1. Free Radical Production
2. Glycation
3. Methylation

and how to effectively treat them with specialized and in some cases rare supplement ingredients.

Your body has to fight against these SERIOUS problems every single day. Besides aging you they are responsible for the onset of degenerative disease.

These four aging components require specialized ingredients in your nutritional health supplement to effectively address and control them.

The problem we have seen however is that because around 99% of vitamin health supplements, of all standards, are manufactured to a price, with many distributed via expense heavy MLM structures, these specialized ingredients are just too expensive to be included.

In today’s article I will look at the final aging component – Chronic Inflammation.

When people hear the word ‘Inflammation’ most will immediately think of Fish Oil and Omega 3. Yes, you will see Fish oil in the list below of the necessary specialized anti inflammation nutrients but……………

It Takes Much More Than Fish Oil To Adequately Tackle And Control Inflammation!

If inflammation is not controlled it will cause crisis to your health!

It is a serious condition but one that is not mentioned much in anti aging discussions. In fact there are leading scientists who have publicly stated that chronic inflammation is the main contributor to age related health damage. This is because excessive inflammation causes toxic chemicals which eat away body tissues, thus leading to heart disease, dementia, arthritis and diabetes and so on.

Just think about that for a moment!

Regardless of whether these scientists are spot on or not chronic Inflammation is a VERY BIG DEAL when it comes to your health and to the issue of

PREMATURE AGING!

You see, just about every one of us is suffering from premature aging. That’s because we live in the civilized world and so we can’t hide from the causes:

Things like oxidation (from breathing), X rays, sunlight, and numerous dietary/environmental toxins and stressors which impact on our health EVERY SINGLE DAY! (The only way to escape these is to run away and live in remote places like the Himalaya’s, with races like the Hunsa’s who live to around 120 years and where men father children well into their nineties.)

How do these things impact your health exactly ?

The answer is above!

They SPEED UP the four things which are primarily causing you to age: Free Radical Production, Glycation, Methylation and Inflammation.

So, to support, improve and (hopefully) optimize your health, you need to SLOW DOWN AND NORMALIZE YOUR AGING PROCESS . In other words to bring it more into line with what mother nature intended.

Therefore you must comprehensively take action against free radical, glycation, methylation and inflammation.

That’s the straightforward answer you’ve been looking for.

Anti Aging Secrets – Take Action How?

Well, your dietary intake is certainly a HUGE part of the action you must take but as you have/will discover from my previous articles in this series, some of the specialized anti aging nutrients you must have to take on free radicals, glycation, methylation and inflammation, cannot be taken in through your diet.

That’s why supplementation is so critical to the process.

So, if you believe in using nutritional health supplements, and you are/are going to spend good money on one, on a continuing basis, then you absolutely need to make sure it can do more than just top up any nutrient deficiencies you may have!

The key here is to understand that these four components are completely interrelated. That means you have to treat all four simultaneously. It’s completely a waste of time buying an isolated nutrient(s) in order to address just one or two of them. This WON’T WORK.

If you haven’t read through parts 1,2 and 3 of this anti aging secrets series then this might be a good time to do so and then you will understand the interconnection of these four aging components. (Use the anti aging secrets links in the sidebar over on the right of this page.)

But here’s a good example to highlight this interrelatedness.

MDA (Malondialdehyde) is a dangerous chemical byproduct formed in your body as a result of the action of free radicals on the fatty membranes of your cells. It is a major factor in the production of AGEs from glycation. This same chemical, MDA, is also involved in inflammation.

Anti Aging Secrets – Reduce The Summation

So, if you try using anti-oxidants to decrease your free radical population then you will reduce the oxidation of your cell membranes which will in turn reduce the formation of MDA which in turn will reduce glycation and thereby the creation of AGEs. Presto- you have reduced inflammation as well!

But you still need to take Carnosine (part 2) in addition to the most powerful antioxidants (part 1) to inhibit the creation of AGEs because there will still be free radical production – you can’t kill all those troublesome free radicals – so MDA is still going to form and try to create AGEs which in a summation effect will contribute to inflammation

And you can’t stop the production of all AGEs and by connection not all inflammation can be avoided so you absolutely have to use specialized nutrients that can tackle inflammation (in ADDITION to the the other specialized nutrients for glycation, methylation and free radicals. (parts 1, 2, 3)

In part two, I discussed the unique qualities of the nutrient ‘Carnosine’ with respect to glycation. Well, Carnosine is also on the list of specialized ingredients for addressing inflammation. Carnosine really is an amazing nutrient!

One nasty component of inflammation is excitotoxicity. This is a process which leads to damage and death of nerve cells from excess levels of glutamate and similar substances in your diet (MSG and other flavor enhancers, like aspartame, are the problem – take note! ) If brain cells are killed due to excitotoxicity this can lead to strokes, traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases like Multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.

One of the very dangerous chemicals associated with chronic inflammation is Tumour Necrosis Factor (TNF). TNF actively promotes the degeneration of your brain and nerves! It is activated by a combination of free radicals and AGEs.

A supplement label SHOULD list the category of nutrients it contains, like Vitamins, Herbal Extracts, Enzymes, Amino Acids, Immunity and so on? An important category of nutrients that should be on that list is ‘Calorie Restriction Mimics’. Is it there on your supplement label?

To keep the production of TNF as low as possible you need to take in the best known calorie restriction mimic:

Resveratrol.

For greater efficacy and increased value for money be sure to check that any Resveratrol in your supplement is in the ‘Trans’ form and not the cheaper and less bioavailable ‘Cis’ form! Due to resveratrol’s extremely high price, supplements that can afford to include it usually do so with very low potencies of around 5 – 10% and inadequate dose amounts (< 50 mg). BEWARE!

