Vince
Super Moderator
A new study shows just how important magnesium is to telomerase. A group of researchers at the State University of New York’s Medical Center looked into how magnesium affects the heart.
They took a group of healthy animals and tested their normal magnesium levels. Then they divided them into two groups. One got normal feed, and the other group got reduced magnesium. When the researchers tested the animals again, after only 21 days, their telomerase had plunged by a huge 70-88%. Cells in every part of the animals’ hearts had reduced telomerase.
And, low magnesium also caused markers for free radical damage to DNA to increase. That’s like a double hit. Not only did magnesium deficiency reduce telomerase, it also caused telomeres to shorten at the same time.
Shah NC et al, “Short-term magnesium deficiency downregulates telomerase, upregulates neutral sphingomyelinase and induces oxidative DNA damage in cardiovascular tissues: relevance to atherogenesis, cardiovascular diseases and aging.” Int J Clin Exp Med. 2014;7(3):497-514.
Dr.Al sears wrote the following article:
"Did you know that your cardiovascular system ages ten times faster in space than it does on earth?
We age faster in space because there’s more oxidative stress, more insulin resistance, and more inflammation. You even find significant damage to mitochondria, the energy producing centers of your cells.
Astronauts also experience another form of extreme aging. The tiny biological clocks that determine how long and how well we age shorten much faster in space.
These tiny timekeepers are called telomeres. The shorter they are. The more prone to disease and the effects of aging your body is. But if you can keep your telomeres longer, you can keep your body acting young for years. You can even take decades off the aging process.
And in large studies of both astronauts and Russian cosmonauts, researchers have found that there is a single nutrient more important than any other to keep the space travelers healthy.
It stabilizes telomeres, and promotes DNA replication and transcription because your body relies on it to be able to make telomerase, the enzyme that rebuilds telomeres.
I’ll show you what this miracle nutrient is and how to use it in a minute. But first you should know that this isn’t science fiction.
This technology is so important it won the Nobel Prize.
Yet many anti-aging experts and standard doctors missed this discovery. They’re not exposed to that kind of science. Doctors practice what they learned in medical school, and their continuing education is sponsored by special interest groups like pharmaceutical companies.
As an anti-aging specialist, I had an idea early on what the discovery of the telomere and telomerase would mean for the world. We now know a genetic program directed by the length of your telomeres controls how old your body acts.
At my Wellness Center I put that science to work for my patients. They’re now living younger for longer by maintaining their telomeres.
One part of that is telomerase. In humans, telomerase production is turned off when you’re an adult. But you can turn it back on.
People are often surprised when I tell them about some of the nutrients that can have a big effect on telomerase in your cells.
But it really knocks them back when I tell them that the miracle nutrient NASA uses to protect space travelers is magnesium.
On earth, it takes a while to notice changes to your telomeres, but in space, it all happens much more quickly. And scientists found that after 6 months in space, magnesium has dropped by 35% in leg muscles, and you lose 1%–2% from your bones per month.
Before and after a space mission, telomere lengths and telomerase enzyme activity can be determined and compared with age-matched controls on Earth. And studies show that telomere synthesis is sensitive to the amount of magnesium you have.
Not only that, but in order to bind to shortened DNA, telomerase is dependent on magnesium.
And magnesium preserves and repairs DNA. Not having enough increases oxidative stress[SUP]1[/SUP] and DNA damage.[SUP]2[/SUP] Both of those things can damage your telomeres.
Deficiency of heart-healthy minerals like magnesium in today’s world is almost an epidemic. About 80% of Americans are deficient. A standard Western diet gives you less than 30% of the bare minimum of what you need.[SUP]4[/SUP]
Eating more magnesium-rich foods is linked to longer telomeres.[SUP]5[/SUP] One delicious way to increase magnesium is with dark chocolate. It contains about 176 mg in just three ounces. I recommend it have at least 70% cacao.
Leafy greens like kale, spinach, and Swiss chard are also rich sources. Other good choices include quinoa, lentils, almonds, sesame seeds, and spirulina.
