Optimize these biomarkers & slow aging & stay well ….

Today's post: Tuesday, 10-16-2007

If you know what blood tests to get; get them; & see what your readings are, you can take effective action to improve your measures on any of these tests that are in the danger zone. You can even improve your measures on any of these tests that are not quite at optimum levels. Doing that set of things will improve & protect your health. And, it also slows aging & can even reverse its effects in some ways.

We’ve covered many of them here in earlier posts. Your HDL cholesterol level & your homocysteine level are very important.

Recently, I read an excellent intro to this topic by Al Sears, MD.

It’s good enough, I’m reprinting it here & will add some comments.

"This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise’s Total Health Breakthroughs which offers alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com/ "

“ 5 Keys to Becoming Biologically Younger

By Al Sears, M.D.

Conventional medical wisdom is leading millions of people down the wrong path. Part of the reason is that so many "experts" continue to scoff at or ignore the exciting discoveries in the new field of anti-aging medicine.

Just as they did with nutrition as a new field, conventionally educated doctors are willfully remaining ignorant while sticking to the now preposterous position that anti-aging is impossible.

By the time you finish reading this you will know how unfortunate this ill-informed position is.

On the surface, you can observe aging as your hair turns gray, your waistline grows and your body goes soft. But there are biochemical changes underneath that drive this physical aging. Measure and manipulate what happens at the cellular level and you can control the way you age to stay younger longer. Here's an easy example to understand:

As you age, the composition of your body changes with an increase in fat. Measure your body fat and reduce it. Measure your muscle mass and increase it. Now you've changed those particular markers of aging to be more typical of a younger person. That's anti-aging!

You simply change the important physical and chemical characteristics of age that you can influence back to what is typical for a younger individual. As you can see from this example, anyone who claims that this is impossible really hasn't even bothered to learn what anti-aging is.

Today, I'll show you how to test for and then reverse five chemical biomarkers of aging that I have identified as both important and modifiable. Most doctors don't look at these markers in this way. This is a BIG mistake if you want to hold onto your youthful features as long as possible. You can and should take control of your:

Insulin: The overlooked secret to high energy and a lean body.
Triglycerides: More important than cholesterol for heart health.
HDL: The good cholesterol that drugs can't give you.
CoQ10: The often-deficient anti-aging nutrient.
HGH: Nature's master rejuvenator.

Each of these undergoes a transformation as you age. I have proven in my clinics that each of us can achieve control of all five with specific anti-aging therapies. I'm going to start with the first one, which will lay the groundwork for opening up opportunities with the other biomarkers. If you don't take care of this first, it has a way of hijacking your metabolic energies and you won't make good progress with the others.

Insulin. When you hear the word insulin, you probably think of diabetes. But insulin isn't just about this disease. In fact, changing insulin levels plays a key role in aging.

Insulin tells your body to build fat. The more insulin you have, the more fat you'll pack on (all other things being equal).

Most hormones decline with age, but insulin increases with age. If you want to stay lean, strong and vigorous at any age, keep your insulin blood levels low:

Risky: 20 and higher.
Normal: 11 to 20.
Best for anti-aging: 4 to 10.
You can effectively lower your insulin with these four tools:
Eat more protein. This stabilizes insulin.
Eat less total quantity of carbohydrate.
Use the Glycemic Index as a guide to help you choose the healthiest carbs. If you don't have one you can get mine here.

Exercise. For the purpose of lowering insulin, you don't have to be too choosy here. Just about any type of exercise has been shown to work, with the general rule that the harder you exert yourself the better the insulin control.

Triglycerides. You can lower these with the same strategies that lower insulin. Triglycerides are a type of fat in your blood. They are a marker of age because as you age your triglycerides tend to steadily rise. High levels put you at risk of heart disease and can make you fat. That's why it's essential to get a triglyceride test. Here's an idea of where yours should be if you want to maintain a healthy heart:

High: 200 mg/ dl or higher.
Risky: 150 to 199 mg/dl.
Best for anti-aging: Less than 100 mg/dl.

My own triglycerides range around 55 to 60 and I'm keeping it that way. If your triglycerides measure high, use the four strategies above. Make the focal point of your diet natural protein. Protein from fish and grass-fed beef is best because these animals have healthy levels of omega-3s that will help to reduce your triglycerides, not to mention your waistline. For added power to achieve lower blood triglycerides supplement with one tablespoon of cod liver oil.

