You already know that your telomeres are like a ticking biological clock.
Each time your cells divide, a tiny bit of each telomere gets used up. Over time, these telomeres get shorter and shorter until your DNA can no longer make correct copies, and that cell stops working.
This process happens slowly, and it makes your cells act older and weaker.
But what you may not know is just how many of today’s most widespread conditions and illnesses are associated with shorter telomeres.
Research shows that with longer telomeres, you have a better chance to avoid almost every illness and disease. Here are the top 10 health goals you can achieve if you keep your telomeres longer:
- Keep your memory sharp – The famous Nurses’ Health Study looked at the telomeres of 2,000 women, and found that those people with longer telomeres had less cognitive decline. Each unit increase in telomere length is like your brain acting a year younger! 1
- Stay happy and energized – Depression is now associated with cell aging. The longer your telomeres, the less likely you are to be depressed no matter your age.2
- Maintain a strong heart – The younger your cells act, the less likely you are to suffer from cardiovascular disease.3
- Stay lean and healthy – A study done just a few months ago found that obese children have telomeres that are 24% shorter than non-obese children.4
- Keep your eyesight – Longer telomeres mean a nearly 50% reduced risk for eye disease. And people with cataracts who had longer telomeres had less severe cases that those with shorter telomeres.5
- Have perfect blood sugar – People with diabetes have significantly shorter telomeres than people without. The longer your telomeres, the better chance you have of avoiding diabetes. Also, among those with diabetes, longer telomeres mean a less severe case with fewer complications.6
- Get healthy teeth and gums – Most people don’t think of disease originating in the mouth, but your gums are a direct path to the rest of your body. Gum disease is an indicator of inflammation in your body. People with gum disease had 23% shorter telomeres. Those with longer telomeres had no gum disease, and lower markers of inflammation.7
- Sleep soundly – In China, they looked at the immune systems of people with sleep apnea compared to people who slept normally. The ratio of white blood cells with longer telomeres was significantly higher in healthy people than for people with sleep apnea.8
- Have pain-free and mobile joints – Telomeres appear to shorten faster for people with rheumatoid arthritis. Longer telomeres are associated with lower risk for the immune disease.9
- Look younger and have more youthful skin – Did you know that even for identical twins, the one with longer telomeres always looks younger than the twin with shorter telomeres? What’s more, the twins who looked younger than their true age had better health and longer survival rates than their older-looking siblings.
Fortunately for you, we now have the ability to influence the length of these tiny genetic clocks. You can have younger acting cells and help avoid age-related problems by maintaining your telomere length.
The science of telomere biology is always moving forward, so I want you to take these three steps to help maintain the length of your telomeres.
Step 1) Lower Your Homocysteine: This amino acid can build up inside you and threaten your heart health … but high homocysteine also triples the speed at which your telomeres shorten.10 Here’s what I use with my patients (amounts are daily) to lower homocysteine:
- Vitamin B12 – 500 mcg
- Folic acid – 800 mcg
- Vitamin B6 – 25 mg
- Riboflavin (B2) – 25 mg
- TMG (Trimethylglycine) – 500 mg
You can find these at your local health food store. If you don’t want to take them all separately, you can use the formula I give my patients.
Step 2) Take Vitamin C: Recent studies now show this antioxidant can slow telomere shortening by over 50%.11 I recommend 3,000 mg per day split into two doses.
Step 3) Eat More Brightly-Colored Vegetables: People who eat the most vegetables have significantly longer telomeres. And vegetables with the most beta carotene have the biggest benefit to telomere length.12
By bright I also mean bright green, too. This also includes spirulina and chlorella, two little known but powerful superfoods.
Stay tuned because I’m going to continue to talk about natural ways to maintain your telomeres.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
1. Devore E, Prescott J, De Vivo I, Grodstein F. “Relative telomere length and cognitive decline in the Nurses’ Health Study.” Neurosci Lett. 2011;492(1):15-8.
2. Wolkowitz O, et. al. “Leukocyte telomere length in major depression:” PLoS One. 2011;6(3):e17837.
3. De Meyer T, Rietzschel E, De Buyzere M, Van Criekinge W, Bekaert S. “Telomere length and cardiovascular aging: the means to the ends?” Ageing Res Rev. 2011;10(2):297-303.
4. Buxton J, Walters R, Visvikis-Siest S, Meyre D, Froguel P, Blakemore AI. “Childhood obesity is associated with shorter leukocyte telomere length.” J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 May;96(5):1500-5.
5. Sanders J, et. al. “The association of cataract with leukocyte telomere length in older adults:” J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2011 Jun;66(6):639-45.
6. Testa R. “Leukocyte telomere length is associated with complications of Type-2 diabetes mellitus.” Diabet Med. 2011 Jun 21.
7. Masi S, et. al. “Oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, and telomere length in patients with periodontitis.” Free Radic Biol Med. 2011 Mar 15;50(6):730-5.
8. Lin L, Li T. “Alteration of telomere length of the peripheral white blood cells in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.” Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao. 2011;31(3):457-60.
9. Costenbader K, Prescott J, Zee RY, De Vivo I. “Immunosenescence and rheumatoid arthritis: does telomere shortening predict impending disease?” Autoimmun Rev. 2011;10(9):569-73.
10. Richards J, et al. Homocysteine levels and leukocyte telomere length. Atherosclerosis. 2008 Feb 14.
11. Furumoto K, et al. Age-dependent telomere shortening is slowed down by enrichment of intracellular vitamin C via suppression of oxidative stress., Life Sciences 63(11):935-48, 1998.
12. Marcon F, Siniscalchi E, Crebelli R, Saieva C, Sera F, Fortini P, Simonelli V, Palli D. “Diet-related telomere shortening and chromosome stability.” Mutagenesis. 2011 Aug 19.