Is there an anti aging supplement that works? Can you slow the aging process? According to a report by US Department of Health in 2000, the average American has a life expectancy of 76.9 years. In the last fifty years, modern science has reported an increase in lifespan of almost twenty years. In October 2001, the U.S. Census Bureau reported there were 50, 454 centenarians in the United States. The number of centenarians in America has increased by more than 7% since the 50’s. Many scientists believe the increase of people over age 100 is only a modern phenomenon observed all over the globe due to the progress in medicine and better life standards. In the U.S. alone, more than one million baby boomers are expected to live to 100 years of age or older. This increased life expectancy presents a whole new set of health concerns for the medical community. This anti aging if you will coincides with a dramatic increase of cardiovascular disorders, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, and cancer, which are associated with the aging process. This is why Herbal-Powers.com has an anti aging supplement that can help. Read below for more information then place an order today so you’re better prepared for the long road ahead.
We all grow old at the same rate but people age at different rates. Aging is a process of gradual changes that composed of different components and interactions. These include declining level of essential biological compounds, which causes our bodily functions to slow and become dysfunctional. Our organs don’t work efficiently, our immune system becomes lazy, we lack energy, our metabolism drops and we gain weight easily.
The declines in cellular or T-cell mediated immune function occur with advancing age, probably contributing to decreased immune responsiveness. The decline in T cell immune function is generally associated with an increased susceptibility to foreign organisms, making them more susceptible to health imbalances.
Age-related weight gain and obesity are approaching epidemic proportions in our country. Weight gain is a disorder of energy balance involving energy intake and/or expenditure. Low energy expenditure, a drop in resting metabolic rate (RMR), is a challenge during most weight loss attempts due to age, calorie restriction, lack of physical activity or a combination of factors. RMR represents 60% of total daily energy expenditure. Maintaining a higher RMR as we age and during weight reduction programs helps us achieve and maintain a normal weight. Furthermore, compounds with the thermogenic potential to achieve even minimal increases in daily energy expenditure of 2-3% may have clinical relevance in preventing the decline in RMR with calorie restricted diets or weight loss, and in decreasing the risk of regaining weight.
Aging changes on the cellular basis which is partially determined by genes. Our cells host DNA which sets a fixed number of cell replications. Human bodies are built up of different types of cells: mitotic (dividing), postmitotic, and resting. The capacity of replication of mitotic cells is limited. After a cell reproduced itself a certain number of times, it dies. Every division bears a threat of alteration; the older the cell, the more alterations it has undergone. Then the moment comes when the cell blueprint is so changed, that the cell cannot replicate itself properly anymore. Other types of cells either have very limited ability to divide, or cannot reproduce themselves at all. When nerve, kidney, or heart muscle cells are lost they are not replaced. However, not only genes affect the aging process. Approximately 40 percent of a cell aging depends on the life style of an individual.
Each living species has a fixed maximum life span. Some scientists believe for humans it is 1380 months (115 years), for a Chimpanzee - 534 months, for a dog - 408 months, and for a mouse - 42. Other scientific calculations tell that an approximate maximum life span of humans is 125 years. Free radicals, a product of metabolism, destroy cells and cause aging on a cellular level. The metabolic rate explains how we accelerate aging by spending our energies in vain. Metabolic rate is defined as calories burned per gram of body mass per day. We burn our energies when we grow, repair from illnesses, digest food, exercise, work, or become stressed. The problem is that the reserve of energy each of us has got is not unlimited. All living beings use up a fixed amount of energy during their lifetime. When the reserve is depleted, the system shuts down. The faster you consume your energy potential, the sooner you wear out and age. It occurs when our contaminated bodies spend more time on digestion of "dead" food, when we consume more food than needed, when we exercise too much or get exposed to air and water pollutants. We also age faster when we infect our minds with negative thoughts and our souls with negative emotions. If you learn how to preserve your energy you can delay aging. One of the attempts to limit consumption of energies is a caloric restriction therapy. There is also plenty of other methods of energy conservation and extension of the life span.
When caloric intake is kept to about 30-40 percent of what was normally eaten but a nutrient-rich diet was maintained, the metabolic rate slowed down, aging process maybe delayed, the life span may increase, the blood cholesterol and blood sugar may decrease, physical activity, intellectual skills, and may rejuvenate a more youthful appearance. However, caloric restriction is not the only way to balance metabolism of the body. Adopting a strict lifestyle of sobriety from eating and wine drinking, yoga exercisesmay also help balance the energies and metabolism. You consume fewer calories naturally when your internal organs function properly and when your body are able to absorb more nutrients from what you eat. Fasting is another way to detoxify your body and restore your bodily functions.
A full biological regeneration occurs when a cell divides properly. However, the regeneration is disturbed when free radicals attack a cell and cause cellular mutations. During our lives we undergo the process of natural oxidation as we breathe. The oxidation is accelerated when the metabolic rate increases, when we are exposed to adverse external conditions like smog, environmental pollution, radiation, cigarette smoke, and stress. We can suffer up to 10,000 free radical attacks every day. A free radical is an unstable, highly reactive atom with at least one unpaired electron. To balance itself, the free radical steals an electron from another atom thus giving birth to a new free radical and originating a chain of destructive reactions. Cell membranes are especially vulnerable to the aggression of free radicals. When the nucleus is damaged, the cell loses its ability to replicate itself. The impaired cell replication results in the weakened immune system, memory loss, skin aging, and many age related disorders.
