Landmark Study: Anti-Aging & Telomerase

In a landmark study demonstrating “proof of principle” of the feasibility and safety of “slowing or turning back the clock,” Spanish researchers gave aged mice a single treatment to stimulate genetic expression of telomerase that extended health and lifespan by up to 24 percent.

My company is defintely leads in the anti-aging arena. Check out this video. You will be amazed!!

http://www.isagenixhealth.net/blog/2012/05/16/telomerase-stimulation-extends-lifespan-in-mice/

Glutahione: The Queen of Anti-Aging Process

Article from: Isagenix Health News

What protects your cells from oxidative damage better than vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, lycopene, or any other antioxidant currently on the market?

The answer is glutathione. This slasher of pro-oxidants and quencher of free radicals is actually made by your cells, for your cells. The glutathione redox system is an antioxidant powerhouse within the body, and consuming certain foods such as whey protein boosts your glutathione levels, and in doing so may preserve your health and delay the onset of old cellular age.

The key to life is sustaining function while efficiently tackling the onslaught of toxins that overwhelm the body. Glutathione is integral in this oxidative balance, as it protects against dangerous oxidative species clamoring to break through the cell’s defenses and is responsible for the renewal of other antioxidant agents. Glutathione is queen in the battle for health and longevity—a protector we must protect. Losing the queen could mean you’re losing the battle.

Biological aging is the result of cellular decline now understood to be due to a combination of oxidative stress and telomere shortening. The health of the cell serves as a junction between biological, cellular, and functional aging. Glutathione wards off damage to cells that, according to the recent scientific literature, accompanies the dysfunction of telomeres and mitochondria that develops over time. 
In addition to environmental, dietary, and psychological stressors that wreak havoc on cells, byproducts of metabolism that are essential to sustain life will also break our bodies down. With living comes aging and the human condition exists in a Catch 22 of sorts.

Glutathione synthesis rapidly decreases as we age. Researchers have found that the elderly have about 50 percent less glutathione in their cells than younger, height- and weight-matched controls (2). Low glutathione levels are not just linked to aging, but also to higher levels of oxidative damage and lower levels of intracellular antioxidants, which are commonly found in aged individuals (3). Glutathione’s actual involvement in the aging process and relationship with chronic disease is unclear. According to researchers, however, glutathione may be the best indicator of functional age.

Synthesized from three different amino acids, glutathione is a tri-peptide. Since it is made by the cell, it would make sense to believe that rate of synthesis is regulated by cells. Fortunately, this is not the case, or at least it is up for debate. Glutathione naturally decreases with age—but so will muscle, collagen, and maybe even cognition. Your antioxidant systems will degrade, and your cells will have a harder time processing toxic loads, unless you enable their defenses. The human body is remarkable in its ability to accept, adapt, and to renew (take advantage!).

Branching out beyond the branched chain amino acids, whey protein is also the best source of the sulfur containing the amino acid cysteine (1). Cysteine, in conjunction with glycine and glutamic acid, are the building blocks for intracellular glutathione. With more cysteine than any other plant and animal protein, undenatured whey protein brings the resources to counter-balance the compression of aging on cell protection.

To illustrate adaptability, older people supplementing with cysteine and glycine increased their rate of glutathione synthesis by 230 percent (2). After just two weeks of supplementing with the glutathione precursors, the subjects obtained an antioxidant status on par with a younger crowd. (To read more about this study, click here.) While these men and women supplemented with individual amino acids, some research suggests that whey protein may actually be a more effective stimulus for dosing up on glutathione (1).

Unfortunately, no one can take candles off their birthday cake, but biological age doesn’t have to have such a fixed rate. The Free Radical Theory of Aging suggests just that—oxidants, radicals, and toxins debilitate cells and deprive us of our youth. Promoting glutathione production is a direct way to reduce the oxidative duress put on cells. Being the sum of our parts, preserving our cellular age should be a key focus for turning back the clock.

References

1. Bounous G and P Gold. The biological activity of undenatured dietary whey proteins: role of glutathione. Clin Invest Med Volume 1991;14:296-309.
2. Sekhar R et al. Deficient synthesis of glutathione underlies oxidative stress in aging can be corrected by dietary cysteine and glycine supplementation. Am J Clni Nutr 2011; 1-7.
3. Kharb S et al. Glutation levels in health and sickness. Indian J  Med Sci 2000;54:52-4.

Telomeres and Living Longer

Our company, Isagenix, is at the right place at the right time.  We are working with Dr. Bill Andrews, Sierra Labs, and John Anderson, founder of Isagenix, who are working on life extending natural supplement that will keep the teleomeres from shortening with age.  This article is from The TODAY Show interview with Dr. Andrews.  [Just a note:  Since Tom and I started using Product B, we have an abundance of energy and we feel so much better ... it is amazing!!  We love it!!!]

Science Behind “Living Forever”

On the TODAY Show, Dr. Andrews and his father, Ralph, exemplify what it means to defy aging through exercise and supplementation.