And speaking of well known, let’s talk about Omega 3 fish oil. Now, most doctors and health experts promote fish oil exclusively as the answer to inflammation. There’s no debate that the anti inflammatory activity of fish oil helps significantly in controlling inflammation but the problem here is that it addresses only one component of the much wider picture of inflammation.

So to finish up, here’s your list of the most effective anti-inflammation nutrients that work in synergy with fish oil in addressing and reducing inflammation:

• Resveratrol

• Glutathione

• Carnosine

• Turmeric

• Alpha Lipoic Acid

• Flavanoids

Anti Aging Secrets- Summing Up

I’m sure many of you reading this article would now like to expand your anti aging knowledge more. So, just let me give you a heads up that a very large amount of the literature out there promotes just free radicals as the most important concern in anti aging programs.

Of course you know this is NOT the case. Supplement companies and marketers are responsible for this – because their products do not address glycation, methylation and inflammation, they won’t mention them. They also have tried to brain wash consumers into believing that fish oil is the sole answer for inflammation.

But…just using antioxidants to tackle free radicals or fish oil for inflammation, will NOT achieve what you want. It is only PART of the complex anti-aging equation.

Well everyone, that wraps up this anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements series. I hope it has helped you to understand your aging process more fully and the actions you need to take to comprehensively tackle and protect yourself from the serious health issues that speed up your aging and lead to degenerative disease and a debilitated lifestyle.

Nature intended for us to live in vibrant health and die from natural causes – not from disease. But unfortunately that’s not the case for the majority of the population today.

We all really do need a helping hand from the best nutritional health supplements to make this possible.

Here’s one more heads up for you. I review hundreds of supplements each year including the so called market leaders. To date I can tell you there is ONLY ONE health supplement out there that has a formula which properly addresses free radicals, glycation, methylation and inflammation.

It uses a whopping 97 ingredients in order to get the job done.

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that it’s the supplement my family and I have use. I wouldn’t trust my health to any other supplement because quite simply there isn’t another supplement currently out there which takes on each part of the anti aging equation with the specialized nutrients required.

It’s called Total Balance. I use the Men’s Premium version. Use this link if you want to read up more on Total Balance and it’s unique properties. They even have a formula for children! (My niece and nephew use it!)

Total Balance

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Of course you know as well as I do that there is a literal mountain of products out there, all of which supposedly give you the anti aging wrinkle results you so desperately desire. If you’re well read however then you know all too well that most anti aging products barely do anything!

The fancy marketing presentations (aka ‘lies’ and ‘mis-truths’) that manufacturers come up with to ‘spin’ their products are designed to mis-lead you and tell you what you want to hear. They also cleverly hide any and all weaknesses that each product contains. But, their days of basking in the vast profits that amass from consumers lack of knowledge are fast coming to an end!

Over the past 10 years researchers have been hard at work learning what actually works and why. So, let’s just cut to the chase!

When it comes to anti aging wrinkle cures what works and what doesn’t work? And just how many ‘PROVEN” anti aging wrinkle substances actually exist?

Well, according to a recent review in The Archives of Dermatology, there are THREE treatments out there waiting for you which are “proven clinically effective”!

1. The topical application of retinol


2. Carbon dioxide laser resurfacing


3. An injection of hyaluronic acid

WOW – only three!

Each of these treatments work with the same mechanism of action- the interaction of connective tissue cells (called ‘fibroblasts’) with the collagen they produce.

David Leffell, a professor of dermatology and surgery at Yale, said in response to the study “This is an area where there’s a lot of hype and not much substance”

Of course any of us who have spent a small fortune on anti aging wrinkle creams and serums over the years already know this.

Leffell went on to say that this particular study is “good science”.

What researchers have come to gradually recognize is that the cause of wrinkles lies with damage to the mechanical properties of collagen outside your skin cells, and not necessarily genetic damage to the cells themselves. This discovery sits along side an improved understanding of ‘dermal collagen’ which is your skin’s connective tissue.

So, here’s an easy breakdown.

Fibroblasts create collagen. So, in a perfect world they could go on their merry way unimpeded throughout our lives busily making collagen to keep us looking young. But…..

…of course there’s always a ‘but’ and here it is. Exposure to sunlight diminishes fibroblasts ability to produce collagen!

Which body parts receive the greatest sun exposure? That’s right, your face, neck, hands and upper chest. All the areas where we wrinkle the most (and don’t want to). This connection is clearly demonstrated in fair skinned people whose light-pigmented skin wrinkles more readily than darker skinned people.

You know that your skin naturally deteriorates with age. This is in part because certain enzymes degrade your collagen. But ultraviolet radiation from sunlight sets of the production of these same enzymes. Double whammy! Sun damage to your collagen and its production essentially creates a situation representing accelerated natural chronological aging.

So, with age and exposure to ultraviolet radiation, your collagen fibers deteriorate and fragment. This inhibits the fibroblasts collagen producing ability. As the fragmented collagen accumulates, new collagen production declines, the connections between the fibroblasts and the collagen weaken, and the skin, now lacking support, begins to wrinkle!

Anti Aging Wrinkle Magic

Enter our three proven treatments from above. Each one is able to tackle this destructive process.

Retinol ( a form of vitamin A) when applied topically on your skin causes the production of new collagen in both naturally aged skin and skin damaged by ultraviolet radiation.

How does it do that? Well no-one is really sure, The molecular pathways involved are not very well understood as yet. But as long as we know it works then who really wants to know how it performs its anti aging wrinkle magic.

The next logical question is what concentration of retinol is enough to have an effect?

According to Dr, Gary J. Fisher, a professor of dermatology and the lead author of the review, you should look for concentrations of 0.2% to 0.6%

Strangely enough MANY of the retinol containing skin creams which are available over the counter do not list the concentration of the retinol. Only a company with something to hide would resort to such measures so steer clear of these kind of dubious products.