HDL. HDL is the good kind of cholesterol. HDL delivers life-giving nutrients and helps remove the bad LDL cholesterol from your arteries. Although a certain amount of LDL in your blood is normal and healthy, excess LDL often accumulates in elders. When this happens, doctors often prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs.
But if your doctor tries to put you on cholesterol-lowering medication, be warned. Those drugs DO lower LDL, but they don't increase HDL -- and that's what matters. Whether you have high cholesterol or not, you should work to increase your HDL to above 80:

Risky: 40 or below
Normal: Between 40 and 80
Best for anti-aging: Above 80

The best way to increase your HDL is with high-intensity, short-duration exercise such as my PACE® program.

Another good strategy I use very often in my clinics is relatively robust doses of the B vitamin niacin. For it to work, you have to take at least 500 mg per day. For many, I gradually work up to a dose of 2000 mg (or 2 grams) per day.

I should warn you that doses in this range often produce a facial flush or prickly hot sensation to the skin. It's usually harmless but can be a nuisance. If it happens back off on the frequency of dosing. Try it again after a few days and increase it more slowly next time. Usually the hot rushes decrease as you get used to higher niacin blood levels.

CoQ10. This nutrient plays a key role in supplying the energy that your internal organs need. It's a most critical energy source for your heart. CoQ10 is also a very powerful antioxidant. It can improve your immune system, reverse gum disease, increase your overall perceived energy and can help prevent and even reverse heart disease.

Unfortunately, research at my Wellness Research Foundation has proved that CoQ10 levels decline as much as 80 percent through the years, so I include it as one of your most important biomarkers of age. Studies clearly link this decline to the diseases and illnesses of aging, especially cardiovascular problems. And, more than 80 percent of my older patients have turned out to be deficient in CoQ10.

You can measure this critical nutrient in your blood, but very few doctors order it. You will have to ask. It's imperative you get your levels checked and see how much CoQ10 anti-aging power you're missing. Then you can start doing something about it.

First, you can add more CoQ10 to your diet by eating red meat and eggs. However, modern animal husbandry has led to lower levels of this anti-aging wonder so you will want to go to the extra trouble to get grass-fed red meat. Supplementation with this particular nutrient is also important. For general anti-aging benefits, I recommend taking 100 mg per day. If your level is low, double that. In some stubborn cases I have used well over 1000 mg per day.

I can't recommend general anti-aging measurements for CoQ10 or HGH (below) because those are medical decisions based on your individual case history. Talk to your doctor or an anti-aging specialist for specific recommendations.

HGH. Your body produces high amounts of HGH when you're young, but production declines throughout your adult life. HGH is responsible for rejuvenating and repairing all tissues in your body. As your HGH declines, it orchestrates many of the changes of aging, such as loss of muscle tone, wrinkles, energy decline and excess fat gain. But add HGH back and you reverse some of these consequences of aging.

A recent study at the National Institutes on Aging once again proved that HGH improves lean body mass and decreases body fat -- even in healthy men. Studies also show it improves strength, sexual capacity and physical function and reduces frailty in elders.

So how do you affect your HGH? I've found you can effectively boost HGH in three ways:

Eat More Protein: Since HGH makes you build muscle, and when you eat high amounts of protein you have the material to build muscle, it makes sense that your HGH would rise in response to a high-protein diet. And indeed, it does. This is a mild elevation, but nonetheless HGH is so powerfully beneficial, even a slight increase can make a big difference.

Perform Strenuous Exercises: Strenuous exercise also increases levels of HGH in your body. Now I'm NOT talking about a brisk walk around the block. I mean gut-wrenching exercises like heavy squats and dead lifts. This is not a tip for the faint of heart. If you're athletic and in good shape, you should try it.

Supplement with Arginine: Several amino acids have been shown to boost the blood markers for HGH. But they have to be taken in relatively large doses to work. The one I use most myself is arginine. Pills don't work because you can't get enough. I use a powder at 5 grams per day mixed with water and taken 30 to 90 minutes before exercise. If you don't exercise the next best time to take it is before bedtime. Then you will get a slight boost in HGH while you sleep.

Stay tuned for my next anti-aging installment in THB. I'm going to tell you what I've learned about balancing your sex hormones to maintain more youthful features in both men and women.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, Chairman of the Board of Total Health Breakthroughs, is a practicing physician and a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness and heart health.”

* X * X *

My comments:

“Insulin: The overlooked secret to high energy and a lean body.”

