New advances in the detection of real aging

Telomere length seems to correlate nicely with the appearance and dysfunction of aging.  Most diseases associated with aging so far are also correlated with short telomeres.  This includes heart disease, cancer (in spite of the huge over expression of telomerase in many, if not all cancers) arthritis, and various forms of dementia.

In most cases, the white blood cell telomere length is an adequate marker, for this aging as well, even though it is not always directly related to the tissue affected by the disease.

Or is it?  The effects of inflammation appear to be more global and widespread than originally thought, playing a role in heart disease, dementia, especially of the Alzheimer’s type, diabetes and cancer.  Since the immune system is intimately involved with modulating the response of various tissues to inflammation and “immune senescence” is clearly deeply involved in aging, especially in the old, old white blood cells, might turn out to be the ideal measurement, after all, correlating on a predictable basis with the state of various tissues in the body.  In this case “more research is needed” is actually totally valid and it is one question we as Telonauts would love to see answered in more detail, in the future.

The global improvement of disease outcomes, using things like Omega 3’s, makes this even more interesting and an area where our scientists need to focus more deeply.

The immune system also plays a pivotal role in removing sick, dead and dying cells. Chinese researchers have postulated that the removal of such cells may actually skew the standard telomere testing towards “too young”, as many of the cells with the shortest telomeres may be removed before they can be tested.

As of this moment, mean telomere length is of limited utility, since it is not looking at the most critical “shortest telomeres”.  The short telomere test remains esoteric and unavailable, for all but the most well connected in the field.

The Chinese are proposing a new marker using standard technology know as ELISA that has been around for decades and should be easy, reproducible and possibly cheap enough to be widespread, to become more than a research tool.

The new test called CRAMP ELISA requires more work and testing, as well as commercial interest, to become a usable way to test telomere length.  If this happens, however, it may be considerably easier than our current testing methods, although it may take a while before it amasses enough data to prove its worth.  We’ll keep you posted!

Myths and facts about telomeres and telomerase activation

First off, if you need a quick update on what we are talking about in plain language,  click on the media link on the Telonauts.com site and the very first video is me being interviewed on TV for a short segment on anti-aging and telomeres.

I am famous for debunking myths and in the process upsetting lots of people. So, why stop now?

Here are a few things you hear a lot, that are either way over-simplifications or simply not true.

1)  Telomeres protect the DNA from unraveling and as they shorten, the DNA unravels and this causes the cell to die or mutate.

While this is theoretically possible, it is probably not a real phenomenon in humans.  The length of the telomere is, however, intimately tied to a series of structural proteins that turn cell regulation on and off. In addition, the length of the telomere is directly related to certain cell signaling features that cause the cell’s mitochondria to behave like a nuclear reactor on overload (melt down) and autolyse, or explode, from the inside out.  The mitochondria release free radicals that are normally kept inside its own double walled membrane.  These free radicals go out into the rest of the cell and the cell dies.

This mechanism is the same, or very similar, to what happens when the cell experiences a double strand DNA break.

Thus, we see ties from “regular “ cell cycle regulation and the mitochondria to the telomere.  For the scientist and non scientist alike, this means the telomere tends to fit nicely in the center of several other “theories of aging.”

Remember free radicals, stress, and sleep deprivation are all related to shortening of the telomeres.

For more information on how you can help keep your telomeres longer remember this:

The “Immortality Edge” the definitive (and only) book on how to preserve and lengthen your telomeres will be out via John Wiley and Sons in January of 2011. Since I had a major hand in writing it, I can promise you there is almost no scientific jargon or confusing language.  There is just straightforward, no nonsense things you can do right this minute, to help keep your biologic time clocks ticking for a long, long time.

Please note my co-authors Greta Blackburn and Mike Fossel MD PhD are recognized experts in the field of anti-aging and longevity medicine.  Please note, there are a lot of people claiming to have expertise who are not authors of the book for the simple reason that they are not experts!

2)  Supplements can lengthen your telomeres.