A totally ineffective concentration of say 0.005% still qualifies a manufacturer to market their retinol wonder product in big bold letters! These incredibly tiny concentrations barely qualify the retinol as the active ingredient! They are simply a waste of money.

And don’t be sucked in by useless products that do state the concentration of retinol on the label. Take careful note of that number!

Now, with over the counter retinol products there is a fine line between effectiveness and side effects! Anti aging wrinkle preparations with retinol concentrations strong enough (as above) to produce results can cause a ‘retinoid dermatitis’. In such cases you must stop using the product. A gradual build-up in concentration has proven effective for some in avoiding this problem.

Retinol also makes your skin more prone to ultraviolet light damage. Strict sun protection measures such as umbrellas or avoiding the sun altogether are absolutely crucial while using retinol.

If you take your anti aging wrinkle strategy very seriously then the best bet is to go for a prescription strength retinol preparation rather than risking an over the counter product.

Anti Aging Wrinkle Strategy – Zap Them

Now we come to the second treatment from our ‘effectiveness proven’ list – carbon dioxide laser resurfacing.

This CO2 laser has been around for quite a while now and it’s effectiveness has been well tested. I definitely know this treatment works because I’ve had it done on my face twice in the past 12 years and my results were nothing short of fantastic. For most people though one treatment in a space of this many years would normally be enough. (When it comes to my anti aging wrinkle program I’m a bit on the ‘intense’ side!)

If you’re not familiar with the CO2 laser, what it does is to burn away very fine layers of skin without damaging surrounding tissue. New collagen is produced as the wound heals.

The healing time takes on average 2-3 weeks. This rather long recovery period is what turns many people away from this treatment option. You need to completely avoid the sun while your skin is healing.

There are several alternative lasers available now which have virtually no recovery downtime but the results are way less noticeable than with the carbon dioxide laser, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve tried one of these lasers (around my eyes) roughly 1 year ago and frankly I felt that that the financial outlay was just not worth it for the minimal results achieved. Particularly because I had experienced the results of the CO2 laser earlier so it was easy to assess the comparative effectiveness of both treatments.

Anti Aging Wrinkle Injections

Injections of a form of hyaluronic acid, similar to a substance the skin normally produces, into the dermis that underlies the wrinkles is the third and last of our three effective anti wrinkle treatments.

The interesting thing with hyaluronic acid is that it was originally used as a space filler to ‘fill in’ wrinkles. There was no intended physiological outcome.

In time researchers discovered that as the injection stretches the dermis, fibroblasts react by increasing their collagen production levels. The authors of the Archives of Dermatology review cite studies that have demonstrated that increased collagen production is visible within a month after the injection. The benefit lasts about six months, Dr. Fisher said.

You’ll find topical creams containing “Hyaluronic Acid” for sale but this form is not the same as the effective injectable form. It is not possible to stimulate new collagen with these topical skin preparations so please don’t waste your money on any of them.

Anti Aging Wrinkle Cures – Specialized Nutrients

We’ve seen that these three treatments effectively address the reduction of wrinkles and are backed by solid research. But there’s more we can add to create a much more potent anti aging wrinkle program!

You can address your wrinkles from the inside out!

What I mean by this is using cutting edge nutritional science to address the primary causes of chronological aging. This involves sophisticated supplementation with specialized nutrients that can tackle the four fundamental causes of aging.

Do you know what these four ‘aging components’ are?

1. Free Radical Production


2. Glycation


3. Methylation


4. Inflammation

Each of these is a traumatic and highly destructive situation for your health. But all four together represent a colossal tidal wave of health issues and degenerative disease. You see they are all interrelated so you must tackle all four at the same time.

Living in the civilized world of the 21 st century is the chief cause of these four health busting conditions. Their net effect on your health is PREMATURE AGING. This means the greatest majority of people living in the modern civilized world are aging far faster than what mother nature intended.

Besides the onset of degenerative disease, premature aging leads to the degradation of your collagen. Remember I mentioned earlier how your skin naturally deteriorates with age? Well, premature aging speeds that process up tremendously. Basically your collagen begins to collapse and those youth destroying wrinkles appear more and more.

So, as far as your anti aging wrinkle program is concerned, for more powerful results you need a 2 pronged approach. The first is addressing wrinkles at the skin level with the one of the proven treatments from above. The second is to address premature aging by using supplements containing proven nutrients which can take on and deal with free radicals, glycation, methylation and chronic inflammation.

Perhaps you may like to read my anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements series There are four parts and each part covers one of these four aging components and reveals the names of the specialized nutrients needed to tackle it. Parts 1-3 are available now and the final article will be out next week. Just use the link above to pop over to Part 1.

Some of these special ingredients are extremely rare in the nutritional supplement industry. In fact, there is only one multi ingredient health/vitamin supplement in the entire market that contains ALL of them to successfully address premature aging by slowing down and normalizing your chronological aging process.

How do I know?

I used to work in the supplement industry and I’ve reviewed hundreds of supplements including the markets leaders. I can tell you that almost all nutritional health supplements (or nutritional vitamin supplements as they’re more commonly called) address free radical production through the use of antioxidants. But as for the other three primary causes of aging, manufacturers simply cannot afford to include the specialized ingredients that can get the job done. That’s because almost all of them set out to manufacture their supplements to a price!

This approach guarantees that they will NOT include all the necessary key ingredients that the latest nutritional science has identified as the most potent and effective!

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Click on this link if you would like to know more about the only nutritional supplement that includes all the specialized ingredients to tackle free radicals, glycation , methylation and inflammation. There’s separate versions for males and females.