Antioxidants deactivate free radicals and prevent oxidation on a cellular level. Antioxidants may improve survival under conditions of exposure to toxins by inhibiting mutations of a cell. Some of the most effective antioxidants includes Pine Bark Extract/OPC, Pomegranate, Grape Seed Extract, Blueberries, etc will defend you effectively against the aggression of free radicals.
The most abundant hormone made by the pituitary gland is human growth hormone, also called somatotrophin. Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is produced and secreted by the pituitary gland. It peaks at adolescence and at age 60 decreases to about 25 % of the levels at 20 years old. Growth hormone exerts its actions either directly or indirectly through its intermediary insulin growth factors (IGF-1) to every organ system of the body. HGH enters the liver and is converted into Insulin -like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), a natural anabolic growth factor. IGF-1 is the channel through which other hormones and anabolic agents must pass before they can achieve their positive effect on muscle tissue, glands and even the blueprint on life itself, DNA. It grows the bones of young children, it increases the size of most organs and tissue. The latest studies in animals show that it can even regenerate damaged brain tissue.
IGF-1 regulates cellular growth and development; premature reduction in IGF-1 causes cellular apoptosis or cell death. IGF-1 stimulates muscle bulk and lean body mass, helps burn fat, promotes healthy blood sugar level, and decreases LDL Cholesterol. The body is comprised of many systems--nervous, endocrines, immune, reproductive, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, skin, and musculoskeletal--and to maintain good health, they must all communicate and work in conjunction. IGF-1 is a natural protein required for normal growth and health maintenance. IGF-1 promotes glucose transfer through cell membranes as a source of fuel, bringing the raw materials cells need for growth, renovation and repair. Abnormally low levels of IGF-1 are associated with several disease conditions including dwarfism, malnutrition, osteoporosis and infertility. It has been suggested that a decline in IGF-1 levels in human tissue causes many of the degenerative changes associated with aging.
One of the spectacularly exciting uses of growth hormone and IGF-1 may be to prevent and treat the effects of brain aging. In an experiment that has momentous implications for brain injury, stroke, aging, and neurodegenerative disease, a team of scientists in New Zealand showed that IGF-1 can stop the death of cells in the brain. Barbara Johnston, Peter Gluckman, and their colleagues at the University of Auckland, New Zealand found that injections of IGF-1 given 2 hours after brain injury in fetal lambs rescued the damaged neurons and salvaged cells that would otherwise have died during apoptosis. The treatment was effective in stopping the cell death throughout the brain, including the hippocampus, the cortex, the areas associated with thinking and memory. The treatment was also effective in the striatum, the part of the brain that plays a role in Parkinson's disease in humans. IGF-1 replacement was also found to reduce seizures in animals with brain damage. These researchers also suggest that IGF-1 might be used to inhibit the effects of neonatal hypoxia during birth (lack of oxygen to the brain) which can leave a baby with permanent brain damage. If IGF-1 can stop the programmed death of cells, this opens up possibility for treatment of stroke,Alzheimer's disease, muscular dystrophy, and multiple sclerosis.
As its name indicates IGF-1, or insulin-like growth factor-1, has similar properties to insulin, and it has been shown to improve blood sugar profiles in type 2 diabetic patients. High doses of growth hormone have been shown to increase insulin resistance, but IGF-1 administration actually normalized the insulin resistance in a group of healthy volunteers. In the latter study, Nelly Mauras and Bernard Beaufrere of the Nemours Children's Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, were looking at several different things: the effect of IGF-1 on protein metabolism; its ability to stop the protein-wasting caused by glucocorticosteroid drugs like prednisone, and its effect on insulin and glucose metabolism. They divided the volunteers into three groups who got one of the following: IGF-1 alone, IGF-1 plus prednisone, and prednisone alone. The study found that IGF-1 at 100 micrograms per kilogram of body weight given twice daily enhanced the body's protein metabolism in the same way as growth hormone. Like growth hormone, it markedly decreased the protein breakdown in the volunteers who were taking prednisone. But whereas growth hormone in an earlier study caused carbohydrate intolerance and insulin resistance when given in combination with prednisone, IGF-1 did not cause these diabetes-like effects. Instead, those subjects who received IGF-1 along with prednisone had normal glucose metabolism. This was remarkable, say the researchers, in light of the fact that glucocorticoids are known to suppress circulating insulin and decrease insulin sensitivity.
Two 1997 double-blind clinical studies showed that recombinant IGF-1 injections can markedly reduce the need for insulin by up to 45% in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. One study involved 8 adults between ages 24 and 49 and the other 43 children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 17. In the adult trial, IGF-1 also lowered the total cholesterol and triglycerides after only four days of treatment. While these were short term trials lasting nineteen days and four weeks, respectively, that fact that the insulin requirement dropped markedly and there were no serious side effects make IGF-1 a promising drug for the treatment of diabetes. While it does not do away with the need for insulin, it improved the control of blood sugar and thuas may help prevent the dire complications of diabetes, including heart disease, blindness, and peripheral nerve damage that can lead to amputation.
A number of world-class bodybuilders are using IGF-1 and reporting massive muscle magnification of up to 20 pounds. An article in Muscle Mass 2000 trumpets IGF-1 as "Possibly the Most Potent Bodybuilding Drug Ever!" While there are no controlled studies supporting the musclemen's claims, the anecdotal evidence is building up. "Bodybuilders are claiming they are experiencing drops of 5% body fat in a month, while increases in lean body mass and strength. There is a feedback mechanism between the human growth hormone in the pituitary gland and the IGF-1 in the liver.