Telomeres, the secret of Longevity

Everything you need to know

The complexity of aging

Understanding the complexity of aging and how the body biology changes throughout life is a critical point when it comes to longevity and prevention. We start to age early in life and aging can be seen as a gradual functional deterioration or decline of our cells/organs where environmental and lifestyle factors can all contribute to «accelerating» aging. You might think that a glass of wine or a grilled steak in the evening are harmless to your overall health, but in fact they make you age faster.

Cellular aging

We are all familiar with aging aspects such as oxidative stress, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, shortening of telomeres and epigenetic changes and indeed these are likely to influence the pace of cellular aging. There is considerable evidence to show that reduction in the length of telomeres is associated with failure of cell division and senescence of normal cells, and that oxidative stress and inflammation can contribute to the rate of attrition of telomere length.

So, what are telomeres?

Telomeres are specialized structures found at the ends of chromosomes. Telomeres protect the chromosomes’ ends from degradation and fusion with nearby chromosomes, and allow effective replication of DNA and cellular division. Today telomere shortening is a hallmark of aging and is a major focus in cellular aging research.

Why is telomere shortening linked to aging?

Each time a cell divides, part of these chromosome protective caps – the telomeres, are lost. In addition, telomeres are sensitive to inflammation and oxidative stress, which can further promote telomere shortening. Reduction in the length of telomeres leads to the cessation of cell division and thus cellular senescence and cellular death. This process, along with other factors, causes aging.

Nutrition to preserve cellular health

Not all people age at the same pace, even if they have the same chronological age. Today science equips us with powerful tools we can use to change the way we age and empower our body biology. Nutrition is probably among the most important and there are major changes we must all adopt very early in life. The inclusion of dietary components that act to reduce oxidative stress and modulate inflammation and consequently reduce telomere attrition is actually a choice anyone can make.

We might not be ready to extend the telomere ends, thus prolonging cell life and potentially inducing immortality, however we are able to integrate strategically in our daily diet food elements with unique ability to preserve the cellular health and longevity in such a holistic manner.