And if you would like to read my review of this supplement (it’s called Total Balance) use this link here: Total balance review

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• Laser Wrinkle Removal – There are many wrinkle treatments such as wrinkle serums, anti aging wrinkle creams, anti wrinkle eye creams, wrinkle reducers, wrinkle removers, and wrinkle products on the market. They all claim to be great at wrinkle reduction. …

If you’ve already read Parts One and Two in this anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements series you’ll understand how the processes that lead to premature aging and the onset of debilitating degenerative disease are all INTERRELATED!

You’ve seen that to be successful, to any real degree, with an anti-aging program you must treat all four of the fundamental components of aging:

Free Radicals
Glycation
Methylation
Inflammation

The bottom line for [tag-tec]nutritional supplements[/tag-tec] marketing themselves as having anti aging benefits and the ability to slow down your aging process, is that they MUST contain the specialized ingredients which can address and tackle not only the free radical problem (which most supplement do reasonably well) but also these other three crippling aging components.

The anti aging secrets presented in parts one and two revealed that when it comes to addressing the first two aging components, free radicals and glycation, virtually all nutritional health supplements and multi ingredient vitamin supplements FAIL to give you either the best of these specialized ingredients (in cases where there are some choices) or NONE AT ALL.

Because almost all supplements are made to a price the manufacturers simply cannot afford to include these expensive rare ingredients!

Anti Aging Secrets – Methylation

So, now I’m going to move on to the third aging factor:-

Methylation

Anti Aging Secrets No 2:

Maintaining and Enhancing Methylation Is A Critical Step In Treating Aging And Disease Including Cancer And Heart Disease!

Have you heard of Methylation before?

Most vitamin supplement consumers won’t have come across it because supplement manufacturers won’t discuss it. Why?

Well that’s an easy answer and I bet you’ve already guessed it. It’s because their products do little to nothing to address Methylation! To mention it would highlight a major weakness in their supplements putting paid to their anti aging and ‘optimal‘ health claims.

Methylation is a biochemical reaction resulting in the attachment of a chemical fragment, called a methyl group, on various substances/molecules in your body, like DNA. DNA methylation is one of the most essential uses of a methylation process however there are many others – in fact there are hundreds of methylation reactions in your body!

So, simply put, methylation is a reaction that provokes changes in your body!

When a a methyl group attaches to some compounds in your body this acts as a catalyst for a reaction to take place such as the ‘turning on of a gene or the activation of an enzyme. (When the methyl group is lost/removed the reaction stops- ie the gene is turned off and the enzyme is deactivated).

Let’s use an example to put this into perspective so that you can understand why we should bother to care or even think about about methylation.

Consider the well known neurotransmitter serotonin.

Receiving a methyl group ‘turns on’ serotonin production leading to appropriate levels of this ‘happy/feel good’ brain chemical. But if your serotonin is not methylated it is turned off and this results in depression. See how methylation can have serious consequences for your health!

Now, people can be an over methylator or they can be an under methylator. In the case of our depression example above let’s say you are an under methylator. If your methylation is increased you may not need to take SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors).

This is very important for a person with depression! Further down I’ll explain how supplements can help to increase your methylation.

Please don’t start worrying about whether you’re an over or under methylator. Not everyone is one or the other, there are other groups and you may be in the group that is neither under or over so you’re fine. Statistical analysis by Professor Karl-Peter Pfeiffer from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, suggests 45% are under methylators and 15% are over methylators. That leaves roughly half of the population as neither!

The simplified bottom line for methylation is this:

If your methylation processes are altered, limited or in any way working less than optimally, you are heading for nasty health problems. The effects of under methylation can be seen as premature aging, cancer, heart disease, liver disease and other chronic illness, depression and birth defects. Not to mention the acceleration of your aging process!

So, methylation is incredibly important. It’s a bit like a spark plug in a car- making things turn on and happen. Without methylation you would die in a matter of days!

Anti Aging Secrets – Homocysteine

Now, I’d like to mention homocysteine because the methylation of it is exceptionally crucial to your health.

You’ve probably heard of homocysteine before because of its connection to the most common cause of death in the United States – HEART DISEASE! The medical and health establishments have gone to great lengths over recent years to bring to the general publics attention the importance of keeping their homocysteine levels low.

Homocysteine is a by-product of an important amino acid methionine and is what remains when methionine is used to methylate your proteins and DNA. Homocysteine needs to be methylated and converted back to methionine – it can be toxic if not converted!

How toxic?

Besides heart disease, elevated homocysteine levels are associated with poor circulation, degenerative illnesses (eg Dementia and Alzheimer’s), liver disease, and other severely debilitating conditions!

It is critical to keep your homocysteine levels down!

Anti Aging Secrets – Methylation As Time Goes By

Your body can become methylation-depleted just as it can become depleted with antioxidants or any vitamin or mineral, and with age your methylation process becomes less efficient. This results in DNA damage and a dangerous buildup of homocysteine as well as heightened risk of contracting any of the flow-on degenerative conditions listed above.

So, if you are an under-methylator to begin with or you have become methylation depleted you absolutely need to take action! If you are still young or middle aged then you also need to take action now to balance and possibly enhance your methylation and guard against premature aging and degenerative disease.

The action you need to take is simple! Just supplement your dietary intake with the methylation agents your body needs to successfully complete this task.

Anti Aging Secrets – The Methylation Agents You Must Have In Your Supplement

These 3 groups of compounds are what you want:

• B Vitamins – B6, B12 and Folic Acid
  

• Tri-Methyl-Glycine (TMG) – also known as ‘Betaine’
  

• SAMe (S-Adenosyl-Methionine)

However they are FAR from all equal in their levels of effectiveness as methylating agents!

SAMe stands head and shoulders above the others!