There is only one supplement that turns on telomerase and has been shown to lengthen critically short telomeres (the exact way your natural telomerase works, if and when it is turned on!).

That supplement is TA-65 and I am one of the few distributors.  If you have a serious interest in the only supplement that does what it says it does, then do this: contact our Customer Support Line at 866-654-7670 or send an email to doc@drdavesbest.com with a Subject line of “TA-65″. Serious inquires only please and let’s stick to the topic because there are tons of people calling already!

OK, what else works?

Fish Oil: this is proven in a study of heart patients.  The higher the dose of Fish Oil, the longer the telomeres, with the highest dose group having the longest telomeres. Please note, no other form of Omega 3 was tested: specifically not krill, flax, chia, lyprinol or salba.

Vitamin D3 appears to have some action, but is not quantifiable yet.

There are other supplements that, by virtue of their anti-oxidant power, are reported to either slow down loss of telomeres, or actually lengthen them, but this has not been repeatable yet.

What does not work?

I personally sent samples of a product called ASTRAGALOSIDE IV for testing at Sierra Sciences lab in Reno, NV.  It did nothing. (Please note this was one brand. There are a couple on the market).

Protein powder.  A large, well read internet organization is touting protein powder as a way to lengthen your telomeres, via glutathione. There is no proof that this powder  a) increases glutathione in the body b) does anything to telomerase or to telomeres. None whatsoever, but by virtue of “who” is saying “what”, people are not applying critical thinking.  Or, they’re not thinking at all!

Once again these and more claims and issues and myths and facts are all going to be revealed in our upcoming book “The Immortality Edge” – so make sure you put Jan 2011 on your calendar right now and listen to anyone, or anything else, with a jaundiced eye and a critical ear!

If someone claims to have a supplement that turns on telomerase, or lengthens telomeres, then they should be able to produce data from a reputable independent lab experienced in running these tests to prove it.

Sierra Sciences head scientist, Bill Andrews, has tested thousands of compounds for activity.  If you are interested in supporting his work contact him at Sierra Sciences.  When Bill wins humanity wins!

- Dr Dave and the Telonauts

Cancer risk and telomere length

For those of us in the field, the recent slew of articles that show an age-independent link between telomere length and cancer comes as no surprise.

When I say age-independent I mean your age, not the age of your individual cells.

Cells age independently of the organism in some cases and the oldest cells have the shortest telomeres and are at the greatest risk of cancerous transformation.

As Dr Dave has said in talks at the A4M and the AMMG “cancer is a disease of short telomeres.”

So it would be wise for this and many other reasons to keep your telomeres longer.

Again to review, slowing down shortening and lengthening telomeres are two very different things.

You can slow them down with the right kinds of exercise (come to www.fitcamp.com to learn all about this) proper sleep, a good diet (Paleolithic), and supplements like fish oil, Vitamin D, and others.

The only way we know to lengthen them at this point is TA-65 a telomerase activator which you should contact us directly about if you are interested.

As more research is done, more and more disease will be linked to short telomeres.  Keep in mind the shortest telomere is the weakest link and that is exactly where TA-65 seems to work.

P.S., Be on the lookout for the first and only book on how YOU can do all the right things to keep those telomeres as healthy as possible.  It’s called “The Immortality Edge” by Greta Blackburn  Mike Fossel and Dave Woynarowski and is due out in January of 2011, but you’ll be able to get advanced reserved copies here soon!

Telomeres and the Paleolithic Diet

The last iteration of our genome with regards to the foods we eat seems to have taken place about 50,000 years ago.  At that time we were unquestionably small bands of hunter gatherers who did not cultivate dairy animals or grains.  History tells us these later “adaptations”  did not take place until about 10,000 years ago.