But even if you eat plenty of those foods, you might not be getting enough. Modern farming methods have depleted the soil of magnesium. And taking medications, even over-the-counter ones, can leech the magnesium out of you.
Magnesium is another piece of evidence that supplements are often necessary. You have a few choices with magnesium because there are many forms, so let me try to clear up some of the confusion. I recommend taking 600 to 1,000 mg per day. Take it with vitamin B6. It will increase the amount of magnesium that accumulates in your cells.
However, be careful of the cheap magnesium supplements you find on store shelves. They often have impurities, and most are magnesium oxide. It’s the most difficult for your body to absorb. I would also avoid magnesium glutamate. It breaks down into glutamic acid. That’s an excitotoxin and has bad side effects in your brain and nervous system.
If you’re currently in good health, look for the glycinate form. It combines magnesium with the amino acid glycine so it’s easily absorbed. If you can’t get that, look for it bound to citrate or chloride."
1. Morrill GA, Gupta RK, Kostellow AB, Ma GY, Zhang A, Altura BT, Altura BM. “Mg2+ modulates membrane lipids in vascular smooth muscle: a link to atherogenesis.” FEBS Lett. 1997;408:191–197.
2. Altura BM et al, “Short-term magnesium deficiency results in decreased levels of serum sphingomyelin, lipid peroxidation, and apoptosis in cardiovascular tissues.” Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2009;297:H86–H92.
3. Shah NC et al, “Short-term magnesium deficiency downregulates telomerase, upregulates neutral sphingomyelinase and induces oxidative DNA damage in cardiovascular tissues: relevance to atherogenesis, cardiovascular diseases and aging.” Int J Clin Exp Med. 2014;7(3):497-514.
4. Ford ES, Mokdad AH. “Dietary magnesium intake in a national sample of US adults.” J Nutr. 2003;121:2879–2882.
5. Xu Q, Parks CG, DeRoo LA, Cawthon RM, Sandler DP, Chen H. “Multivitamin use and telomere length in women.” Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89:1857–1863.
They took a group of healthy animals and tested their normal magnesium levels. Then they divided them into two groups. One got normal feed, and the other group got reduced magnesium. When the researchers tested the animals again, after only 21 days, their telomerase had plunged by a huge 70-88%. Cells in every part of the animals’ hearts had reduced telomerase.
And, low magnesium also caused markers for free radical damage to DNA to increase. That’s like a double hit. Not only did magnesium deficiency reduce telomerase, it also caused telomeres to shorten at the same time.
Shah NC et al, “Short-term magnesium deficiency downregulates telomerase, upregulates neutral sphingomyelinase and induces oxidative DNA damage in cardiovascular tissues: relevance to atherogenesis, cardiovascular diseases and aging.” Int J Clin Exp Med. 2014;7(3):497-514.
Dr.Al sears wrote the following article:
"Did you know that your cardiovascular system ages ten times faster in space than it does on earth?
We age faster in space because there’s more oxidative stress, more insulin resistance, and more inflammation. You even find significant damage to mitochondria, the energy producing centers of your cells.
Astronauts also experience another form of extreme aging. The tiny biological clocks that determine how long and how well we age shorten much faster in space.
These tiny timekeepers are called telomeres. The shorter they are. The more prone to disease and the effects of aging your body is. But if you can keep your telomeres longer, you can keep your body acting young for years. You can even take decades off the aging process.
And in large studies of both astronauts and Russian cosmonauts, researchers have found that there is a single nutrient more important than any other to keep the space travelers healthy.
It stabilizes telomeres, and promotes DNA replication and transcription because your body relies on it to be able to make telomerase, the enzyme that rebuilds telomeres.
I’ll show you what this miracle nutrient is and how to use it in a minute. But first you should know that this isn’t science fiction.
This technology is so important it won the Nobel Prize.