That’s because science and bio-chemistry have long since identified it as the primary methylating substance in the body.

Now, if you think back to parts one and two in this anti aging secrets series you’ll remember how I keep stressing that your aging process results from constituent components which are ALL interrelated.

Free radical damage, (part one), is one of these aging components. So, here’s another example of this interrelationship: free radicals alter methylation patterns!

What’s the big deal with that you may be asking?

Well, it’s these alterations which ‘turn on’ genes.

And that includes CANCER genes!

Anti Aging Secrets No. 3:

SAMe, in it’s role as the primary methylating agent, has the power to reverse damage to methylation patterns caused by free radicals!

So, SAMe is an absolutely vital ingredient that must be in your health supplement if you expect to be successful in your anti aging program. The other methylating agents listed above must of course also be there.

Now, as with parts one and two, I’m going to ask you to go take a look at your supplement bottle label.

In my post about free radicals I asked you to check your label for the most powerful antioxidant L -Glutathione ‘reduced’. Then for glycation you went to check for Carnosine, the only nutrient which can inhibit the formation of those deadly ‘aging’ molecules AGE’s.

I said that because 99% of nutritional vitamin supplements are made to a price, 99% of you won’t find those specialized and critical anti aging ingredients in your supplements because they are simply too expensive for most manufacturers to include.

Well, this time I’m going to ask you to check for SAMe and guess what?

Yes, it’s the same story for this essential ingredient. You won’t find it !

Firstly, because of its super expensive price and secondly, just like L-Glutathione, it is particularly susceptible to damage by stomach acid and so it MUST be used in a pharmaceutical grade enteric coated tablet.

Unless you’re using the supplement that I use, your supplement definitely isn’t enteric coated.

So, SAMe’s not on your supplement label, right? Well, it’s not on mine either!

BUT…… .it will be there by the end of this month. That’s when the 6th Generation version will be released. It already includes all the other effective methylating agents so the inclusion of SAMe will just further enhance it’s existing methylating abilities. This new formula sets a new standard within the supplement industry.

OK, so I’ve now covered three of the four fundamental components of aging (free radicals, glycation, methylation) and we’ve seen the importance of treating all of them in order to produce real anti aging benefits and achieve a life without degenerative disease.

That leaves one more to go.

Look out for my final post in this anti aging secrets series next week where I’ll be discussing inflammation.

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Use this link if you would like to read about the multi ingredient nutritional vitamin supplement I use.

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In Part 1 of this anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements series I looked at the meaning of anti aging in respect of nutritional supplements. This, I stated, was the ability of nutritional health/vitamin supplements to tackle the number 1 most prevalent health concern of the 21 st century – PREMATURE AGING.

Premature aging is responsible for the host of degenerative diseases and illness’ which are inflicting an ever-increasing percentage of the population at younger and younger ages! The stats are climbing year in year out and I’m sure you’re all too aware of this health-devastating trend.

You only have to think about how many people die these days of a disease! That’s NOT how mother nature planned for us to go out!

So, the ‘[tag-tec]anti aging[/tag-tec]‘ capabilities of [tag-ice]nutritional health supplements[/tag-tec] must not only be able to correct [tag-tec]vitamin[/tag-tec]/mineral deficiencies (the simplest common denominator for all of them) and then also be able to help heal degenerative [tag-ice]disease[/tag-ice] which may already be present, but MOST importantly be able to comprehensively address the causes of premature aging in order to slow down and normalize (to some significant degree) the aging process, thereby addressing the spiraling increase in degenerative disease in western diet based societies

I went on to say that virtually all nutritional vitamin supplements FAIL when it comes to addressing premature aging!

Why?

Because there are four primary components of aging and each of these is interdependent on the other three. So, to successfully address premature aging a supplement must contain specialized ingredients which can adequately tackle ALL FOUR.

But….

…. just about any nutritional health supplement you care to examine, including the most well known and ‘so-called’ elite super supplements, can only take on ONE of these four key aging components – which is the reduction of free radicals through the use of antioxidants. (For MANY supplements it’s primarily by way of the cheap, less potent vitamin antioxidants only).

The other 3 critical aging components which are not addressed are Glycation, Methylation and Inflammation because the specialized ingredients needed to deal with them are simply not there!

I then ‘opened up’ for discussion the first ‘anti aging secret’ – the role of free radicals in our aging process and I revealed the names of the most powerful and effective antioxidants which neutralize them (the antioxidants that most supplements can’t afford to include!)

If you haven’t yet read Part 1 and would like to, just follow this link anti aging secrets and nutritional supplements part 1

Today, I will continue on by looking at Glycation and exposing what specialized ingredients MUST be there (but nearly always aren’t) to tackle this SERIOUS health crippling process.

Anti Aging Secrets – Glycation leads to AGES And AGES AGE US!

Oxidative damage to your cellular DNA from excessive free radical production in your body is a SERIOUS problem for your health and wellness but Glycation is far more destructive!

So, if you’re conscientious about good health it’s VERY important that you understand how to protect yourself from glycation.

Glycation is a complex process so bear with me while I first spend a little time explaining it (as simply as I can) before revealing the names of those ‘ANTI GLYCATING INGREDIENTS that I’m sure you want to know asap!

The glycation process revolves around protein molecules in your body and basically alters/damages their configuration so they are unable to function correctly.

This is REALLY BAD NEWS for your health because your various types of proteins have key responsibilities in performing biological activities throughout your body which are critical to your health.

So, in a nutshell, glycation is a (non-enzymatic) reaction through which glucose molecules and chemicals derived from glucose, known as ‘aldehydes’ (collectively we can call them all ‘glycating agents’ for ease of understanding), bind themselves to your intra- and extracellular protein molecules. ie. the protein molecules have become ‘glycated’!

