Anti-Aging Medicine

Vitamin D and your Immune System

We all know that we need Vitamin D and that we can get it from the sun, as well as from fatty dish, fish liver oils and eggs, as well as in Vitamin D supplement form. Even so, nearly half the world’s population has low levels of vitamin D. What you might now know is why we need vitamin D. What, exactly, does vitamin D do?

Danish researchers have discovered that we need vitamin D to activate our immune system’s killer cells. These killer cells, known as T cells, become inactive if they don’t have enough vitamin D. If they are inactive, they can’t fight incoming germs and bacteria. Scientists have told us that vitamin D is important for calcium absorption. They have also made a connection between the levels of vitamin D and diseases like MS and cancer. But this is the first time a connection between…

Study shows that an anti-inflammatory diet helps with inflammation and oxidative & metabolic stress in overweight men

My last blog post talked about the role of fatty acids and inflammation in disease development. I just read a study performed by scientists in the Netherlands who used the supplements Resveratrol, vitamins C and E, green tea extract, Omega 3 fatty acids and tomato extract, all chosen for their evidence-based anti-inflammatory properties, to see if they would lesson inflammation.

During the study, the above-named supplements were combined and given to 36 healthy but overweight men with mildly elevated plasma C-reactive protein concentrations (the CRP level is a blood test that shows the level of inflammation in an individual’s system). The study was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study with treatment periods of 5 weeks. Inflammatory and oxidative stress defense markers were measured via blood and urine testing. 120 plasma proteins, 274 plasma metabolites (lipids, free fatty acids, and polar compounds), and the transcriptomes of peripheral blood mononuclear…

Everyday Toxins, Deadly Effects

Like most people, you probably don’t spend too much time worrying about your bromine intake from your car upholstery or the Mountain Dew you’re drinking. Bromine toxicity is a very dangerous, and often overlooked, threat to your health that can be found in some surprising sources. In an article by Dr. Thomas Marcola, he explains the dangers of everyday toxins, where they are found, and how to protect yourself against them.

Bromines Everywhere
Bromines are very common endocrine disruptors that fall into the same group of elements as fluorine, chlorine and iodine. A high exposure to bromine can cause an iodine deficiency, which can wreak havoc on your thyroid and every tissue in your body.

You are already exposed to a high amount of bromine and chlorine through common products:
•Pesticides (specifically methyl bromide, used mainly on strawberries, predominantly found in California)
•Plastics that are…

Scientists discover new secrets of aging

One of the biggest puzzles in biology – how and why living cells age – continues to be a subject of investigation and research. An international team based at Newcastle University in NE England, along with researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany, has added some new evidence to the discussion.

The answer to the secret of aging is complex, and will not produce a magic anti-aging elixir in the foreseeable future. However, we can certainly expect better treatments to be created to fight age-related illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease, not to mention things like wrinkle treatments, as a result of these new insights into the biochemical pathways involved in the aging process.

The research teams used a comprehensive systems biology approach, involving computer modeling, experiments using cell cultures and genetically modified mice to investigate why and how our cells age. They learned that…

The Benefits of Human Growth Hormone When Used Correctly

Human Growth Hormone, HGH, has alternatively received both beatings and boosts by the scientific and medical communities and the media. What is HGH? Who should take it?

HGH supplementation was originally approved, and still used today, to help extremely small children attain a more normal adult height. Were it not for HGH, these children would be abnormally short-statured adults.

Although using hormone growth therapy for adults has been both a social and ethical controversy for over 50 years, individuals who inject HGH on a regular basis give glowing testimony of Youth Regained: stronger muscles, faster response time, increased mental acuity and memory, a level of energy they haven’t seen in years, and a reduction of body fat. Mayo Clinic studies have shown that injections of HGH increase bone density and muscle mass, decrease body fat, bolster the heart’s ability to contract, improve mood, and increase exercise capacity. Notwithstanding…

A Test to Identify Nutritional Imbalances

Like others reading our blog, you understand that the food you eat affects your health.  Eating high quality, fresh, vitamin-laden foods give you the best chances to feel energized and avoid illness, disease, obesity and future problems such as heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis and other age-related conditions. But how do you know your best efforts at a healthy diet are hitting the mark?

