Age Reversal

HOW SELF HEALING PREVENTS AGAING? Since the dawn of time, mankind has sought the cure for death. Age after age, this idea has traveled through different paths of fantasy and insanity, through the fountains of youth and the elixirs of life, through the golden apples and the philosopher’s stones, and all paths have led to their culmination in the books of modern medicine. One cure, however, that still escapes all the collective knowledge of the entire human history, is the cure to the disease known as aging. But that might actually be changing soon… The basic structural and functional unit of the human body is the microscopic entity called the cell. Every small change that takes place inside it at a micro level, manifests itself at the macro level in the entire body. The body gets healthier as the cells get healthier, and it starts to deteriorate as the cells begin to age. Vinay Kum describes cellular aging in his book on pathology as “the result of a progressive decline in cellular function and viability caused by genetic abnormalities and the accumulation of cellular and molecular damage due to the effects of exposure to exogenous influences.” You must be thinking that if it’s the aging of cells that causes the aging of the entire body, then if we can partially or completely stop the cells from aging, can we perhaps prolong our youth or even restore it well into our 50s and 60s? Well maybe. But to get there we must first understand what cellular aging really is. So let’s break it down. HOW DO CELLS AGE? Different mechanisms have been described in detail in the medical literature like DNA damage due to inflammatory free radicals, epigenetic changes, shortening of telomeres, deformation of proteins, etc. The effect of diet and nutrition in triggering some metabolic pathways has also been implicated in the process of aging. DNA DAMAGE The information for normal structure, function, and division of cells to produce their progeny is encoded in the form of a collection of nucleotide bases called DNA. Aging is directly related to our DNA. Interestingly, certain genes directly regulate aging, and mutations in such genes can result in premature aging, as occurs in Werner’s syndrome. Remember, any damage to DNA can result in effects on all the components of a cell. A healthy cell is constantly exposed to insults by free radicals which can be produced due to exogenous influence like UV rays or endogenously within the cells. Endogenous free radicals are produced in mitochondria during the process of oxygen consumption called cellular respiration. Their levels are kept in check by anti-oxidative mechanisms. The efficacy of these mechanisms decreases as the cells age, leading to the accumulation of free radicals which damage the DNA. Since these free radicals originate in the mitochondria, mitochondrial DNA is especially prone to getting injured. “LIFESTYLE CHANGES IN OUR DIETS AND HABITS, AND EVEN IN THE WAY WE BREATHE CAN SET UP STALWART WALLS OF DEFENSE AGAINST SUCH INSULTS TO OUR DNA AND OUR CELLS, AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE PRACTICE HERE AT HOLISTICLIVEYOUNGER.” There exist certain mechanisms in our body that are responsible for DNA repair. With age, the efficacy of these repair mechanisms decreases. This causes the DNA to go through changes at certain points which we call mutations. An aged cell with such mutations can simply lead to cell death, or worse, to cancer Another mechanism of note is explained by the Antagonistic pleiotropy theory which describes the evolutionary aspect of aging. Pleiotropic genes encode opposing traits. Their favorable effects manifest early in life but they become harmful in later stages of life. By way of natural selection, such genes are selected from the gene pool owing to their beneficial effects in early life; when most people reproduce; which overrules their negative effects in the later stages of life. This is because the survival of the species is naturally more important to us than the survival of individuals, even if it comes at the expense of decreased longevity.⁴ But that doesn’t mean all is lost. Lifestyle changes in our diets and habits, and even in the way we breathe can set up stalwart walls of defense against such insults to our DNA and our cells, and that is exactly what we practice here at HolisticLiveYounger. SHORTENING OF TELOMERES Telomeres are short segments of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect them from degradation and ensure their complete replication. These segments get shortened each time a cell replicates and that eventually results in cessation of replication.² Our bodies have mechanisms to get rid of the aged cells. Continuous cellular replication allows newer cells to take the place of older ones. There is a limit, however, to the number of times a cell can divide, and once that limit is reached, the cells enter a phase called cellular senescence.⁵ These cells continue to wear off with time and, without getting replaced, eventually meet death. There is an enzyme, however, that can prevent this. It’s called telomerase and its job is to maintain the length of telomeres.⁶ It occurs naturally in many stem cells of our body as well as in cancer cells. That is one of the reasons why cancer cells tend to keep on replicating. Most of the cells in our body however lack this enzyme which is why the telomeres on their chromosomes keep on shortening. It may come as a surprise to you but merely changing what we eat, has been proven to be effective in prolonging our telomeres.¹ That opens a way to augment the health and replicative capacity of our cells in a realistic manner. ¹https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6316700/#:~:text=Telomere%20length%20is%20positively%20associated,28%2C33%2C34%5D DIET AND NUTRITION Paradoxical though it may seem, eating less increases your chances of living longer and healthier lives. The nutrient-sensing mechanisms in our body are governed by certain hormones or substances. Among these are Insulin and Insulin-like growth factor 1.⁷ Researches in mice models indicate that aging is directly correlated to the