Glycated proteins are no longer ‘free agents’ able to effectively perform their designated biological duties necessary to guard against premature aging.

GLYCATED PROTEINS ARE RELIABLE MARKERS OF DISEASE AND AGING!

The new structures formed by glycated proteins are called AGEs which stands for Advanced Glycation End-products. These are REALLY DANGEROUS molecules when it comes to your health!

When both of the sticky ends of AGEs attach to other neighboring proteins, they create permanent, disabling links.

Anti Aging Secrets: Cross-Linking And YOUR Wrinkles

This process of inappropriate attachment is called ‘cross-linking’. You’ve probably heard this term ‘cross-linking’ before.

Cross-linked chains of AGES decreases the mobility/elasticity of proteins. Cross-linking of the skin protein ‘collagen’ has been shown to be responsible for wrinkling and other age-related changes in skin. So, if you take in a lot of sugar through you diet you’re going to have more glucose molecules floating around inside you and that means more glycation, leading to the collapse of more collagen and so MORE WRINKLES.

AGES normally form and accumulate at a slow and steady rate in everybody (except those with diabetes where the greatly increased availability of glucose leads to a marked increase in their formation earlier in life).

But, AGES do a lot more health-busting damage than just playing a part in creating wrinkles.

They produce poisonous chemicals and toxic by-products as well as stimulating free radical production leading to further glycation – a vicious cycle endures! Glycated proteins increase free radical production 50 fold (over non-glycated proteins).

Remember how I mentioned in Part 1 that each of the 4 primary aging components were interdependent? See how they work together?

Researchers have also implicated glycation to Alzheimer’s disease!

And there’s more! Glycation contributes to HEART DISEASE. It thickens artery walls and clinical evidence suggests that AGEs are important components in the formation of potentially lethal atherosclerotic plaque – that’s the stuff that can build up to impede and block blood flow in your arteries.

So, you’ve no doubt got the picture by now of how destructive glycation is to your health. You absolutely need to take action to limit the amount of glycation and formation of AGES in you body. This is a VITAL STEP in slowing down and normalizing your aging process.

What to do!

1. GREATLY reduce the intake of sugar in your diet. Learn the ‘hidden’ sugar content of what you are eating. Avoid simple carbohydrates!

 

2. Inactivate the glycating agents (aldehydes) before they can bind to your proteins

 

3. Prevent a glycated protein from binding to another ‘free’ protein and creating a cross-linked chain

You’re wondering what to do for steps 2 and 3, right?

Well, you can achieve that through ‘Carnosinylation’!

Huh?

A clever and powerful nutrient called Carnosine (an amino acid) is capable of defending your body’s proteins against glycation. The process by which carnosine does this is called carnosinylation.

Inhibiting The Formation Of AGES Is An ESSENTIAL Part Of Any SUCCESSFUL Anti Aging And Life Extension Program!

Here’s what carnosine actually does!

1. It can bind itself to glycating agents and NEUTRALIZE them

2. And it can put a shield around a protein molecule which already has a glycating agent attached. This protects and prevents it from cross-linking with another protein

NO OTHER NUTRIENT CAN DO THIS!

Oh, and carnosine stops the oxidative damage of free radicals!

If you go and check your supplement label I bet you won’t find carnosine listed there. That’s because it’s a very expensive ingredient for nutritional supplement manufacturers to purchase. They simply can’t afford to include it. So, once again we come back to the greatest limitation in the formulation (and effectiveness) of nutritional vitamin supplements – that they are made to a price!

This is why supplement companies (deliberately) fail to mention glycation on their websites or in their product marketing presentations. They don’t want to highlight a major weakness in their product!

Anti Aging Secrets: How Much Carnosine?

“Like so many nutrients there is no real evidence to support the premise ‘more is better’“

The generally accepted effective dose rate is 50 – 150 mg daily!

The multi ingredient health supplement my family and I have used for the past 7 years is called Total Balance and it includes a generous dose of 100 mg of carnosine in a daily dose. (That’s one of the main reasons I originally opted to use it.)

Use these links to take a look at total balance mens plus or total balance womens plus

Or follow this link if you’d like to read my in-depth review of total balance (It’s a loooong one!)

Now, some of you may be thinking right about now about racing out to buy a bottle of isolated carnosine. Don’t do that.

Carnosine, like most specialty nutrients, works FAR more effectively when combined with other compatible ingredients (that’s why you need a professional grade supplement formulated by a bio-scientist or chemist because only they know what nutrients are compatible with one another at the molecular level in your body to synergize enhanced efficacy).

Supplements put together by physicians and worse still by marketers, don’t even come close to making the grade!

And , as you’ve discovered, glycation is only one of the four (interdependent) primary components of aging. There’s not much point in addressing only glycation at the expense of the other 3.

Anti aging secrets special note:

There are currently some really promising experimental drugs being tested to fight AGES – but sorry you’ll have to wait a while. None are yet commercially available. If and when any do become available I’ll be sure to make a post about it.

In the next part of this anti aging secrets series I’ll discuss the third aging component, METHYLATION, and give you a heads-up on the special methylation agents you need in your vitamin supplement to combat it.

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Todays post about anti aging secrets with respect to nutritional health supplements is a very interesting one which I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading. You’re going to discover a number of ‘eye opening’ facts which most of you won’t have come across before.

These are facts which supplement manufacturers and companies definitely don’t want you to know because they reveal major weaknesses and limitations in their products when it comes to anti aging claims.

I’ve decided to split this topic up because it’s quite a complex one. To keep it ‘readable’ and not bombard you with too much technical detail in any one post I’ve divided it into 4 parts which will appear over the next 2 weeks.

Now, if you’re a regular subscriber you will have noticed I haven’t made a post for over 2 weeks. So, first up let me apologize for that.

