Sept 10th 2014
Healthy longevity is within reach say biologists but they (again) stop short of making any practical recommendations
Hold your
breath one more time before we put any new discovery into practice that could
dramatically increase the human healthspan and lifespan. The latest study shows
that activation of a gene that controls cell energy in key organs slows aging
throughout the body and increases the lifespan of fruit flies by 30%. [UCLA
Newsroom Sept 8, 2014] That is equivalent to adding another 20 healthy years
to the human lifespan if this science is applicable to humans (and it is!).
The medical
and biological research community is piling up libraries of breakthrough basic
research but putting the brakes on applied science. Almost every research paper
involving longevity ends with the demand that more research needs to be done
before proceeding ahead. Why not activate the same gene in humans that was
activated in fruit flies and figure out all the biological mechanisms later? You
can enter the heavenly state of enduring health and longevity but not before the
high priests of biology say so. The latest breakthrough in biology is an
example.
These UCLA
biologists claim: "we are not there yet," and "it could take many years." They
are essentially saying, hold your breath while we figure this all out before
anything is done to promote healthy aging in humans (lab rats are OK). Of
course, this is absurd. But most of these researchers are out of a job if an
elixir against aging should be put into widespread practice anytime soon. And
life insurance companies aren't quite ready for this anyway. God help us all,
when will it be the right time to halt the ravages of aging that now threatens
ruination of populations in developed countries.
Science is not likely to make a difference
I could lead
readers of this report also read the high science published in the journal Cell
Reports that shows what happens when the gene that controls AMPK is activated.
AMPK stands for adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase and is the
body's master controller of cellular and whole-body energy. [Cell
Reports Sept 25, 2014] The genes that control AMPK are not only present in
fruit flies, they are found in all mammals including humans. [Molecular & Cellular
Biology Aug 2011]
But you are
likely to get lost in all the scientific lingo about gene expression and
unfamiliar terminology like Drosophila (fruit flies) and autophagy (degradation
of cellular components via cleanup enzymes produced in lysosomes within living
cells) that you will never get beyond the first page of the 14-age report. (I
include links to these reports anyway, regardless of whether you can understand
them or not, because you need to be able to check on what I am saying here.)
This recent
research says if you elevate the AMPK enzyme in the brain this will activate it
in the intestines and visa versa. This means if you take an AMPK activating pill
its ingredients don't have to travel all the way to the brain to produce health
and longevity. This is not the first time that this has been reported but
authors of the report make it sound like that.
In 2005 it
was reported that alpha lipoic acid, a natural antioxidant internally produced
in the body and also available as a dietary supplement, decreased AMPK in the
brain and simultaneously increased it in skeletal muscle. [Nature
Medicine 2004] Lipoic acid is identified as an anti-aging molecule heralded
by Dr. Bruce Ames at the University of California Berkeley. [Discover Oct 2002]
Notice Dr. Ames' discovery was published over a decade ago now.
Importance of cell signaling
The reason
this current experiment makes headlines in biology is that it underscores the
importance of something called cell signaling. The AMPK cell signaling pathway
that shows all the known genes and hormones that AMPK affects can be viewed
online at CellSignal.com.
AMPK activators are widely available and affordable
And the good
news is that we don't need to wait for Big Pharma to bring an AMPK booster to
market. The anti-diabetic drug metformin (also described as an anti-aging agent)
activates AMPK. [Diabetes
Aug 2002] But you can also boost AMPK activity without a doctor's prescription
or spending a dime. Just exercise or put a fasting diet into practice.
In fact,
anything that is a mild biological stressor will activate AMPK to boost cellular
energy. These biological stressors include mild oxygen insufficiency (high
altitude), low sugar levels, radiation like radon gas, or oxidative stress. [Cell
Metabolism 2005] The latter is a bit counterintuitive since most Americans
have been taught to boost antioxidant levels, not to trigger mild oxidation.
The pathway
to longevity involves activation of AMPK. So a long healthy life is within reach
and doesn't cost a dime – even saves you money not only in medical bills but
also in the cost of food should you choose to make fasting a part of your daily
health regimen.
But the
objective of the scientific community is to file for patents and eventually
commercialize these discoveries. Unfortunately, only a few savvy health seekers
have chosen to disobey orders and venture to take an available non-prescription
AMPK booster. The masses rely on their doctors to advise them on this issue and
insurance to pay for the anti-aging pills. The need for doctoring would be
drastically curtailed by such a pill. So would the many medications for each and
every age-related disease.
Have the gumption to apply the science for yourself
For those
readers who would like to begin activating AMPK and living a long and healthy
life, it would be helpful to know what particular foods or molecules activate
AMPK.
What we end
up with is the challenge to develop elixirs that now must overcome unhealthy
diets and health habits such as smoking. This is why most weight loss and
anti-diabetic drugs fail. They can't completely overcome a bad diet. Life
expectancy and the number of centenarians in France rose dramatically in recent
times when smoking was curtailed. Then the real benefits of French red wine
could be realized. [LewRockwell.com]
More and more
research points to a low carbohydrate diet (no bread, no rice, no pasta, no
refined sugars in the strictest low-carb plans) as being the healthiest. [Reuters
Sept 1, 2014]
But be
mindful that the Mediterranean Diet produces health benefits and longevity
despite it being high in fat and calories. The Mediterranean Diet provides
concentrated forms of small molecules that activate AMPK in olive oil, wine and
garlic. [Cell Cycle
Feb 15, 2013; Carcinogenesis
Jan 7, 2011; Science
Daily May 1, 2012; Journal
of Nutrition Sept 14, 2011]
Because food
restriction activates AMPK a list of AMPK-boosting foods may lead people to
mistakenly think consumption of more healthy foods will lead to longevity. AMPK
plays a strong role in the control of appetite and food intake. [Journal Biological Chemistry
March 26, 2004] The most convincing evidence for superlongevity comes from
food-restricted diets. Less food, not more food, is the lesson.
AMPK is
primarily activated by individual molecules concentrated in certain foods (wine,
tea, oils) and dietary supplements (aka nutraceuticals). Molecules known to
boost AMPK are resveratrol (red wine), quercetin (red apple peel), berberine
(Oregon grape), catechin as EGCG (green tea), allicin (garlic), and vitamin D.
[American Journal Clinical
Nutrition April 2011; Cancer Research Society]
Combinations
of molecules known as polyphenols obtained in concentrated forms from wine,
olive oil and tea leaves have been shown to work more powerfully than these
individual molecules alone. [Molecular
Food & Nutrition Research 2011] A mild dose of polyphenols is required
to activate AMPK. Many available polyphenolic dietary supplements provide
mega-doses that are counterproductive. Only one brand of a polyphenolic
combination polyphenolic nutraceutical mixture has been dose-tested. [Longevinex.com] - ©2014 Bill Sardi, ResveratrolNews.com
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