Teddy Roosevelt Never Knew Telomeres (Science of Nutrition & Aging)

If you were not following my letters 10 years ago, you probably wouldn’t know that I used to teach nutrition at Barry University in South Florida. I love to teach, but I found that the students almost always didn’t have a basic understanding of nutrition, so I would start by teaching them what the vitamins were.

I developed a phrase to help my students remember the names for all the B vitamins that used to confuse people. I still use it to teach nutrition today … but with an anti-aging twist I’ll tell you about in a minute:

Teddy Roosevelt Never Painted Pyramids Blue In Fancy Clothes.

It sounds crazy, but the more absurd the image, the more likely you’ll remember it.

These are known to have important roles in your body, most of which we’ve known for decades. But the science of nutrition is still fledgling and we are learning more all the time.

For instance, one of the more important new discoveries is how nutrients affect your aging.

Nutrition and Aging

Central to aging of course are the telomeres, those tiny pieces of genetic code at the end of each strand of DNA. They are like a biological clock. Each time your cells divide, telomeres get a bit shorter, ticking away and telling your cells how old to act.

One of the mechanisms by which these B vitamins are having all these beneficial effects that you see in the table is through their effect on telomeres. And now we can use the measurement of the length of your telomeres as a gauge for their anti-aging effect.

I wrote you a couple months ago about vitamin B9 (folate) and how it benefits telomeres.

Today I want to tell you about vitamin B7 – biotin.

You already know it in terms of keeping your skin, hair and nails young and strong. But it also helps you normalize and lower insulin.

That’s important because chronically high insulin leads to shorter telomeres.

Too much blood sugar, caused by eating grains and other starchy carbs, and sugary foods, causes you to produce lots of insulin to break down the sugar. Insulin then stimulates the body to store this sugar in fat cells … but insulin also increases inflammation.

Telomeres are very susceptible to shortening due to inflammation from insulin.¹

One study found that the more insulin you’ve produced, the shorter your telomeres will be.²

You can go a long way to slowing down the aging process and keep your insulin levels low by eating a low-glycemic diet. Click here for my glycemic index chart.

But, you can also protect your telomeres with biotin because it keeps your insulin in check. Biotin improves the way your body uses glucose. And it gives you a safe and easy way of managing your blood sugar.³ In one study 43 diabetic patients took biotin supplements for just one month. They lowered their fasting blood sugar levels by 45%.⁴

Biotin works by increasing glucokinase, a liver enzyme. That helps convert glucose to glycogen so your body can get it out of the bloodstream and store it safely away. Your insulin levels go back to normal, and this protects your telomeres from insulin-derived inflammation.

You can tell you’re not getting enough biotin if you notice is hair loss, dermatitis, dandruff, and brittle nails.

But you may not be able to see the other effects of low biotin. It’s needed to maintain a healthy heart, sweat glands, nerves, blood cells, and bone marrow.

Our prehistoric ancestors got plenty of biotin because it’s contained in organ meats like liver and kidneys. We don’t eat organ meat much anymore, and that’s too bad. The good news is you can also get biotin naturally from eggs and salmon. Here are some of my favorite sources.

Many of these foods are animal products and high in healthy fats. But you may still need to supplement. The National Academy of Science says adults only need 30 mcg of biotin a day. But that’s not nearly enough to get the insulin and telomere protection benefits.

Biotin is safe even at doses as high as 6,000 mcg (6 milligrams) per day. For help in maintaining your telomeres by lowering insulin, try to get 2,000 mcg (2 milligrams) a day.

You won’t get nearly enough biotin in a multi-vitamin. Even a B complex will probably only give you 100 mcg. You’ll need to take a separate supplement.

But be careful which one you choose. Biotin is easily destroyed by heat. Most biotin supplements on the market don’t take the precautions needed to keep the vitamin stable. Remember to buy a product you know and trust.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

1. Serra V, Grune T, Sitte N, Saretzki G, von Zglinicki T. “Telomere length as a marker of oxidative stress in primary human fibroblast cultures.” Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2000;908:327-30.

2. Al-Attas OS, et al, “Adiposity and insulin resistance correlate with telomere length in middle-aged Arabs: the influence of circulating adiponectin.” Eur J Endocrinol. 2010;163(4):601-7.

3. Lazo de la Vega-Monroy M, et. al. “Effects of biotin supplementation in the diet on insulin secretion, islet gene expression, glucose homeostasis and beta-cell proportion.” J Nutr Biochem. 2013;24(1):169-77.

4. Maebashi M, Makino Y, Furukawa Y, Ohinata K, Kimura S, Sato T. “Therapeutic evaluation of the effect of biotin on hyperglycemia in patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.” J Clin Biochem Nutr. 1993;14:211-218.