I’m actually on vacation in Sydney so it’s hard to get ‘online time’ as per my normal schedule.

Additionally, my website nutritional-supplements-truths.com has recently begun to ‘boom’ and I’ve become inundated with reader questions like never before. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs doing.

Anyway, enough with the excuses, let’s start digging into those anti aging secrets!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – SOME YOU KNOW SOME YOU DON’T!

That word ‘anti aging’ has been bandied around in all the various media forms for years now. So much so that of late it has totally outgrown any ‘legitimate’ roots it originally had. Now we are faced with a literal tidal wave of products in the marketplace all promoting some form of ‘anti aging’ capacity.

From a business marketing point of view the term ‘anti aging’ is simply a connotation for looking and feeling younger in some way or to some degree and ‘anti aging’ has basically become nothing more than a valuable brand through which businesses can increase sales!

But, the misleading and deceptive marketing presentations of numerous ‘anti aging’ product manufacturers, not to mention outright fraudulent practices, seems to have reached no limits! That’s because of the enormous profits driven by the antiaging phenomena and these are of course an intrinsic result of people’s natural desire to look good and maintain their youth.

With nutritional science constantly evolving and promising ‘better and better’ results, people are spending increasing amounts of their disposable income in the hunt for stronger anti aging properties.

It’s clear to me thought that an increasing number of savvy health-conscious consumers are learning to no longer be sucked in by exaggerated ‘anti aging’ claims and to take them with a grain of salt. So the lingering question as to the ‘worthiness’ of anti aging products must then become one of degree.

To what degree are anti aging benefits obtainable from a given anti aging product’?

Let’s address that question from the point of view of nutritional health / vitamin supplements.

ANTI AGING SECRETS – NUTRITIONAL HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS

Can nutritional health supplements create significant anti aging benefits for the user?

From a nutritional science standpoint the answer is “yes!”

But do they?

For almost all supplements the answer is a definite “no!” (Note I said “almost”)

To understand why this is the case we first need to define ‘anti-aging’.

The term ‘Anti Aging’ has evolved to represent a number of different common meanings and connotations depending upon whether you’re dealing with the medical, scientific or business communities.

Nutritional health supplements of course define ‘anti aging’ purely from a business perspective and as such we need to address the following common product claims:

• Stopping your aging process

• Reversing your aging process or “turning back the clock”

• Slowing down / normalizing your aging process

I would be highly surprised to find anyone who honestly believes a nutritional supplement can actually “stop” the aging process despite this subtle connotation wafting out from cleverly put together marketing presentations by disreputable supplement companies.

Most supplement manufacturers however would definitely have you believe their supplements can turn back the clock making you look and feel (biologically) younger.

But the truth is that’s not possible. Well at least not yet!

When it comes to the word ‘reverse’ (certain) supplements can undo (to varying degrees) the effects of degenerative and age-related disease thus technically speaking making some people feel and look younger. This can to some be interpreted as an anti aging response.

The market’s best nutritional health / vitamin supplements are also believed to be able to improve damaged DNA. This goes far beyond their abilities to simply limit oxidative damage to DNA through the use of antioxidants. Here we are talking about actually repairing damage that has already occurred!

That’s what the leading industry experts are trying to do right now – find a way to clinically prove that their supplements actually do repair damaged DNA.

Assuming they can do this then at that point the “turning the clock back” claim will become valid.

But, as of right now, what are we left with?

• Slowing down and normalizing your aging process!

• Bringing it back more in tune with what nature originally intended!

This is what I believe is the appropriate anti aging definition in respect of nutritional health supplements.

It must also be remembered that anti aging is relative to the times we live in and the way in which we are now aging. In other words it is linked to 21 st century environmental, emotional and dietary/nutritional stressors which are currently impacting on our aging processes.

The bottom line here is that the daily effects of these stressors has resulted in a speeding up of the aging process for an overwhelming majority of the population. Premature aging if you prefer.

MOST PEOPLE ARE AGING WAY TOO QUICKLY – FAR FASTER THAN WHAT NATURE INTENDED!

This is clear with just a casual look at the ever increasing year on year stats for degenerative disease like diabetes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, stroke and so on. People are contracting these life-debilitating diseases at earlier and earlier ages.

How often do we now hear of people in their 40′s having had a heart attack!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – THE COMPONENTS OF AGING

To be capable of producing significant and effective anti aging effects which slow down and normalize aging, a nutritional vitamin supplement must address the primary causes of aging!

But….

This Is A Complex And Multi-Faceted Task!

Yet 99% of supplements, including virtually all the market’s leading, so-called ‘elite’ multi ingredient vitamin / health supplements address this task via ONE APPROACH ONLY – the reduction of free radicals through the use of antioxidants!

This is why they FAIL to make any real headway!

Anti Aging Can Only Be Successfully Accomplished By Targeting The Main Components Of Aging – Not Just One!

There are numerous causes attributed to aging but without doubt four of the primary and most important ones are:

• Free radicals

• Glycation

• Methylation

• Inflammation

So, that means your supplement must be capable of:

• Using Antioxidants to reduce and control your free radical production

• Preventing Glycation which leads to Age’s

• Balancing Methylation for Healthy DNA

• Reducing Chronic Inflammation which contributes to degeneration.

The critical aspect to understand here is that these critical components ARE ALL INTERDEPENDENT ON ONE ANOTHER!

Optimizing the normalization of your aging process means you must not short change yourself by excluding any one!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – REDUCING FREE RADICALS

Today I’ll concentrate on the free radical component of aging and then tackle the other components in parts 2, 3 and 4 of this anti aging secrets topic.

Just about every supplement consumer out there has heard of free radicals and antioxidants, right!