So we are still adapted genetically to the “hunter gatherer” diet, also commonly known as the Paleolithic Diet after this formative time of man’s ascendance.  Genetic anthropology has provided us with the gene structures to prove this.  In point of fact the last 50,000 years have led to very little known genetic changes compared to our Paleolithic ancestors.  Things like eye color and the occasional low level persistence of the lactose gene into post infancy do not change the fact that the bulk of what we eat now is actually not suitable for our genetic make up.  Diary and grin products provide the large mass of protein and carbohydrates that many cultures consume with potentially detrimental results to our telomere length.

Lactose intolerance is a common problem and ranges from mild discomfort to out and out “allergic” type reactions with malabsorption of nutrients and leaky gut syndromes as a result.

Grain intolerance (specifically to gluten) has become a modern day mini-epidemic as the sensitivity of testing procedures for these intolerances improves to the point where fully half of our population may have some variation- minor or more – of gluten sensitivity.

The telomere is pretty much the end arbiter of what we do to ourselves in all forms of stress, whether that stress comes from eating the wrong things, exposing ourselves to excess environmental toxins, sleep deprivation, too little or too much exercise, and so on. While specific dietary information and telomere length is to this point extremely limited, the authors of this book predict it will truly be the “next big frontier” by which people can modify and improve their telomere length in a meaningful fashion.

Currently we know that fiber intake is positively associated with longer telomeres.  WE also know that excess inflammatory Omega 6 fatty acids are bad for telomere length and that Omega 3 fish oils are good.

We know that the complex web of insulin signaling and glucose excess directly affects inflammation, free radical generation, and cell death.  We know that Vitamin D positively affects telomere length, as do tea-based catechins.  But these are singular piecemeal findings that do not equate to a specific diet pattern

We strongly believe that the Paleolithic Diet is the most likely to provide this benefit, since our genetic make up fits this type of diet to a tee.  Studies have supported its positive effects on insulin signaling, oxidative stress. and endogenous acid load.

We are confident the end result will not only be longer telomeres, but better health and potentially longer life.

Another Take: Can exercise really help you live longer?

Just a few short weeks ago our host Greta Blackburn held one of her fabulous FTICAMP events in Cancun Mexico.  If you missed it you missed a great one!

At that event several presenters, including top Scientist Bill Andrews — co-discoverer of the HTERT gene and leading scientist at Sierra Sciences LLC — and top trainer Phil Campbell  (whose book “Ready Set Go Synergy Fitness” revolutionized the field of high intensity interval training over a decade ago) both gave phenomenal presentations on the how’s and why’s of everything from sprint training to ultra running.

A recurring theme emerged: exercise is not only good for you in terms of how you look and how you feel but it also is good for longevity, especially for telomere length.

Remember the telomeres are those biological time clocks AND health clocks that live at the end of your chromosomes.  Every time your cells divide to make a new set of cells the time clock ticks and your absolute life span gets shorter.

But a study in well conditioned German middle distance runners whose average age was about 45 showed you can indeed slow down those time clocks with exercise.

Researchers found that at age 25 most everyone had a free pass which equated to long telomeres although there were some outliers who had already started to age faster probably from too much partying!

But in the folks who did not exercise at all the telomere length shortened dramatically over the next 2 decades.  In the runners, however, there was almost no distinguishable difference between telomere length at 25 and at 45.

Now a couple of things are important here.  These runners were high level former collegiate athletes in most cases.  They had been running steadily for 2 decades and were putting in over 40 miles a week.  That is lot of miles for most people.

Also most high level runners don’t just run they strength train and do interval training programs similar to Phil Campbell’s Sprint 8 as their speed work.

So what is it about this kind of training that helps keep telomeres long?

Well most like it has to do with the body’s ability to handle oxidative stress.  Runners tend to develop the mechanisms needed to handle the increased oxidative load of exercise to a high degree.

Even ultra runners whose oxidative stress levels go through the roof in the first 24 hours after a long race return to baseline soon after.

We Telonauts are convinced that the best exercise is one that develops the ability to handle free radical oxidative stress without actually putting all that much long term oxidative stress on the body.  That is why we favor Phil Campbell’s Sprint 8 programs as detailed in his book “Ready set Go Synergy Fitness” as well as our book “The Immortality Edge” which is coming out in January 2011.

