Photo: Jean-Guy Nakars, Unsplash
Living Longer By Starting With Some Very Important Little Stuff:
If there’s one thing HealthTrekker-type people want to do, it’s to slow the aging process!
We all want to live longer lives, and better ones while we’re around.
Why else would we spend the money on healthier food and supplements?
Well hold your horses there, because a handful of pills is sometimes the right answer and sometimes the wrong one.
But for now, buckle-up because an Augusta University? team found another longevity hack you might use!…
The Short Answer:
- Three aging factors we all face are: Stress, Inflammation, & Free-Radicals.
- AU researchers wanted to try armoring-up against them.
- 1,000+ Subjects aged 65 were studied for 5 years.
- They were given 2,000 IU of vitamin d/day.
- It protected their cells by slowing damage to DNA-protectors by ~40%.
- The thing that keeps those cells replicating well are little “helmets” called telomeres.
- Inflammation usually erodes them faster, but that was reduced by the vitamin d.
- Be careful even with vitamins, because you can overdose.
- The current RDA is 600IU/day for people under 70, and 800IU/day for people over 70.
- So 2,000 is a little bit of an overdose, but not as high as the outer-limit of 4,000IU you sometimes see.
- You can also get enough vitamin d with 5-30 minutes of sunshine, 2x/week, even while wearing sunblock.
- There are also ways to both get more of the vitamin in your diet and prevent inflammation before it even starts.
Read on to find out the details…
> Show/Hide Table Of Contents <
How To Armor Your Body Against The Insults Of Modern Life:
So, three of the big problems we all face in our lives regardless of health status are:
1) Stress
2) Inflammation
3) Free-Radicals
3a) (not Che Guevara; but also Communist, so probably)
So what do you do for armor against them?
The Right Vitamins Might Cause Changes Right Down To Your Cells:
That’s the question AU researchers wanted to answer when they brought in over 1,000 subjects, aged about 65, for a 5-year trial.
They wanted to find out how well Vitamin D could protect them from a type of cellular-aging.
-Which ultimately means: Longer Lifespan!
So they gave one group of subjects about 2,000 IU of it.
And BOOM! Life-Splosion!
Because, what it did for their cellular-health was really pretty impressive.
Protecting Your Genetic Code From Going Off The Rails:
Every cell needs to replicate.
It makes those new copies using the DNA code for instructions.
But the code in the cells needs protection and these come in the form of little “DNA Helmets”, called Telomeres.
They keep the code safe for as many uses as possible.
But when you have environmental insults getting into your body, those caps can get stripped-away a little at a time.
When they finally fail, the cell has to die or risk making really harmful copies; as bad or worse than Zombie Cells.
Rescuing Your DNA-Armor From The Ravages Of Inflammation:
So in-order to keep cell-health as tippity-top as it can be, you don’t just need the DNA Helmets.
You also need something to protect those code-protectors themselves!
And that’s where our old pal Vitamin D comes in.
Because one of the things it’s really good at is reducing inflammation.
And wouldn’t you know it, inflammation is one of the things that wears-away against that DNA protection!
That 2,000 IU of Vitamin D did such a good job, and over the course of 4 years it reduced cellular-aging at the telomere-sites by 40 FREAKING PERCENT!
-BOOM!
Be Careful, Because You Absolutely Can OD On Vitamins!:
Now don’t start getting yourself into a froth about Vitamin D.
-Because there is a downside, too.
You can absolutely overdose on vitamins!
For example, men who took 400 IU of Vitamin E/day had a 19% increased risk of prostate cancer!
And also weirdly, there is a balance-point even for those DNA-protectors…
Nature Throws Us A Curveball. It’s All A Balancing-Act:
Because as much as super-short ones are associated with all kinds of very serious disease, Including The Big C, Heart-Disease, and Arthritis,
Super LONG ones are also associated with disease as well!
-Told you it wasn’t all good news!
So then the solution is probably not to go out and take a ton of pills.
-Especially because you can absolutely overdose on supplemental vitamin D,
And if you do, it’s linked to things like cataract-formation and other weird stuff.
But the real solution is to make sure you’re consistently getting enough!
The Study Used A Little More Than The RDA. You Might Not Have To:
So, 600 IU/day for people under 70, and 800/day for people older than that is the USRDA level.
So it would seem that 2,000 was a bit of an overdose for the people in the study.
Although it’s not quite as high as official overdose levels, of anything at/over 4,000 IU/day (unless directed by a medical professional for some serious reason).
And even though you’ll need to be more mindful in the fall and winter when there’s less sun.
You can normally get enough of the vitamin with between 5-30 minutes of sun exposure only 2x/week, even wearing you sunblock!
And the best part? You may not even need to take pills!
Dietary Vitamin D Sources For Fire-Fighting, Tips For Fire-Prevention:
Because if you follow my smart doctor friend’s advice and just try to get your vitamins from your diet,
It’s probably a lot healthier.
Here are some sources of Vitamin D that you can get right in food:
1) Fatty fish like Salmon and Mackerel
2) Eggs w/ the yolks
3) Portabella mushrooms
4) The always popular Cod Liver Oil
5) In a pinch, the ones that are fortified with it
5a) Milk
5b) Yogurt
You can also work on the other side of the equation by protecting your DNA Helmets with things you reduce or DON’T have, like:
1) Stress-Reduction Through Meditation
2) Omega 6 Oils
3) Ultra-Processed Foods
4) Smoking
5) Drinking
6) Sugar
7) High-Glycemic Carbs
7a) (like Bread, Pasta, Rice, Potatoes, Chips, Snack Foods, Desserts, Pastries, Sweet Drinks, Melon)
8) Saturated Fat
8a) Like Ice Cream, Cheese (especially hard cheese), Milk products above 1%, Red Meat (esp. w/ “Marbling”), Burgers, Palm Oil, Coconut Oil
9) Fried Foods
Take The Results With A Grain Of Salt And Live Longer Anyway:
So there you go!
You don’t have to be a lab-rat or a bio-chemical gambler popping tons of supplements and hoping you get the mix right,
And also anticipate every possible overdose risk as you go (cough, cough, Bryan Johnson, cough)
You just need to make sure you stay away from a bunch of unhealthy stuff,
And get a little more healthy stuff in the diet so it’s hard to overdose.
But when in-doubt, if you are going to take pills, try to be safe and stick pretty close to the RDA.
Then you can join the list of people who Lived To 100+!
References & Links:
• Source: MassGen
• More Coverage: JagWire Telomeres Heart Health
• Source Study: Am.J.Clin.Nutr. – Vitamin D3 and marine ω-3 fatty acids supplementation and leukocyte telomere length: 4-year findings from the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL) randomized controlled trial
