Could you please give me your thoughts on Wild Yam. I have been told by several female friends that it is an excellent natural alternative for helping with menstrual complications. But when I did some internet searches I came across only negative statements/studies.

Thanks

Response From Brett:

Hi Megan

Thanks for your question. I know I have written about this before but haven’t been able to locate that reader’s question.

Anyway, I know what you mean! The wild yam content you would have come across is typical of what’s happening on the web nowadays. Unqualified people posting content on which they have no idea whether it is factual, incomplete or predominantly wrong. These people are simply doing internet searches themselves and then copying/re-wording the mistakes of other unqualified website authors.

Wild Yam is an extremely useful medicinal herb for women! It is a precursor (to human sex hormones) able to help with menstrual cramps/pain, hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms.

Much of the negative content you probably came across about Wild Yam’s oestrogenic effects is quite misleading (clinical studies for traditional Wild Yam are difficult to come across outside of a laboratory conversion.)

I did some searches to see what came up on the first page of results and it was the usual statements suggesting that Wild Yam (botanical name =’Dioscorea’, active component =’diosgenin’) does not produce the medicinal effects claimed. This is because natural diosgenin from Wild Yam root and the form of alternative progesterone hormone which is synthesized by diosgenin in the lab are completely different! IE. Your body cannot convert natural diosgenin without synthesis in a lab.

Well Megan, while this is actually correct it is NOT the whole story and therefore it is misleading.

Although the same hormonal effects have not been proven in natural Wild Yam due to this claim of non-conversion in the body, the natural hormonal precursors present in Wild Yam do have similar effects to the diosgenin used in laboratory conversion.

You see the negative studies currently available can actually be used as as positive studies (because of what they don’t tell you!) What I mean is in order that natural diosgenin can be converted scientifically to create alternative hormone, the precursors MUST be set in the natural Wild Yam in the first place for this to be able to happen!

The key is that the hormonal precursors naturally present in Wild Yam logically encourage the body to produce its own hormones rather than relying on the synthetic version (albeit from part natural origin) which although gives a finished product, encourages the body to be lazy in not producing its own hormones.

The precursors are the key in the natural product, PROMOTING NATURAL HORMONE PRODUCTION!

So, we can see that the negative studies out there are actually acting as underlying positive evidence in so far as the the proven ability to synthesize diosgenin supports that the natural precursors MUST be there in natural Wild Yam.

This is not an easy topic to explain Megan – I hope I have explained it in a way that you can understand.

Let’s not forget about the Wild Yam studies proving anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic properties. These also contribute to the health of the female reproductive organ!

Megan- at the very bottom of this post I have included a resource which I had on file which helps backup my explanation above. The part in question is highlighted in teal green under the section titled “Quoted references”.

—————————————————————————————————-

Megan, here’s a heads up for you. I review hundreds of supplements each year including the ‘so called’ market leaders.

You might be interested to know that the female premium version of the multi nutrient nutritional health supplement I use contains six natural hormonal balancing precursors including Wild Yam. You won’t find a stronger female support formulation out there!

It’s called TOTAL BALANCE

This formula targets EVERY organ and system in your body. In addition to being gender specific in order to address common health problems specific to each sex (like balancing the female hormonal cascade), it’s the ONLY supplement formula to date which can SLOW DOWN AND NORMALIZE YOUR AGING PROCESS BY PROPERLY ADDRESSING ALL FOUR OF THE PRIMARY CAUSES OF AGING:

Free Radicals

Glycation

Methylation

Inflammation

It uses a WHOPPING 97 INGREDIENTS in order to get the job done !!!!

My mum, dad, sister and I wouldn’t trust our 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 in addition to doing all the other ‘basics’ that a quality health/vitamin supplement should do.

Use this link if you want to read up on Total Balance. (PS. If you want to give extra nutritional support to your children’s development, I’m happy to tell you that Xtend-Life has JUST RELEASED a special Total Balance formula for children! (My 14 year old niece and 11 year old nephew are already using it!)

Total Balance Womens Premium version

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Quoted References

2. “These tubers have been used in some cultures as a coffee substitute. It helps support the spleen, lungs and kidneys. Dioscoreae contains up to thirteen percent diosgenin. Diosgenin has been processed and given to patients to relieve arthritis, asthma, eczema, regulate metabolism and control fertility. Diosgenin provides the steroid building blocks for developing human sex hormones and can be used for developing muscle mass and strength. It has been used for emotional instability, chronic cough, diarrhea, and diabetes.”

4. “Medicinal Action and Uses: Antispasmodic. Perhaps the best relief and promptest cure for bilious colic, especially helpful in the nausea of pregnant women. Valuable also in painful cholera morbus with cramps, neuralgic affections, spasmodic hiccough and spasmodic asthma.”

9. “Botanical name: Dioscorea oppositae Pharmaceutical name: Radix Dioscoreae Oppositae. English: Chinese Yam Root. Properties: sweet, neutral. Channels entered: Spleen, Lung, Kidney. Functions and clinical use: Tonifies and benefits the Spleen and Stomach: used in cases of Deficient Spleen or Stomach with such symptoms as diarrhea, fatigue, spontaneous sweating, and lack of appetite. Benefits the Lungs and nourishes the Kidneys: used for Wasting and Thirsting syndrome. Because this herb moistens and is neither hot nor cold, it benefits both the Yin and the Yang of the Lungs and Kidneys. It is also used for spermatorrhea, frequent urination, and leukorrhea.”

14. “Wild yam root has been used for hundreds of years to treat rheumatism and arthritis-like ailments. The discovery of steroidal glycosides (diosgenin) in the root validated this ancient practice. Most species of yams contain large amounts of plant steroids, primarily diosgenin, a saponin precursor in the synthesis of progesterone. Without the yams, the industrial complex would not be able to meet the worldwide demand for synthetic corticosteroids. But with them, scientists can derive animal or human steroids in a fairly straightforward multi step process. Wild yams are the only really good source of plant steroids for such purposes.

Diosgenin provides about 50 percent of the raw material for steroid synthesis. It must be emphasized that there is not an equivalency between diosgenin and human steroids. It takes many synthetic steps to get from one to the other. If yam has steroidal effects on the body, it is not because it contains steroidal hormones, but because the steroidal precursors have similar effects. The body does not recognize them or mistake them for its own hormones, but uses them in a similar manner.
Research has shown that yam, yam extract and/or diosgenin possess good to excellent anti-inflammatory action.

In one series of studies, yam was found to induce a short-lived decrease in blood pressure and an increase in coronary flow when injected intravenously into rabbits. Also in rabbits, the saponins of yam, fed orally, prevented large increases in blood cholesterol levels. The good therapeutic effect of dioscorea saponins on patients with atherosclerosis combined with hypertension was confirmed in Clinical practice.
The British Herbal Pharmacopoeia recognizes wild yam root as a spasmolytic, mild diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, antirheumatic and cholagogue, for use in the treatment of intestinal colic, diverticulitis, rheumatoid arthritis, muscular rheumatism, cramps, intermittent claudication, cholecystitis, dysmenorrhea, and ovarian and uterine pain. Bilious colic and rheumatoid arthritis are specific indications for the use of yam.”

Point 14- website source: http://www.rain-tree.com/REFKEY.htm

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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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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