I have an important new way of thinking about nutrients that I want to tell you about.
If you’re a member of my Confidential Cures newsletter you already know a bit about my Nutrition Pyramid. Today for you in Ageless Beauty Secrets I want to tell you why this is important for anti-aging.
There are four simple levels. At the base is Primal Nutrition. Just above that is ortho-nutrition. Then you have ultra-nutrition. And at the top is telo-nutrition.
Primal nutrition means getting the basic amounts of protein, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants our paleo ancestors got from their environment. Ortho-nutrition means correcting for the nutrient deficiencies caused by the abuses and toxins we’re suffering from in today’s world.
Ultra-nutrition is where you try to do better than just what nature intended and get performance gains over what’s “normal.” Telo-nutrition is using nutrients to affect the length of the telomere to prevent disease and preserve youth.
One of the reasons I think there’s a need for my Nutrition Pyramid is that other people tout vitamins as ultra-nutrition when they’re not. And they don’t know what you can use to go beyond that and help maintain your telomeres.
Tea is a good example. If you’re a regular reader, you know I recommend food as your best choice for nutrition. So I would consider tea a primal drink.
Humans since Paleo times and beyond have been boiling leaves and drinking soothing teas. In certain areas of the world, tea would have been one of the main sources of antioxidants.
But technology has given us the ability to do even more with tea. To go beyond even ultra-nutrition into the area of protecting and maintaining your telomeres. I call this telo-nutrition.
You see, a new benefit from of our oldest nutritional drinks is that the compound EGCG, extracted from traditional Asian tea leaves (Camellia sinensis), helps maintain telomeres. Those are the tiny pieces of code at the end of DNA strands that tell your cells how old to act, and when to die off.
In one animal study, researchers gave rats a kind of thickening of the heart that you would see with chronic diseases like high blood pressure. Then they gave them EGCG. After 7 weeks, the EGCG had prevented telomere shortening.1
EGCG can also help slow the aging process because it zaps harmful free radicals and promotes cell stability.
But I still recommend drinking green tea because it fulfills a primal nutritional need – giving you antioxidants from food.
One of my favorite green teas is sanpin tea.
It’s not widely sold in the U.S., but the long-lived Japanese on the island of Okinawa grow it in rich, high-altitude soil. They pick the young and tender leaves, and don’t ferment them like Oolong and black teas. That helps sanpin keep all its antioxidants, which have more benefits than just EGCG.
Sanpin has more lignans than other green teas, so it has higher total antioxidant content.
Drinking green tea can:
- Block the absorption of fat in the gut, which helps lower lipid (fat) levels in your blood.
- Block the action of enzymes your body needs to make and store fat. Plus, it slightly raises your metabolism to increase the fat your body burns off.
- Trigger production of nitric oxide in blood vessel linings. This promotes healthy circulation by keeping your arteries flexible.
- Lower fatty build-up in your arteries, cutting the risk of blockages that lead to heart attacks and strokes.2
- Fight damage from ultraviolet (UV) light, helping keep your skin smooth and supple.3
You can get some of these benefits taking a green tea supplement, since EGCG appears to contribute to all of them. But you won’t get the full benefit of some of green tea’s other antioxidants.
- Kaempferol intake is linked to a lower risk of heart disease and some cancers. Studies suggest kaempferol also helps maintain bone strength, nerve system health, and normal blood sugar levels.4
- Myricetin is another potent antioxidant in green tea. In animal studies, it protects against damage from UV light and blocks tumor formation in the skin.5
- University researchers discovered quercetin activates four key genes. These genes give you lots of extra energy because they help you make more of the tiny energy factories within your cells, the mitochondria.6
Sanpin tea has one other special trait. The tealeaves are mixed with fresh sanpin flowers. This is what gives it a fresh, light scent and flavor.
In Japanese studies, people who drank 5 or 6 cups of green tea seemed to get the most benefit. But a typical Japanese teacup is about half the size of our cups in the U.S. So shooting for 3 cups a day should be enough.
When you prepare your tea, don’t use boiling water. It will destroy some of the antioxidants. For best results, steep your tea at about 160-170 degrees.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
1. Sheng R, Gu Z, Xie M. “Epigallocatechin gallate… inhibits telomere attrition mediated cardiomyocyte apoptosis in cardiac hypertrophy.” Int J Cardiol. 2011.
2. Babu, P.V. and Liu, D., “Green tea catechins and cardiovascular health: an update,” Curr Med Chem. 2008; 15(18): 1840-1850.
3. Rhodes, L.E., et al, “Oral green tea catechin metabolites are incorporated into human skin and protect against UV radiation-induced cutaneous inflammation in association with reduced production of pro-inflammatory eicosanoid 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid,” Br J Nutr. 2013; 110(5): 891-900.
4. Calderón-Montaño, J.M., et al, “A review on the dietary flavonoid kaempferol,” Mini Rev Med Chem. Apr 2011; 11(4): 298-344.
5. Kang, N.J., et al, “Myricetin is a potent chemopreventive phytochemical in skin carcinogenesis,” Ann N Y Acad Sci. Jul 2011; 1229: 124-132.
6. Nieman, D.C., et al, “Quercetin’s influence on exercise performance and muscle mitochondrial biogenesis,” Med Sci Sports Exerc. Feb 2010; 42(2): 338-345.