NutrEval is a comprehensive nutritional evaluation designed to identify nutritional imbalances that help to overcome chronic disease and promote optimal health and wellness, including: organic acids, amino acids, essential fatty acids, toxic and nutrient element levels, and oxidative stress. It’s a unique profile that provides critical information for understanding individual disease risk, it evaluates your overall nutritional status, and assesses your functional need for vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, & co-factors.

The resulting profile also provides help in understanding gastrointestinal…

Fish Oils May Slow Genetic Aging

Now there is more good news for all of you that are taking your Fish oil, and more good reason to if you are not. Happily, a recent study, supported by grants from the American Heart Association and the Bernard and Barbro Foundation, shows that omega-3 fatty acids may slow biological aging.

Researcher Ramin Farzaneh-Far, MD, of the University of California San Francisco, and his colleagues followed 608 patients with known coronary artery disease for a period of five years. Blood tests were taken to identify their telomere lengths at the beginning and end of the study. Research has shown that the length of telomeres may be a marker of biological age; theoretically, the longer one’s telomeres, the younger one is, biologically speaking. Therefore, measuring telomere length at both the beginning and end of the study enabled the researchers to understand how rapidly their telomeres were…

More Chocolate – Less Stress!

If you know me well,  you know that I’m pretty laid back and that I love good chocolate. Hmm…is there a relationship there?  Here is some great news about the anti-stress benefits of chocolate. And by the way, be sure to see our website information on how to manage stress! Doing so might be a lifesaver!

Dark chocolate is rich in flavonoids, a type of antioxidant also present in grains and nuts. Studies suggest that they may benefit the heart, blood vessels, liver, immune system, connective tissue, adrenal glands, kidneys, muscles and nervous system. Quite a number of studies suggest their ability to prevent coronary heart disease. Researchers at Nestle Research Center in Switzerland have discovered that a small portion of dark chocolate can actually lower one’s stress hormone levels. This is great news for all of you Type-A personalities!

The research team, led by Sunil Kochhar, studied…

DOES EXERCISE REALLY DELAY AGING… and WHAT ARE “TELOMERE’S ANYWAY?”

Exercise is not always a fun activity and often it’s hard to find the time to do it on a regular, ongoing basis – believe me, I know. But I have really great news. We now have direct evidence of the anti-aging benefits of physical exercise. Recent research has proven that exercise does in fact have anti-aging effects at the cellular level, more specifically, on our telomere shortening mechanism which is regarded as our “biological clock.”

“WHAT’S A TELOMERE” YOU ASK…?
Telomeres are “caps” at the end of our chromosomes. These caps buffer against DNA damage which includes cell division, oxidation, inflammation, etc. Telomere dynamics serve as the index of our biological age. As we age, telomeres shorten, fray and degrade. When it becomes too short the cell dies. Exercise activates the critical telomerase enzyme which stabilizes the telomere. This slows down the shortening process, which lengthens…

Excess Body Fat = Thousands of Cancer Cases Annually

A shocking new study was published last week by researchers with the American Institute for Cancer Research,  that states more than 100,000 cases of cancer are caused annually by excess body-fat and obesity. The researchers studied seven cancers with known links to obesity along with actual case counts that were likely obesity-related.

From

The report says that 49 percent of endometrial cancers are caused by excess body fat. That number is followed by 35 percent of esophageal cancer cases; 28 percent of pancreatic cancer cases; 24 percent of kidney cancer cases; 21 percent of gallbladder cancer cases; 17 percent of breast cancer cases; and 9 percent of colorectal cancer cases.

“This is the first time that we’ve put real, quantifiable case numbers on obesity-related cancers,” said Glen Weldon, the American Institute for…