Using these programs you can really crank up you oxidative capacity (as measured by VO2 max and lactate threshold for you exercise buffs) without having a lot of damaging stuff hanging around for days on end.

Another study done in Canada showed you could reverse years of exercise neglect with just a year of high intensity training for a total of 9 hours a week and reverse the age related decline in your functional lung capacity by up to twelve years

Here’s a quick note on weight lifting. WE think strength training is absolutely essential for balanced physical being.  There is only one tiny study in weight lifters specifically power lifters.  In this group the average telomere length and the shortest telomere lengths both were longer than in non weight trained individuals suggesting at the very least that weight lifting may be good for your telomeres as well.

So what should you do?

Train hard and fast at least some of the time and take those anti-oxidants, specifically fish oil co Q 10 Carnosine Vitamin D and a good multi vite to keep those free radicals at bay.

Odds are you’ll live a longer and healthier life because of it. And make sure you get a copy of Phil Campbell’s great book “Ready Set Go Synergy” fitness and watch for our book “The Immortality Edge” coming soon.

The Telonauts

Obesity and telomere length, a study reveals all!

Once bitten twice shy: Telomere length and obesity

Recent research on the subcutaneous tissue of obese formerly obese and never obese patients revealed some fascinating findings.

In summary:  Obese patients had shorter telomeres in their subcutaneous fat.
Formerly fat people had shorter telomeres as well, suggesting that this may be an irreversible consequence of obesity.

The never obese had longer telomere length than either of the experimental groups.

While the study was small it is fascinating because it implies that once you lose telomere length you cannot get it back, or at least no one in this small group of study participants did!

This underscores the need for a telomerase activator like TA-65 as the only current way to lengthen your telomeres.  At this point TA 065 data is strongest in lengthening the most damage in critically short telomeres rather than mean telomere length. (MTL)

MTL is a very broad imprecise measure and may take well over a year to come up.  It is also possible that TA65 ONLY works on the shortest telomeres which are the ones most in need of repair and lengthening.  This is fine actually since normal length telomeres cause no problems and if they were to shorten they would presumably be repaired as well.

AS we clarify more to the science especially the science of measuring telomeres, we will undoubtedly get more positive data about the effects of telomerase activation.

But in the meantime watch your weight because once bitten twice shy!
The Telonauts



It’s On!

I thought you might like to see the schedule for Fitcamp which is less than one month away now (April 14-18 www.fitcamp.com)

WE do have an addition as well which is not shown here and that is we have an Active Isolated Stretching Expert coming down as well. AIS is not only the hottest thing in stretching it is probably one of the few ways you can rapidly efficiently develop flexibility for sports. Those of you who do a lot of Yoga will be amazed at how much your posture improves using this technique and how fast they improve as well.

I am primarily interested in it to fix my lousy biomechanics for running LOL so there are many applications.

AS you can see I have a few cameos as well and I am proud to be along side such an erudite group!

There is still time and a few rooms left if you realize as we do that this is a totally new animal and something that has not been done before.

Dr Dave

FITCAMP Cancun
Tentative Schedule

Tues. April 13
Early Registration All Day
5PM Early Birds Power Walk Workout on Beach
6PM Team Leaders Meeting

Wed. April 14
Registration All Day
7:30 AM Meditation
8 AM Yoga (all levels)
9AM Breakfast
10AM Power Walk (option)
Hell Hike (option)
11:30 Butts N Guts or Pool Workout
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
**1:00 – 5PM FULCRUM
6:00 “The Details on D” (Vitamin D Seminar with Dr. Joe Mercola)
7:00-8:00 Dinner
8:00 Telomere Talk with Bill Andrews, PhD
**9:00Team Building Before Bedtime with Fulcrum Learning Systems

