The Science of Youth

As we age, we lose our youthful appearance and energy. What is the cause of aging? Aging occurs for many reasons: hormonal changes, lifestyle choices, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative damage, and more.  Additionally, an important thing to consider is that we’ve been living in the same body since day one. From conception to adulthood our cells continue to replicate to form a mature adult body. These divisions continue even as an adult to rebuild damaged cells in each of our organs (eg. Skin, hair, eyes, heart etc). Replacing these cells in adulthood keeps our organs functioning properly and allows old nonfunctioning cells to be rejuvenated by new highly functional ones.

The number of cellular divisions are not infinite. When dividing, the DNA is no longer in a tight helix but must unravel. This leads to fragile ends. In order to keep the ends safe; telomeres exist. Telomeres are structures composed of DNA repeats and a set of proteins that protect the ends of our chromosomes. Think of it this way: Telomeres like the hard tips at the end of shoelaces. Without the coating, shoelaces become frayed until they can no longer perform their proper function. Similarly, the continual shortening of telomeres eventually exposes the DNA, making it vulnerable to damage and mutation. Telomeres act as the aging clock in each cell. Telomere shortening and DNA damage are key triggers that not only cause local dysfunction of the cell but can eventually affect an entire tissue layer or organ leading to physical aging and all of the disease associated with aging. Studies in both humans and animals show that the longer telomeres are the longer life expectancy is and the fewer diseases and signs of aging are observed.

Is there anything we can do about these shorting Telomeres? The answer is yes! Lifestyle plays a big role.

1. Maintaining a healthy weight is important. Individuals who are obese tend to have shorter telomers. The reason for this is multi factorial but closely linked to the increased inflammatory state and oxidative damage of obesity increasing the need to repair damaged cells.
2. Exercise conversely can help to maintain a healthy weight but also helps to decrease oxidative damage to the DNA.
3. Stress is bad for everything and telomers are no exception. Adding meditation, mindfulness and prayer to manage stress has been shown to lengthen telomers.
4. Diet is critical. Eating a diet rich in antioxidants is key. Nature points out this diet with the bright colors of fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants decrease inflammation and preserve telomers.
5. Supplements can aid in lengthening Telomers. Studies have shown Astragalus root, been shown in the form of TA-65® to increase telomere length through increasing Telomerase.

Telomerase is an enzyme made inside cells and is responsible for telomere growth. Our amount of telomerase decreases with age. Without this enzyme the telomere will continue to shorten causing cellular aging.  Telomere shortening and DNA damage are key tissues triggers that not only cause local dysfunction of the cell but also anticipates the onset of age-associated diseases in other tissues, including cancer.

Various Studies have confirmed that a dietary supplement, astragalus, first discovered in ancient Chinese medicine activates telomerase. TA science® formulated TA-65® which is a highly concentrated form of natural extracts of the astragalus found in these Chinese herbs.  Essentially, TA-65® works to keep telomerase healthy resulting in slower aging and has been shown to potentially reverse signs of aging for many diseases such as improving weakened immune system, improving skin pigmentation and skin aging, hair re-growth, improving blood profiles, improving glucose metabolism, improving bone density, reducing common deceases of vision, increasing life expectancy, and more.  With the benefits of TA-65®, you can keep your body looking, feeling and working well by maintaining telomere length as a result of increasing telomerase. Please go to vitalitymedicine.net for a list of references or contact our office for more details.

Works Cited

Andrews, Bill. “TA 65 Archives.” TA 65, TA Sciences, ta65.org/tag/ta-65/.

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<Short Telomeres in Key Tissues Initiate Local and Systemic Aging in Zebrafish (nih.gov)>

Salvador L, Singaravelu G, Harley CB, Flom P, Suram A, Raffaele JM. “A Natural Product Telomerase Activator Lengthens Telomeres in Humans”: A Randomized, Double Blind, and Placebo Controlled Study. Rejuvenation Res. 2016 Dec;19. Web. 2016.
<A Natural Product Telomerase Activator Lengthens Telomeres in Humans: A Randomized, Double Blind, and Placebo Controlled Study – PubMed (nih.gov)>

TA Sciences. “What is a Telomere.” T.A. Sciences®, www.tasciences.com/what-is-a-telomere.html.
<What is a Telomere? | Human Cellular Aging | TA-65 TA Sciences>

The Telomerase Activator, TA-65 ®, elongates Short Telomers and increases Healthspan of Adult/old Mice without increasing Cancer incidence. T.A Sciences. De Jesus BB Schneeberger K, Vera E, Tegera A, Harley CB, Blasco MA. Aging Cell. 2011 August; 10(4):604-621

The First Documented Age Reversal in a mammal: Harbard University Study shows Telomerase Activation Helps Reverse the Aging Pocess. Jaskelioff M., et al. Telomerase reactivation reverses tissue degeneration in aged telomerase-deficient mice. Nature. 2011;469 (7328):102-106

Evaluation of an oral telomerase activator for early age=related macular degeneration-a pilot study. Coad Thomas Dow, Calvin B Harley. Ecollections. January 2016

TA-65, A Telomerase activator improves Cardiovascular Markers in patients with Metabolic syndrome. Maria Luz Fernandez, et al. Department of Nutritional sciences, University of Connecticut. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 2018, 24 1-7

Demonstrated Improvement of Prematurely Aged skin by TA-65® for Skin by Fredrick Stern MD, FACS, The Stern Center for Aesthetic surgery, P.C. Bellevue, WA 98004 Study sponsored by TA sciences, Inc 420 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10170

A Naturel Product Telomerase Activator Lengthens Telomers in Humans: A Randomized, Double Blind, and Placebo Controlled Study. Laura Salvador et al. Rejuvenation research, Volume XX, number XX, 2016