Theories of Aging: Mitochondrial
Denham Harman introduced the mitochondrial theory of aging (MTA) in 1972. He is also considered the the “father” of the “free radical” theory of aging (FRTA), perhaps the best known theory of modern times. The MTA is a further refinement of the FRTA, which adds additional elements of aging processes such as cell genetics, the chemistry of cell membranes and energy production in the cell’s mitochondria.
MITOCHONDRIA
Without getting too technical, mitochondria are small “organs” that exist in almost every cells of your body, with the exception of red blood cells. The mitochondria are the “energy factories” of the cells, producing roughly 90% of your body’s ATP energy in the body. Each cell may have 20 or as many as 2500 mitochondria depending upon cell type.
Without these energy producing organs in your cells you could not live. They power your heart, muscles, brain, and allow you to breathe and function. They are energy producing machines, but they can cause problems if they don’t function optimally. Each mitochondria contains its own DNA, so it can divide like a normal cell to further energy production. This has a good [...]
Image via Wikipedia What is Anti Aging & Longevity?
If you read through books, journals, articles and surf the Internet, you will soon notice that it is very difficult to find a satisfactory definition of aging. It is easy to enumerate the symptoms of aging, which most writers fall back on doing. But what aging is exactly seems to be somewhat elusive.
We are less concerned with what aging is, and more concerned with how we can slow the process. However, here is a brief overview of aging.
We now know that part of the reason we age is because our genes are preprogrammed in such a way that prohibits our cells from regenerating indefinitely. That is, there is a mechanism in our cells which sets a limit on how many times they can divide and regenerate new cells. Due to evolutionary factors, we are literally programmed by our genetic structure to die.
Fortunately, scientists are beginning to understand this process, and it is becoming quite clear that we will be able to eliminate this roadblock to immortality within the next 20 years or so.
Even if our cells were not preprogrammed to die, they would eventually [...]
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Vitamins and antioxidant health supplements, along with healthy diets of natural, organic foods for weight loss, exercise and fitness are necessary for optimal mental health and anti-aging. But it goes further than that.
Stress may be the number one killer of modern times. Everywhere you go, you hear people saying how stressed they are. This is due to the fact that life is changing and progressing at an exponential rate. People are losing their jobs or changing careers and relationships faster than ever before. Debt is at record levels, at least in America.
Of course, this change is both good and bad. It is good because it means knowledge and technology are advancing exponentially, increasing our life-expectancy and standard of living. It is bad if we do not learn to cope with this change.
Statistically, about about 12% or 13% of all Americans ages 18 to 54 suffer from an anxiety disorder at some time in their life. That’s about 20 million people. This is the number one health problem among women, and the number two health problem among men second to alcohol and drug abuse.
More people suffer from anxiety than any other mental health [...]
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You may have heard that the vitamin D health supplement is one of the healthiest vitamins in the world, yet one of the most underutilized as most people do not have sufficient amounts in their body. That’s because the vitamin d health supplement is made when the skin comes into direct contact with sunlight, and we have all been taught by the sunscreen manufacturers that any and all sunlight is harmful to you, which is a lie.
“Vitamin D suppresses tumor growth and promotes differentiation in colorectal cancer in much the same ways it does in breast and prostate cancer. Normal colon cells have higher vitamin D receptor concentrations than abnormal or cancerous colon cells.” – James Dowd and Diane Stafford, The Vitamin D Cure
It is vitally important for your health to get adequate levels of direct sunlight on your skin, an average of about 15 – 30 minutes a day without sunscreen. If you don’t you’ll have natually low levels of vitamin d in your body and your chances of getting cancer will skyrocket.
“The combination of vitamin D and vitamin A slows prostate cancer [...]
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Resveratrol is one of the most remarkable scientific discoveries of the last 10 years for your healh and wellness.
If Dr. Oz touts it on the Opera Winfrey show, you’d better believe something’s shaking. And Mike over at naturalnews.com calls it, “The Miracle Nutrient for Cancer, cholesterol and Longevity.” He also offers the fascinating fact that “The Chinese medicine herb hu zhang is also loaded with resveratrol.”
Resveratrol is of a class of polyphenols called phytoalexins, which is from the Greek word “alexi” or “protect.”
Anti-Aging and Longevity: Life Extension
Very rarely has a natural substance ever been discovered that actually extends our youthful life span and allows us to live significantly longer. Resveratrol is a wonderful gift from nature (and for the ladies, helps keep skin smooth and free of wrinkles).
As reported by a National Institute on Aging/Harvard Medical School joint study, it was found that resveratrol enhances the anti-aging systems in the body, duplicating the anti aging health effects of calorie-restricted diets, as well as improves our general quality of life.
Researchers in Denmark examined 25,000 people to discover what drinking alcohol does to longevity, and found that wine drinkers lowered their [...]
Melatonin is another of the super hormones, those miracle substances that slow your aging and help you to live more youthful, energetic, disease-free, spiritually inspired and active lives – whatever your age.
But melatonin’s story gets better. Because of all the super anti-aging products flooding onto the market do the explosion of the information age, it can all be very confusing. “What do I take?” “Which supplements are the best?” Good questions.
Anti-aging and Longevity
In fact, Melatonin is one of the only substances ever discovered that significantly extends the lifespan of laboratory animals. Let’s be very clear about this. There are many supplements that can make you look and feel younger – give you more youthful energy – but only a few have been shown to extend actual lifespan by a significant amount.
Melatonin is one of those super hormones that can actually help you to live longer.
In scientific tests, the average lifespan of animals extended about 30%. I have read figures of between 20% and 50%, so 30% is a relatively safe average. That means instead of dying at 70, you greatly increase the probability that you will live until you are 100 if [...]
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