We never thought it was going to be that simple … but amazingly, the telomere turns out to be the central control mechanism for aging.
But now that we’ve discovered that you have a clock inside your cells, that tells the cell how old it is, we can measure it. Even more amazingly, we can go inside and reset that clock. It’s why I keep talking to you about products like Essence, that helps maintain your telomeres and keeps you younger for longer than anyone would ever guess was possible.
But one thing I haven’t talked much about is the process of testing and measuring your telomeres.
One of the stops I’m making on my way to Malaysia is Madrid, Spain. I’m going there to meet with the founder and president of the company that makes the telomere length test we use here at my Wellness Center.
His name is Steve Matlin, and his company is called Life Length. He founded it with Dr. Maria Blasco, who I’ll also be meeting. She’s the current Director of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and the chief scientific advisor to Life Length.
She’s the leading anti-aging researcher in the world and has been given 300 employees by the government of Spain to run the CNIO, and something like 230 of them are M.D.s or have PhDs.
If you’ve never heard of Dr. Blasco, she’s one of the world’s leading researchers on telomeres, and the 2004 European Molecular Biology Organization Gold Medal winner. She was also the lead researcher who performed the breakthrough clinical trial that proved activating telomerase in an adult animal could extend their lifespan.
The mice Dr. Blasco and her colleagues treated so that they would produce telomerase – the enzyme that rebuilds the telomere – lived an amazing 24% longer on average. And the mice had a huge improvement in their health, with less disease and improved brain function and muscular coordination.1
Life Length’s Telomere Analysis Technology (TAT) was developed by Dr. Blasco. She published a peer-reviewed study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that validated the accuracy of Life Length’s testing method.2
What Life Length does is measure your average telomere length and the percentage of critically short telomeres you have. In fact, they make the only test that can measure percentage of short telomeres in individual cells from both blood and tissue samples.
That makes it more useful to you, because the measurement is then a more relevant indicator of telomere dysfunction and cellular aging.
We’ve tested over 20 patients at my Wellness Center with the Life Length test and measured their telomere length and then gotten results from all the different parameters. And I’ll be showing the results of those tests to attendees of the World Anti-Aging Conference in Malaysia.
Here’s a sample of the very detailed results you’d see if you were to get tested at my clinic:
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The top left chart shows the percentage of your telomeres that are critically short. The top right chart tells us the percentage of your cells that have each measured telomere length. The bottom left tells us the size of the telomere relative to the volume of tissue sampled.
The last chart shows a measurement that is an estimate of the length of your telomeres in the cells before they separate. Why is this important to you? Because it is also a way of telling you the relative youth of your cells.
If a big percentage of your cells that are dividing still have long telomeres, that means your active cells are youthful. If a big percentage of your actively dividing cells have short telomeres, that would mean your cells are getting older, and your body would be acting older.
By getting your telomere length tested and knowing what you have to do in advance, you can be in control of your health and your life, and live younger no matter your numeric “age.”
One of the easiest and best ways to maintain your telomeres is a surprise to many people when I reveal it to them… simply raise your HDL as high as you can.
A recent study took a group of people and measured their telomere length. Researchers reported that those with shorter telomeres were likely to have a family history of cardiovascular disease.
But when I read a little deeper into the study, I discovered that the researchers had also found that separate from any other measurement, those with the highest HDL had the longest telomeres.3
It doesn’t surprise me that high HDL would be associated with longer telomeres and a longer, healthier life. In fact, the higher your cholesterol, the lower your chances are of dying from any cause.4
One of the best ways to raise your HDL and maintain the length of your telomeres is to take the vitamin E you may have never heard of: tocotrienols.
Vitamin E is actually a group of eight nutrients, four tocopherols, and four tocotrienols. Studies show that tocotrienols give your HDL a huge boost. 5
Cranberries, coconuts, chicken and palm oil have tocotrienols, but not much. Personally, my favorite source is annatto. I first encountered it in the Andes Mountains. The natives there recognize annatto oil as a powerful health tonic.
You can find annatto and palm oil at your local health food store or specialty grocery store. You can also use a tocotrienols supplement. Look for one that has as much gamma and delta tocotrienols as you can get, because those are the two that seem to have the most benefit.
P.S. If you would like to have your telomere length tested with the Life Length test at my Center for Health and Wellness in South Florida, please call us at 561-784-7852 and make an appointment today.
1. Bernardes de Jesus B, Vera E, Schneeberger K, Tejera A, Ayuso E, Bosch F, Blasco M. “Telomerase gene therapy in adult and old mice delays ageing and increases longevity….” EMBO Molecular Medicine, 2012.
2. Canela A, Vera E, Klatt P, Blasco MA. “High-throughput telomere length quantification by FISH and its application to human population studies.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Mar 27;104(13):5300-5.
3. Dei Cas A. et. al. “…cardiovascular disease and reduced HDL-cholesterol levels are associated with shorter leukocyte telomere length…” Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. Aug 2011
4. Weverling-Rijnsburger AW, Blauw GJ, Lagaay AM, Knook DL, Meinders AE, Westendorp RG. “Total cholesterol and risk of mortality in the oldest old.” Lancet. 1997 Oct 18;350(9085):1119-23
5. Hunninghake, et al, “Incorporation of lean red meat into a National Cholesterol Education Program Step I Diet,” Journal of the American College of Nutrition 2000;19(3):351-360