You probably know that antioxidants are like ‘superheroes’ for your health and that free radicals are really nasty, unstable molecules wandering around inside you which can cause you serious health problems.

Antioxidants have the ability to neutralize free radicals and so your body uses them to keep your free radical population to adequate levels and minimize the damage they cause.

If your free radical levels are in excess they will accelerate your aging and basically cause havoc to your health.

Here are just some of the diseases linked to excess free radicals:

• Various Cancers

• Arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis

• Heart Disease

• Stroke

• Arthritis

• Diabetes

• Alzheimer’s

• Emphysema

• Ulcers

• Parkinson’s Disease

• Cataracts

• Senility

Now we come to ‘Oxidation’.

Picture an apple which you’ve taken a bite out of and left sitting for 20 minutes on the kitchen sink. The exposed inside part of the apple has turned brown right! This is an example of a process called oxidation (chemicals inside the apple have reacted with oxygen in the air) and this is what oxidation does on a molecular level!

So, what you need to know here is that oxidation creates those bad guys – free radicals!

And there’s oxidation going on inside you ALL THE TIME. Just the simple act of breathing in oxygen (respiration) creates oxidation which in turn creates free radicals. So, you can’t avoid oxidation nor the creation of those nasty free radicals, they are continuous and inescapable!

But not to worry because in controlled quantities free radicals are fine. They are in fact necessary in many of your metabolic processes. The bottom line is simply to ensure that oxidative stress and the production of free radicals do not increase to the point of over production!

Remember above I mentioned that environmental, societal and dietary/nutritional stressors are to blame for premature aging.

Things like smoking including second hand smoke, air pollution, electromagnetic radiation including sunlight and x-rays, stress, exercise, food additives, toxic chemicals, smoked and barbecued foods, lack of nutrients in our diet, pharmaceutical drugs, and even alcohol all create free radicals.

In the civilized world of today you are impacted by these factors every single day. You simply cannot escape them! Three or four decades ago things were significantly different. Food was not processed as it is today and it was far more nutritious with a much greater antioxidant content. Nor were people exposed to today’s ridiculous levels of pollution and toxins.

Faced with these dilemmas you need to take action to ensure you take in enough antioxidants to meet the double challenge of these destructive free radical promoters and an antioxidant depleted food chain!

Supplements are a popular and sensible choice of action!

ANTI AGING SECRETS – ANTIOXIDANT SUPPLEMENTATION

All nutritional health supplements tackle the free radical component of aging through the use of antioxidants.

In cheap and middle of the road supplements you will always find the well known vitamin antioxidants vitamins A, C, E and the trace mineral selenium, all of which are quite weak (and very cheap ingredients for manufacturers to use!)

The up-market multis do much better by using more powerful and expensive antioxidants like green tea, gingko biloba, alpha lipoic acid, lutein, bilberry and grape extract.

BUT NONE OF THESE CAN COMPARE TO AN EXCEPTIONALLY POTENT ANTIOXIDANT LIKE L-GLUTATHIONE!

Anti aging secrets No. 1:

L-Glutathione is an absolutely critical anti aging ingredient which you definitely want to see in your supplement!

But in 99% of supplements you won’t find it for 2 reasons!

Firstly, L-Glutathione needs to be in the ‘reduced’ form. This is a smaller molecular size because ‘normal’ L-Glutathione will not pass through the intestinal walls into the blood stream.

Due to the extreme price of reduced form L-Glutathione very few supplement companies can afford to include it. That’s because almost all supplements are made to a price!

Secondly, L-Glutathione must be protected as it passes through the stomach before being released in the upper intestine! This is the only place that L-Glutathione when taken orally can be effective.

This means that any supplement containing L-Glutathione needs to be ENTERIC COATED! This is a special aqueous coating which protects tablet ingredients from exposure to stomach acid and then harmlessly dissolves when the tablet reaches the alkaline environment of the upper intestine.

Once again due to price controls enteric coating is almost never used on multi ingredient vitamin health supplements. (The unique supplement I use is a rare exception).

Incredibly there are market leading health supplements out there which include L-Glutathione in the ‘normal’ form and without enteric coating.

This is a perfect example of how supplement companies, including the biggest and most well known ones, can deceive you and hide weaknesses in their products.

Of course L-Glutathione is not a miracle worker. It needs to be backed up by a wide range of other powerful antioxidants. The synergy created as these age defying nutrients interact together at the the molecular level create far more potent results in neutralizing more free radicals and bringing their production back more acceptable levels.

Here’s a list of the most potent antioxidants which you need backing up L-Glutathione in your supplement:

• N-Acetyl L-Cysteine
• Lutein
• Bilberry Extract
• L-Carnosine
• Green Tea Extract
• Grape Seed Extract
• Gingko Biloba
• Alpha Lipoic Acid

ANTI AGING SECRETS PART 1 – SUMMING UP

At the top of this article I said that while nutritional health supplements can create significant anti aging benefits, virtually all do not. Since they are made to a price the bio-chemists formulating them simply cannot include all the ingredients that they know should be there to get the job done properly.

Just look at what I’ve revealed for our first component of aging – free radical production!

Does your supplement contain L-Glutathione in the reduced form with an effective dose amount of at least 100 mg AND is it enteric coated? Does it contain every one or at least most of the key antioxidants listed above?

Unless your using the same supplement that I do then I know the answer is ‘no’.

Now, keep in mind that free radicals are ONLY ONE of the four primary causes of aging so there’s a lot more that a supplement has to tackle to truly address the anti aging issue and protect you from degenerative disease.

In my next 3 posts I’ll address the other 3 key components of aging:

• Glycation

• Methylation

• Inflammation

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P.S. If you’d like to read a review of the one of a kind nutritional health supplement I use, just follow this link, it’s called Total Balance

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