Originally published September 13 2013
Control your telomeres to earn positive marks on your genetic spellchecker
by Cody L
(NaturalNews) Everyone over 50 and anyone actively preventing biological harm in their youth may be wise to focus on the frontiers of gerontology. Telomere length may accurately report both healthy and unhealthy choices made in an individual's past. They cap the ends of chromosomes and are a functional unit measured within white blood cells. The activity of telomeres becomes critical during genotoxic stress accumulated during aging. When the telomeres are shorter, a counterpart enzyme, TERT, is less active, resulting in unnecessary quantities of genetic damage from future abuse.
The eye of the beholder
Anti-aging biomarkers called peripheral leukocyte (white blood cell) telomeres are structures composed of nucleotide sequences which cap the ends of chromosomes, safeguarding dividing cells from degradation and ensuring the protection of our genome. Collectively, all things healthy for telomeres are called geroprotectors. Our varying socioeconomic conditions and modern standards of living set a high demand on our sources of dietary, social and exercise-based geroprotection. Some sources of genotoxicity include smoke, acrylamide in French fries, heavy metals, radiation and psychological stress. Many people in need are tobacco smokers, overweight, physically inactive, low in vitamin D and blood plasma antioxidants, psychologically stressed, depressed, working night shifts or otherwise finding ways to shorten their telomere length. Telomere shortening was even discovered in women living nearby waste landfill sites. Empathizing for those in need causes a quantifiable change in our white blood cell telomeres. If we help people before we judge them, it may determine whether our telomeres shorten, which is bad, or lengthen, which is good. So what we really have here is a unified responsibility to curtail these burdens for geroprotection in our ecology.
Myriad modulators
Fortunately, we have the capacity to decelerate the shortening and replenish the activity of telomere reverse transcriptase, or TERT, the enzyme responsible for countering telomere shortening, keeping them in higher functionality. The difference is eliminating up to 20 years of accelerated biological aging. Keeping lights off after the sun goes down is one way to control brain melatonin levels, which can facilitate psychoneuroimmunological control, that is to say, a "thought-based grip" that enhances white blood cell functionality. A certain formula is circulating on the internet for $1,000 a bottle claiming to treat accelerated aging by preventing telomeric shortening. Certainly there are other options. Alpha carotene plasma levels independently predict lifespan. Dietary fiber ferments into butyrate which regulates geroprotective complexes around our DNA. The Rasayanas of Ayurvedic medicine coupled with the anti-aging plants in Traditional Chinese Medicine could be less expensive. There are also methods of relieving systemic inflammation with stimulation of acupoints with common red light pointer lasers.
Five worthy recommendations
1) Antioxidants/Vitamin D: Sunlight, vitamin D oral sprays and mushrooms for bones; Chrysanthemum tea for blood plasma; glucosamine to lower C-reactive protein, the inflammation biomarker.
2) Exercise: 10,000 steps per day or 15,000 like the Amish or any exercises that expand the maximal volume of oxygen in the lungs (VO2 max), which parallels telomere length
3) Mood control: Natural monoamine inhibitors from plants to preserve brain reward pathways; essential oils and slow breathing (Qi Gong); reading to stimulate neurogenesis, which is antidepressant; moving away from waste landfill sites
4) Weight loss: Natural fat-eliminating (lipolytic) compounds from plants and avoidance of nocturnal activity, which triggers DNA methylation and inflammation
5) Radioprotection: Plant chemicals that provide radioprotection, such as from mint, rosemary and neem leaf water extracts, and avoidance of potassium-rich foods from Asia
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About the author:
Cody Lakeland is a freelance writer in fields such as nutrition, phytomedicine, neurology, gerontology, epigenetics, and toxicology. He currently helps to coordinate the formulas for a internet/home-based community business specializing in customized alternative therapies.
Cody Lakeland is a freelance writer in fields such as nutrition, phytomedicine, neurology, gerontology, epigenetics, and toxicology. He currently helps to coordinate the formulas for a internet/home-based community business specializing in customized alternative therapies.
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