Dr Sears fails to mention blood glucose levels in his article which are closely related to insulin.
The steps he lists that lower insulin also tend to lower excess glucose levels. It’s extremely important to keep your fasting glucose at 109 or below & readings in the 80’s, 81-89 are better.
If you tend to have this level of fasting glucose, your HBA1C, a very accurate measure of your average blood sugar levels will be in good shape also. It’s extremely important that your HBA1C level is 5.9 or less; & 5.7 or less is better.

In addition to the steps he lists for lowering insulin, I’d add to simply not consume either regular or diet soft drinks and to simply not consume commercial baked goods or desserts or snacks; take action to remove any excess fat or fat weight you might have; & to get both strength training and cardio exercise each week. Also cut as much of the sugar our of your food & drink intake as you can manage. Taking chromium supplements & alpha lipoic acid also helps lower excess glucose.

The fun one is that adding powdered cinnamon to sweet foods or your coffee or both also helps keep your blood sugar from rising.

Lastly, if your glucose or insulin is high, while you are bringing it down, take DMAE & Carnosine supplements since the glycation excess glucose causes is the way excess glucose ages & damages your cells. And taking those two supplements helps to prevent that from happening.

“Triglycerides: More important than cholesterol for heart health. “

In addition to the steps he suggests for lowering triglycerides also follow all the steps for lowering insulin & excess glucose. My understanding is that your body produces triglycerides from the sugars you ingest, particularly excess sugars. And, if taking cod liver oil to get omega 3 oils is not your style, consider taking DHA supplements, Omega 3 supplements, & eating wild caught fish that are high in omega 3’s at least twice a week. These omega 3 oils lower triglyceride levels.

I’ve also read that adding a lot of onions to your food lowers triglycerides.

“HDL: The good cholesterol that drugs can't give you.”

PACE is Dr Sears system of alternating intense exercise with temporary recovery at rest or doing easier exercise. Regular strength training if you have to exert yourself a bit to finish each set also boosts HDL. So does using the principle of his PACE program in alternating moderate & more intense to intense exercise during cardio exercise. Separate research shows that gets you into shape faster than a steady pace does. Just be sure to not overdo it at first or to do it in sessions longer than about 25 minutes. And, doing a total of 1200 to 1500 calories a week of exercise of all kinds & drinking red wine moderately also boost HDL.

Dr Sears also mentions in a separate article that getting enough choline in your diet boost HDL. Choline & lecithin supplements can help. Egg yolks, wheat germ, & liver are high in choline. Liver from any but the most organically raised animals is likely too high in pollutants to eat. But if you aren’t allergic, eating a few whole eggs & a moderate amount of toasted wheat germ each week, can boost your HDL levels quite well. Both foods are also good sources of the higher protein intake he recommends.

“CoQ10: The often-deficient anti-aging nutrient.”

Since taking CoQ10 can boost your energy levels, take it at breakfast & lunch but not later in the day. And, take an extra 100 mg a day beyond the 100 to 200 mg he suggest if you take statin drugs as they LOWER you levels of CoQ10.
“HGH: Nature's master rejuvenator.”
The steps Dr Sears suggest to increase HGH are sound. And, they are reasonably inexpensive & have many other health benefits. (I find that taking 500 mg capsules of arginine from NOW supplements is MUCH easier to take than the bad taste of arginine powder.) And, I take half my daily dose just before I exercise to maximize the HGH release from the exercise & half just before bed so my body repairs itself better while I sleep.

Unfortunately, while these steps to increase your body’s natural HGH release are reasonably inexpensive & have many other health benefits, taking supplements that say they have HGH or getting HGH shots are often either ineffective or dangerous if do they work. And they cost a lot or an enormous amount respectively.
Dr Sears doesn’t list them & I suggest not using them.

He leaves out being sure that you have a homocysteine level of 8.9 or less. 6.0 to about 8.0 is ideal. We covered how to do that in a recent post. Homocysteine levels also increase with age if not managed. And, every step above 8.9 sharply INCREASES your rate of aging & your likelihood of dying. High homocysteine levels also cause cardiovascular disease & may help cause Alzheimers & other kinds of senility.

If you get these & measures done, the five he lists plus fasting glucose, HBA1C, & homocysteine & then work to improve them & get retested every few months to see your progress, this can be a great way to get into & maintain a lifestyle that will keep your health & dramatically slow aging.

Even better, you focus most on improving the measures that the tests show need improving the most.