Thursday April 15
7:15 Meditation
HellHike (option)
8:00 Yoga (Level 1-2 on Pier) (Level 2-3 White Lotus Yoga with Fran)
Yoga for Stiffies with Greta B
9:00 Breakfast
**10:00 Teamwork and Motivation with Fulcrum Learning Systems)
12:00 Sprint 8 Theory & Workout (option)
1:15 Lunch
3:00 Anti-Aging Strategies with Dr. Dave
4:00 Sunset Yoga
Sprint 8 (option)
Beach /Pool (option)
5:00-5:30 Butts N Guts (option)
Beach/Pool (option)
6:00 Dinner
7:30 Ask The Experts Seminar (Dr. Dave, Greta B, Dr. Mercola, Bill A, Phil C)

Friday, April16
7:15 Meditation
Hell Hike (option)
8:00 Yoga (all levels options)
9:00 Breakfast
10:00 UltraRunning with Bill A Seminar, plus Phil C Training Tips
Fun Run w/Dr. Dave or Power Walk w/GB (option)
11:00 Sprint 8
11:30 Pool Workout or Butts N Guts
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30 Hormones 101 (for men and women) with Dr. Dave
2:00 TBA
3PM Sprint 8 (option)
Beach/Pool (option)
4:00 Sprint 8 (option)
Beach/Pool (option)
5:30 Dream Team Seminar
7:00 Dinner
8:00 Seminar TBA

Sat April 17
7:15 Meditation
Hell Hike (option)
8:00 Yoga (all levels)
9:00 Breakfast
10:00 Fat-Burning Secrets Seminar
11:00 Sprint 8
11:30 Pool Workout
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Diagnostics: What Tests You Should Get and Why/Dr. Dave
2:00-5:00 Tour options/Hotel bikes or kayak rentals
6:00 Sprint 8 (option)
Workout option TBA
7:00 Dinner
8:00 Talent Show/Awards/Dream Team

Sun April 18
7:15 Meditation
Hell Hike (option)
8:00 Yoga (all levels)
9:00 Breakfast
10:00 Taking It Home With You (seminar)
11:00 Sprint 8 ; options/TBA)
Departures throughout the day

Good Paper, Bad Press Release

We tapped our fellow telonaut and uber-researcher in the anti-aging field, Dr. Bill Andrews for his comments on the paper mentioned in the last blog entry.

Here is what he had to say

“The paper shows for the first time that free radical production plays a role in inducing senescence apart from its role in causing telomere shortening. That is, senescence; whether or not it is induced by short telomeres, stress, or oncogenes; is initiated by the DNA Damage Response (already known) and this induces free radical production (not known before) through DNA Damage Response induced mitochondrial dysfunction. The free radical production in turn helps maintain the DNA Damage Response (i.e., a feed back loop). And, all this maintains senescence related proliferation arrest.”

We would add that we know that short telomeres are also a stimulus for the DNA damage response and are essentially treated as a double strand break.

No one in the Telonauts ever said or meant to imply that short telomeres were the only thing that could kill a cell or the only reason why cellular senescence happens.  But they are clearly a big piece of the puzzle and often the end arbiter of the response.

The big thing the mentioned paper showed was not the lack of importance of telomeres, but the role of the cellular powerhouses – the mitochondria – in fueling the fire that ultimately burns up the cell with free radicals.  In this case for the reason of keeping sick and dying cells or mutated cells from living longer when they should not. We knew about the DNA damage response, we knew about its role in controlling the proliferation of sick or deadly cells like cancer, but no one had proven the role of the mitochondria as the suicide squad.

Just remember this: healthy cells have long telomeres!

Oh, and one other thing directed at Passos et al who produced this important paper… we think this kind of research deserves a professional writer for the press release.  If you need help next time we are available!

The Telonauts

All Aboard!!!

AS you might guess there are a lot of people jumping on the telomere/telomerase bandwagon.

Also somewhat amusing is the opposite group — mainly scientists whose vested interest in research and the money that comes from it — who depend on  telomeres/telomerase not being all that important.  They’re  out here too and the press releases are starting to flow, complete with poor grammar, lousy English, and all directed at getting people to think about other mechanisms of aging.