Yet many anti-aging experts and standard doctors missed this discovery. They’re not exposed to that kind of science. Doctors practice what they learned in medical school, and their continuing education is sponsored by special interest groups like pharmaceutical companies.
As an anti-aging specialist, I had an idea early on what the discovery of the telomere and telomerase would mean for the world. We now know a genetic program directed by the length of your telomeres controls how old your body acts.
At my Wellness Center I put that science to work for my patients. They’re now living younger for longer by maintaining their telomeres.
One part of that is telomerase. In humans, telomerase production is turned off when you’re an adult. But you can turn it back on.
People are often surprised when I tell them about some of the nutrients that can have a big effect on telomerase in your cells.
But it really knocks them back when I tell them that the miracle nutrient NASA uses to protect space travelers is magnesium.
On earth, it takes a while to notice changes to your telomeres, but in space, it all happens much more quickly. And scientists found that after 6 months in space, magnesium has dropped by 35% in leg muscles, and you lose 1%–2% from your bones per month.
Before and after a space mission, telomere lengths and telomerase enzyme activity can be determined and compared with age-matched controls on Earth. And studies show that telomere synthesis is sensitive to the amount of magnesium you have.
Not only that, but in order to bind to shortened DNA, telomerase is dependent on magnesium.
And magnesium preserves and repairs DNA. Not having enough increases oxidative stress[SUP]1[/SUP] and DNA damage.[SUP]2[/SUP] Both of those things can damage your telomeres.
Deficiency of heart-healthy minerals like magnesium in today’s world is almost an epidemic. About 80% of Americans are deficient. A standard Western diet gives you less than 30% of the bare minimum of what you need.[SUP]4[/SUP]
Eating more magnesium-rich foods is linked to longer telomeres.[SUP]5[/SUP] One delicious way to increase magnesium is with dark chocolate. It contains about 176 mg in just three ounces. I recommend it have at least 70% cacao.
Leafy greens like kale, spinach, and Swiss chard are also rich sources. Other good choices include quinoa, lentils, almonds, sesame seeds, and spirulina.
But even if you eat plenty of those foods, you might not be getting enough. Modern farming methods have depleted the soil of magnesium. And taking medications, even over-the-counter ones, can leech the magnesium out of you.
Magnesium is another piece of evidence that supplements are often necessary. You have a few choices with magnesium because there are many forms, so let me try to clear up some of the confusion. I recommend taking 600 to 1,000 mg per day. Take it with vitamin B6. It will increase the amount of magnesium that accumulates in your cells.
However, be careful of the cheap magnesium supplements you find on store shelves. They often have impurities, and most are magnesium oxide. It’s the most difficult for your body to absorb. I would also avoid magnesium glutamate. It breaks down into glutamic acid. That’s an excitotoxin and has bad side effects in your brain and nervous system.
If you’re currently in good health, look for the glycinate form. It combines magnesium with the amino acid glycine so it’s easily absorbed. If you can’t get that, look for it bound to citrate or chloride."
1. Morrill GA, Gupta RK, Kostellow AB, Ma GY, Zhang A, Altura BT, Altura BM. “Mg2+ modulates membrane lipids in vascular smooth muscle: a link to atherogenesis.” FEBS Lett. 1997;408:191–197.
2. Altura BM et al, “Short-term magnesium deficiency results in decreased levels of serum sphingomyelin, lipid peroxidation, and apoptosis in cardiovascular tissues.” Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2009;297:H86–H92.
3. Shah NC et al, “Short-term magnesium deficiency downregulates telomerase, upregulates neutral sphingomyelinase and induces oxidative DNA damage in cardiovascular tissues: relevance to atherogenesis, cardiovascular diseases and aging.” Int J Clin Exp Med. 2014;7(3):497-514.
4. Ford ES, Mokdad AH. “Dietary magnesium intake in a national sample of US adults.” J Nutr. 2003;121:2879–2882.
5. Xu Q, Parks CG, DeRoo LA, Cawthon RM, Sandler DP, Chen H. “Multivitamin use and telomere length in women.” Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89:1857–1863.
