Bombshell: Explosive Medical Secrets That Will Redefine Aging (27 page)

Telomere length has been implicated in almost all aspects of normal aging. High levels of stress hormones, inflammation, insulin issues and high blood sugar, as well as habits and conditions such as smoking, poor diets, obesity, and sedentary living are all linked to shorter telomeres and lower telomerase levels. Cancer, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, macular degeneration, cirrhosis of the liver, and AIDS are all related to having shorter telomeres.

Sperm cells divide millions of times and their telomeres never get short, because when you add the enzyme telomerase, it adds telomere DNA back to the cell’s telomeres and keeps those telomeres as long as they have always been. That’s why an old man can still father children. Again, nature is perfection and always has the perfect plan.

Aging well requires planning, and now you can add another tool to your kit; it is a new, sophisticated nondrug way of lengthening your life that allows you to remain healthy and vital while also maintaining your “edge.” This new discovery just might make aging the enjoyable experience it should be. This advancement may extend life, and those presently using it enthusiastically report that they feel and look better. Results differ, but some say they notice those things that
bug most aging people, like bad eyesight, hearing loss, stringy hair, brittle nails, sagging skin (have you noticed that suddenly your skin doesn’t “fit” anymore?), all improve with it. If you have a magnifying mirror, you know there are days when you want to jump back in horror. Yipes! Who is that, you ask? Unfortunately, these changes in your appearances are manifestations of internal deterioration. To date, there has been little you can do about it.

Disease, unfortunately, is also part of the present template of aging. We “expect” we will be brought down by one of the big three—Alzheimer’s, heart disease, cancer—and now add to them environmental diseases, which are so rampant.

But science has a plan …

Because of the amazing work of the Nobel Prize winners Carol Greider, Elizabeth Blackburn, and Jack Szostak, it is now possible to extend your life expectancy beyond 100 years to 120 years or more, while leading an active, robust, independent lifestyle, maintaining all the strength and vitality you had when you were much younger, and again, without the use of drugs.

Imagine being a centenarian looking half your age, playing outdoors with your great-great-grandchildren, dancing with much younger partners, enjoying new hobbies and pursuits, and, yes, still having a great sex life. All without having to worry about life-threatening conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, chronic infections, dementia, poor eyesight, hearing loss, low energy, and other miserable conditions that plague too many older people. Imagine!

The paradigm of aging is changing. Rapidly.

The scientists who discovered telomerase realized that this enzyme provided a germ cell with an unending ability to reproduce itself. They found that telomerase keeps DNA tightly wound so the cell is not subject to the normal wear and tear that other cells in the body are subjected to; consequently, they proved that reproductive cells
don’t lose telomere length as we age. Why? For the same reason babies are born with telomeres that are long rather than short like those of their parents. Clearly human biology is about perpetuation of the species.

Long telomeres, long life!

So obviously, you want to figure out how to keep your telomeres longer.

The makers of this supplement can’t stop talking about it. They report “new skin,” a clear and visible smoothing and “reverse aging” of the skin. Others report improved vision and hearing, shinier hair, and stronger nails.

The product is called TA-65. It contains a single molecule from the astragalus plant, which has been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years, often in combination with other herbs to strengthen the body’s immune system. TA-65 is the
only
telomerase activator that is available right now. T.A. Sciences purifies the rare and expensive substance through an extensive process that also factors into
its high price, which begins at around $2,000 a year. Hopefully, as people start using it the price will come down … Read Noel Patton’s section that follows on this exciting supplement, then review Dr. Andy Jurow’s interview, as he is a prescribing doctor for it. Both Mr. Patton and Dr. Jurow are beyond excited, and I have to say those I’ve spoken with who are using it are ecstatic. The theory behind TA-65 is beyond making you look good; it’s about the possibility of reversing aging by releasing the enzyme telomerase. This is a major Bombshell to hit the antiaging world, and Noel Patton has brought this supplement to the market. Read what he has to say.

Noel Thomas Patton
is a businessman, a visionary, and an entrepreneur. He is the founder of T.A. Sciences and responsible for bringing TA-65 to the public. A graduate of Indiana University (1969) with an honors degree in philosophy, Noel furthered his studies on the East Coast and is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School. His interest in telomere biology began in 1999, when he heard a lecture that explained how an enzyme called telomerase had the potential to rejuvenate human cells and keep them from dying of old age
.

