Telomeres (following)

Each time chromosomes divide and multiply, instead of losing the DNA that matters, they lose only some of the telomere’s DNA. With every replication of our DNA, part of the telomere sequence is chopped off. This is how nature protects the DNA in a chromosome. Basically, we start to die the day we are conceived: the embryo has about fifteen thousand base pairs in its telomeres, a newborn human approximately ten thousand base pairs. With each cell division, a few base pairs are lost, until the critical limit is reached. In some people this process happens quickly, in others it can take much longer.

Seldomly, a few telomeres become longer, thanks to the telomerase activity. The key to immortality is turning the telomerase gene from off to on.

Nature already does that: it is NOT impossible. In sperm cells, the enzyme telomerase adds telomere DNA back to the cells’ telomeres and keeps those telomeres as long as they have always been. That’s why an eighty year old man can still father children.

Now it should be much clearer how telomeres and telomerase work.

In an ideal world telomeres would shorten slowly and we’d live longer: in our sad reality the food is grown in nutrient-poor soil that contains pesticides and heavy metals from acid rain. Cattle, chickens and other animals are raised in unsanitary conditions, pumped full of hormones and antibiotics.

So, the first hint to preserve your telomeres is to switch to organic food. Although not being perfect is so much better than regular food.

To be continued….

Telomeres

What are they? The caps at the end of our DNA. The perfect example are the lacecaps of our shoes. The longer they are, the more we live. Forget all the other supplements: they encompasse all the prior theories of aging, all the rest ultimately point to the telomeres.

Telomeres have the potential to increase our life-span, more than anything else. By ramping up our cells’ health and longevity we can prevent disease and aging rather than relying on pharmaceutical science. Irrefutable evidence links most of the disease of aging directly or indirectly to telomere length.

I intend to talk quite extensively from now on about them, posting regularly, along with other health issues/supplements.

If we reset telomere lengths in cells or in tissues, we can reverse aging in those cells and tissues. If we understand how to increase the activity of telomerase (the enzyme that makes telomeres grow), we increase their length. For example the positive effects of meditation and stress reduction on telomere length are already very well documented.

But we want to go further, right?

That’s the path we’ll follow together.

We already know we can reverse aging in human cells, we can already reverse aging in simple human tissues: these are FACTS.  

Telomere: the segment of DNA that occurs at the ends of chromosomes.

Telomerase: an enzyme that causes telomeres to lengthen, facilitating cell division and is essential for the immortality of some cells.

DNA is the key. Chromosomes are important to all forms of life, they are found in every living cell of our body. When they stop replicating, we die. When so many of our cells are in a state of senescence the body as a whole will no longer be able to sustain itself. We just die of “old age”.

This could become increasingly avoidable. Maybe some of you have never heard about them: if you like you will read directly from here.

This is merely an introduction. We’ll learn a little bit more next time hopefully together.

To be continued….