WE are sure there are other mechanisms.  We are sure that the telomere is not the only place where aging and disease act.  But we are also sure that it DOES act in aging disease and is one of the critical pathways that need to be addressed to prevent and reverse human aging.

We the Telonauts test things because we are writing a book called The Immortality Edge which is out in December of this year and gives people simple specific guidelines on how to keep their telomeres longer and how to add length to this critical “biologic time clock” segment.

So far, there have been a whole host of imposters that claim to turn on telomerase and lengthen telomeres or “imply” it — but we can tell you flat out none of them work.

We can tell you that because we have tested them!

If and when we find one other than the one that does work (TA-65) we’ll let you know and let you know fast.

Next let’s discuss one press release that refers to telomere biology and aging as “pretending”

Researchers at Newcastle University claim THEY have the answer to aging.  When a cell ages it sends signals to the brain and those distress signals also create mitochondrial excesse release of free radicals that eventually stop the cell from dividing by — you guessed it — affecting telomere length.

So even the naysayers can’t get away from using the words telomere length in their writings.

Now in truth I doubt even this gang of researchers is proud of the press release that came out on their behalf. It is so poorly written and does not convey the concepts clearly other than they are upset that telomeres are getting so much attention.

LOL!

Rest assured, aging is a complex process and more research is needed.  But telomeres, telomerase, and telomerase length and health are at the core of a very complex problem and deserve all the attention they are getting!

- The Telonauts

Wow! What a culture we live in!

It would seem that what people want and what they are willing to do to get it are at direct odds with each other. Most people say they want to live longer and healthier, but they are not willing to do the things they need to do to get there.

Eat right, exercise right, sleep right, and relieve stress so it does not erode your brain, your body, your blood vessels, your relationships, and yes your telomeres which you should know if you are listening to Greta And Michael every Monday night on the Telonauts radio show on 7thwaveradionetwork.

Why aren’t people willing to do the right things?

I have a theory.

First, I think most people are reactive and let the immediacy of life move them off their long term plans (if they even make them).

Next, I think that most people really don’t actually believe that it’s possible to live longer and better by more than say a few years compared to our parents.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.  I can tell you that when the new census data comes out you’ll see a huge jump in the aged population, bigger than ever anticipated. But you’ll also still see the average age of people only going up by a few years compared to before.

So when you see pockets of people living longer, what are you seeing?

At this point primarily genetics because the interventions that will add years and health to our life have just begun to be adopted by enough people to affect the overall average or median age data.

Take for instance fish oil.

A recent study compared people who took fish oil with people who did not. In this particular group they were looking at folks who already had heart disease, not normal healthy people. The end result was the biological time clocks we call “telomeres” were longer the more fish oil people took. It translated into almost a decade of lifespan difference.

Now we need to go back and see if they are healthier.

Oh wait, we’ve already done that! As a matter of fact we’ve been doing that for 40 years now and everything from arthritis to Alzheimer’s seems to respond to fish oil.

Now remember fish oil is not a telomerase activator. We’ve tested it. It’s also not a telomerase inhibitor, unless you get cancer which is pretty much exactly the kind of behavior you want from a supplement.

ON when you need it, OFF when you need it.

So how does fish oil preserve telomere length without actually adding to the length?

Most likely it protects the telomere from degradation the way many other anti-oxidants do and it causes the expression of favorable protective elements and reverse inflammation that would degrade the telomere segment.

Are there other ways to save the telomere and lengthen it?

Sure there are, but we are still in the research phase.  So for the moment, we can only tell you that all will be revealed as you stay tuned to this blog, our radio show with Greta And Michael, and of course our book, “The Immortality Edge,” which we are feverishly writing and researching as we speak.

This while thing is going to blow up in a very good way for all of us especially YOU!

So stay tuned and recruit your friends and the ones you love to become Telonauts.

You have no idea how worth it’s going to be!

Pushing the Hayflick Limit!

– Greta, Michael and the rest of the Telonauts.

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