The importance of telomerase for changing the way we age was emphasized in 2009 when its discoverers won the Nobel Prize for medicine
.

SS:
Thank you for your time, Mr. Patton. You own the company that makes the incredible new supplement TA-65. Can you give me your explanation of how it works and why this is so revolutionary?

NTP:
Thank you, Suzanne. What we are talking about today is telomere biology and how our product TA-65 can lengthen telomeres, and what that means in our quest for life extension. Telomeres are the ends of the chromosomes. We have 23 pairs of chromosomes in every cell in our bodies; 23 from your mother, and 23 from your father and all the genetic material is on those 23 pairs of chromosomes in every cell.

SS:
In other words, it’s who we are?

NTP:
Correct. It’s critically important that the genes on those chromosomes are kept intact and in good health. At both ends of every chromosome are sequences of DNA that are not like other genetic material and these are the telomeres.

SS:
These are the little tails on the ends of the chromosomes?

NTP:
Correct. They act as protective tips at the ends of the chromosome to protect the integrity of the genome, like the plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces. One of the most important scientific discoveries of the last twenty years was learning that these “ends” act as the aging clock for nearly every cell in our bodies, because every time a cell divides, the ends (telomeres) get shorter. When they get to certain critical shortness, cells can no longer divide and they become senescent (nonfunctioning/sick) and then die. For the cell, this is a crisis, like falling off a cliff. But there is a long downward spiral before this crisis happens. This telomere shortening is what is driving the aging process. Changes in telomere length signal certain genes to either turn on or turn off. This is called
changing gene expression
. Which genes are turned on and which ones are turned off is what dictates the functionality of the cell; this is the fundamental aging process.

SS:
Like a shutdown. Little by little the functions give out on us.

NTP:
Right, so even before your telomeres get so short that the cell no longer functions or dies, along the way, telomere attrition is causing aging of the cells. This is consistent with recent studies by Dr. Ronald DePinho when at Harvard that showed telomere shortening to be one of the root causes of aging.

In November of 2010, Dr. DePinho published an important paper in the scientific journal
Nature
where he showed for the first time in history that the aging of a mammal was reversed. Notice that we are not talking here about life extension; we are seeing actual
age reversal
. He started out by engineering mice that had no telomerase to be the equivalent of eighty-year-old humans, and then he activated telomerase in those mice.

SS:
Again, you are speaking of the enzyme that is responsible for
lengthening
telomeres.

NTP:
Correct. So when Dr. DePinho
added back
the telomerase to these eighty-year-old mice, they essentially became young adults again.

SS:
As you say this, I’m thinking that throughout history humans have been searching for the elusive fountain of youth … is this it?

NTP:
We are not there yet, but we are on the right road. Telomere biologists have a lot more work to do, but we are having very significant results. I got interested in telomeres more than ten years ago because I was an aging human being and I didn’t like it. And now ten years later, we are seeing real results in human beings like me. I
don’t have all the answers on this very complex subject of aging, but aging clearly correlates to a shortening of telomeres, and it’s becoming more and more apparent that this telomere shortening is one of the fundamental causes. So, personally, I agree with Dr. DePinho that a lack of telomerase, which causes the shortening of telomeres, is the root cause of aging.

We can take a human cell in a petri dish and by activating the enzyme telomerase, we can make that cell immortal.

SS:
What do you mean by “immortal”?

NTP:
By immortal, I don’t mean in the religious sense, but that the cell won’t die of old age as long as you keep feeding it and keep the telomerase gene activated so that the cell can continue to keep making its own telomerase.

SS:
So is this telomerase something you can inject or put in a pill?

NTP:
No, it’s made inside the cell, and TA-65 turns on the gene that makes it, which normally is turned “off” in almost all cells of an aging person. Going back to your “fountain of youth” question; the idea is not entirely science fiction. If you activate telomerase within each cell and keep it activated, then, yes, we may be able to make those cells immortal.

SS:
That takes my breath away.

NTP:
There’s a lot more we have to do and know about. Also, as far as expecting a miracle, you have to remember that it took us a long time to get to the age we are now, so you are not going to regress overnight.

SS:
Okay, I’m breathing again. [Laughs.]