the primary causes of aging

Aging is the primary risk factor in many diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Understanding the causes of aging can help us adopt lifestyle changes which may delay the aging process. This doesn't mean we will live forever, but we may increase the portion of our lives spent fit, healthy and disease free.

The aging process is a complex one, which scientists are only beginning to understand. There are many factors which contribute to the aging process and most likely there are more yet to be discovered. For the sake of expediency, we have grouped these factors into 3 categories.

1) DNA damage
2) Waste accumulation
3) Immune decline

1) DNA Damage

Every day our DNA accumulates a huge amount of damage. It is estimated that each individual cell can suffer up to one million DNA changes per day!

DNA damage happens for a number of reasons including environmental factors such as exposure to radiation (including sunlight) or cigarette smoke. DNA can also be damaged from oxidative agents that are a by-product of our metabolism, such as free radicals. In addition to this the process by which DNA copies itself during cell division (DNA replication) is prone to error.

This DNA damage if not repaired properly will lead to mutation and possibly disease. One example is skin cancer from exposure to solar radiation, another is lung cancer from exposure to cigarette smoke.

DNA damage also causes aging. As damage accumulates within our cells this can cause our cells to die or become ineffective (otherwise known as senescent cells).

A senescent cell is a cell which has stopped functioning properly but refuses to die and be recycled. Senescent cells no longer support the tissues of which they are a part, instead they emit a range of potentially harmful chemical signals and cause damage to nearby cells. An accumulation of senescent cells leads to increased inflammation, which is another contributor to aging.

Our stem cells, which are critical in repairing and rejuvenating our bodies, are particularly susceptible to DNA damage. As DNA damage accumulates, the number of effective stem cells in our bodies declines. As a consequence our bodies ability to rejuvenate deteriorates.

Fortunately our cells have developed multiple processes to repair DNA damage. These processes include base-excision repair, nucleotide-excision repair, homologous recombination and non-homologous end joining.

These DNA repair processes are triggered by various genes, enzymes and proteins in the body such as Poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) and the sirtuins. PARP and the sirtuins are able to detect DNA damage and begin the repair process.

To address this category of aging we suggest supplements which help protect against the DNA damage occurring in the first place and supplements which assist with the DNA repair process.

2) Waste Accumulation

A build-up in waste can cause an increase in inflammation, changes in DNA and cellular death - in other words further aging. Some problematic waste products which accumulate include glucose, oxygen, lipofuscin, and senescent cells.

Glucose

Our bodies need glucose, however excess glucose can end up sticking to our DNA and various proteins in the body. This process is known as non-enzymatic glycation and it creates what is known as an advanced glycation end product (AGE). This process is generally irreversible. AGE products lead to a loss of function in the DNA or protein that the AGE is attached to.

Oxygen

Oxygen is critical to our survival, however too much of it creates free radicals. Free radicals are uncharged molecules or atoms that have one or more unpaired electrons. These molecules cause damage to our cells and mitochondria. Mitochondria are the power factories within our cells.

Lipofuscin

Lipofuscin is indigestible materials and waste products which reside within our cells. This material is “swept up” and stored in an area of the cell known as a lysosome. Over time the lysosomes can become overstuffed and the cell function deteriorates.

Senescent cells

When our cells are damaged they go “offline” either into a state of quiescence, where they are being repaired and will hopefully come back online - or they go into senescence, where repair has failed but the cell will not die. Senescent cells are stuck in a state between life and death, they swell up in size and cause inflammation and can cause damage to cells around them.

It is therefore recommended that these cells are removed to limit the damage they may cause to surrounding cells. The number of senescent cells we have in our bodies increases exponentially as we age. Therefore clearing them out is less important when we are in our teens or even twenties, but as we get older it becomes more essential.

To address this category of aging we suggest supplements which help lower blood glucose and prevent the accumulation of AGE products, protect against oxidative stress, aid in the removal of lipofuscin and help remove senescent cells.

3) Immune Decline

The immune system is a network of organs, tissues and cells that defend our bodies against attacks from various organisms including bacteria, parasites and fungi (antigens). As we age various parts of the immune system become less efficient.

T cells are important immune cells, some of which kill antigens directly and some of which help coordinate the response of other parts of the immune system. The effectiveness of our Tcells declines with age. Our T cells mature in a part of our body known as the thymus. The thymus shrinks with age, by middle age it is only 15% of its original size!

Macrophages, which are white blood cells which ingest antigens, also lose effectiveness with age. There are also fewer white blood cells in total, making the body less able to respond to new antigens. This leads to a higher risk of infection in old age.

With age the immune system also becomes less selective and tolerant of our own cells and as a result the body ends up in a state of chronic inflammation.

A small localized inflammatory response to an infection is part of a normal functioning immune system however chronic inflammation leads to damage of cells, proteins and DNA, and is one of the primary causes of aging and age-related diseases.

To address the problems of a deteriorating immune system we suggest supplements to help regulate the immune system and supplements to reduce inflammation.

For a detailed guide on various supplements which may be effective in slowing or reversing some of these causes of aging download your own free customized anti-aging supplementation guide here.