“Could people soon be living forever?” A story by Linda Carroll posted on MSN.com, based on TODAY Show reporting by Michelle Kosinski, brings more attention to this captivating question and to the scientists researching all aspects approaching it, including telomere biologist Bill Andrews, Ph.D.

In the story, Dr. Andrews is credited for his work in the development of a supplement that is said to help keep “telomeres from shortening with age.” The supplement, created by Isagenix Founder John Anderson in collaboration with Dr. Andrews, is Isagenix Product B™.

Carrol’s report describes telomeres, the complex non-coding DNA structures at the tips of chromosomes that act as protective caps, and how as they “become shorter, we deteriorate.”
Dr. Andrews is quoted as saying, “The literature is, I would say, 95 percent certain or better that if we can find ways to lengthen the telomeres, we are going to reverse aging.”

Telomeres? Tell Me More
As noted by Kosinski and Carrol, it’s hard to believe the day will soon come when people can live in perpetual youth. Skeptics are inclined to ask, What is the literature that Dr. Andrews speaks of? and What can we do now to make the most of the science behind healthy aging?
The facts are that the scientific literature on telomeres and their influence in aging that Dr. Andrews speaks of is as exciting and promising as it sounds, even leading to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009.

Recent research at Harvard Medical School in Boston showed reversing telomere shortening in mice also reversed their aging (1). The lab also found a connection between telomere shortening and other known factors of aging—dysfunctional mitochondria and oxidative stress—adding evidence of a core pathway of aging that starts with telomere shortening (2).
In the video segment, Dr. Andrews and his father, Ralph, are seen following precisely the kind of lifestyle, according to data gleaned by recent studies, that best supports the length of their telomeres—namely, by performing daily exercise and taking Ageless Essentials Daily Pack with Product B.

Regular exercise is associated with telomere length, as is receiving optimal dosages of vitamins, minerals, and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA (3-11). The nutrients are all needed, acting in concert, to maintain DNA and telomere integrity with age.
Evidence continues to mount showing that diet and lifestyle does greatly influence the speed of telomere shortening with age. Other behaviors that can help preserve telomeres are managing stress and maintaining a healthy weight (4, 12).

Isagenix System for “Youthful Aging”
At a time when Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age, Isagenix is investing heavily in telomere research and developing products that allow its customers to age more gracefully. The company’s Pillars of Health products—Cleanse for Life, IsaLean Shake, Ionix Supreme, and Ageless Essentials Daily Pack with Product B—are each intended to help address the problems of more rapid aging (caused by factors including obesity, toxicity, stress, and poor nutrition).
Product B is only the latest of Isagenix products to assist in defying aging, going a step beyond, and targeting underlying mechanisms that lead to telomere shortening. Specifically, the product acts to protect telomeres from an overabundance of free radicals with a combination of ingredients that promote antioxidant enzyme efficiency.

Experiments on cells performed in Dr. Andrews’s lab show Product B is capable of turning on expression of the enzyme telomerase, which restores telomere length. The research is fascinating for anyone interested in a longer, healthier life. More research in 2012 is set to find out what to expect of Product B in the future.
References

1. Sahin E, Colla S, Liesa M et al. Telomere dysfunction induces metabolic and mitochondrial compromise. Nature 2011;470:359-65.
2. Jaskelioff M, Muller FL, Paik JH et al. Telomerase reactivation reverses tissue degeneration in aged telomerase-deficient mice. Nature 2011;469:102-6.
3. Bendix L et al. Leukocyte telomere length and physical ability among Danish Twins age 70+. Mech Ageing Dev. 2011 Oct 12. doi: 10.1016/j.mad.2011.10.003
4. Puterman E, et al. The power of exercise: buffering the effect of chronic stress on telomere length. PLos One 2010 May 26;5(5):e1083.
5. Cherkas L, et al. The Association Between Physical Activity in Leisure Time and Leukocyte Telomere Length. Arch Intern Med 2008;168(2):154-158.
6. Paul L. Diet, nutrition and telomere length. J Nutr Biochem 2011. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2010.12.001
7. Cassidy A, De V, I, Liu Y et al. Associations between diet, lifestyle factors, and telomere length in women. Am J Clin Nutr 2010;91:1273-80.
8. Xu Q, Parks CG, DeRoo LA, Cawthon RM, Sandler DP, Chen H. Multivitamin use and telomere length in women. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:1857-63.
9. Richards JB et al. Homocysteine levels and leukocyte telomere length. Atherosclerosis 2008;200: 271-77.
10. Richards JB et al. Higher serum vitamin D concentrations are associated with longer leukocyte telomere length in women. Am J Clin Nutr 2007; 86: 1420-5.
11. Farzaneh-Far R et al. Associations of Marine Omega-3 Fatty Acid Levels with Telomeric Aging in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease. JAMA 2010; 303(3):250-7.
12. Kim S et al. Obesity and weight gain in adulthood and telomere length. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention 2009; 18: 816-20.