy. In humans, gene modification therapy has been used frequently for various medical problems.
On September 15, 2015, Elizabeth Parrish became the first human to undergo anti-aging gene therapy. Antiaging treatments will advance rapidly as our knowledge of the specifics of the human genome grows.
Current general socio-political attitudes seem to favor the development of anti-aging research. There are no internationally recognized political programs to stop aging or extend life, but since 2012 some pro-immortality political parties have emerged. Its goal is to support antiaging and life extension research, and help provide access to advances in these areas to everyone. Among the many organizations that support anti-aging research, the SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) organization has developed an anti-aging research plan.
They want to develop anti-aging therapies to repair most forms of cellular damage. SENS is a charity. Any anti-aging advances resulting from the funding it provides will become readily available public knowledge. In addition to normal scientific research, there is the $1,000,00 Palo Alto Longevity Prize offered to anyone who can provide an effective anti-aging treatment.
As of 2015, all known anti-aging treatments are only partially effective. Depending on when you start a comprehensive anti-aging program, you can probably extend your life by 10 to 25 years.
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health estimated that an anti-aging lifestyle can add 24.6 more productive years to life. Anti-aging knowledge increases at a rate of about 10 times every 10 years. This probably means that for many of us there is more than enough time to reap the benefits predicted in anti-aging research. One day soon, aging, like many other diseases, will be cured. While we wait for these anti-aging technological singularities to happen, the name of the game is to make sure we stay healthy long enough by repeating their benefits.
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