Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn argues that you can prevent the signs of aging by following her advice: Eat, drink and move like this if you want to live a long and healthy life.
The answer can be found in the shoe laces
If you understand what laces are, then you will understand this whole story with genes and telomeres. Understand how your own choices can affect your genes, and through them - your health, future and even your appearance.
Such promises are made by the Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn. Together with her colleagues, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009. Her research focused on the effects of telomeres and telomerase on the aging process.
“The discoveries are of great importance for cell biology,” says Matti Korhonen, chief physician at SPR Veripalvelu Hospital in Helsinki.
Understanding how telomeres work has helped not only in matters related to aging, but also in studying the behavior of cancer cells.
“The Nobel Prize is well deserved,” says Korhonen. He himself studied telomeres found in stem cells isolated from bone marrow.
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Blackburn argues that the aging process depends on telomeres, this process can be accelerated and slowed down
In some cases, the internal clock can even be reversed. This is what Blackburn claims in his book The Telomere Effect. A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer.”The Telomere Effect. The book is co-authored with psychologist Elissa Epel.
Is it really so? Let's find out.
Let's first understand the terms.
Imagine laces: there are usually plastic tips at the end of the laces. They exist to keep the laces from fraying.
Similar tips, or telomeres consisting of chains of DNA molecules, are found in the chromosomes of every human cell.
"Telomeres cover the ends of chromosomes, holding genetic information inside them and protecting the cell from aging," Blackburn writes.
However, telomeres do get shorter over time. Telomeres shorten each time the cells divide. After repeated cell division, telomeres become extremely short, cells begin to age and, eventually, die. This is usually the case, and the longer the telomeres, the better.
Therefore, it makes sense to take care of the lace ends.
There is another important term, telomerase.
Telomerase is a special enzyme that maintains telomeres. It helps return telomeres to DNA that disappears during cell division. If the cells have enough telomerase, the telomeres are in good condition. If telomerase is too low, telomeres are rapidly shortened. Then the cells stop dividing and start aging.
Telomerase should be warned immediately: there is no point in using it as a dietary supplement. Blackburn warns that too much telomerase can also speed up the growth of cancer cells. Telomerase is advertised on foreign Internet sites, often its cost reaches hundreds of dollars per month.
Old-looking person has short telomeres
Blackburn lists an impressive number of studies that have noted differences in telomere length in humans. Here are three of the most interesting ones:
1. People who look old have shorter telomeres. In one of the experiments, they tried to determine the age of a person only on the basis of a photograph. It turned out that those who looked older than their age had shorter telomeres than their peers.
"This is not a sensation, because telomeres are responsible for aging skin and gray hair," says Blackburn.
2. The risk of cardiovascular disease in those with short telomeres is higher. One study found that the third of the population with the shortest telomeres had cardiovascular disease 40% more often than the third with the longest telomeres.
3. Short telomeres are the harbingers of mental decline in the future. When examining a group of healthy 70-year-old people, it turned out that the longer the telomeres, the better the test results of their owners.
The most interesting results were found seven years later. After seven years, the performance of all members of the group became worse, but they were the worst in the owners of the shortest telomeres.
These examples are awe-inspiring. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately find out how a person himself can influence his telomeres.
Three ways you can take care of your telomeres and your future health.
Your telomeres - in other words, the enzyme telomerase - can be influenced to some extent on your own.
Elizabeth Blackburn writes extensively in her book about what to do to achieve a good life. Here, we present only brief recommendations that she makes based on the research.
1. Mood: meditation helps
Various meditation exercises promote the production of the enzyme telomerase, which is required by telomeres, to some extent. For example, one study found that those who practiced Kirtan Kriya meditation daily had a 43% increase in telomerase in two months. In the control group, which listened to soothing music, the amount of telomerase increased by only 3.7%.
Blackburn notes similar results among those who were engaged in meditative practice and health-improving qigong gymnastics. The Mindfulness Program also prevents telomere shortening in breast cancer survivors.
2. Physical condition is very important
"If you can walk at a brisk pace or jog three times a week for 45 minutes, then you are in good shape in terms of your telomeres," Blackburn summarizes in his book.
One study in which a group of 124 people took part, found out what type of activity is favorable in terms of telomeres. The experiment involved healthy men, not involved in sports, aged 30 to 60 years. One group jogged for 45 minutes three times a week. The second group was engaged in the same amount of intense training. The third group did strength exercises. The fourth group did nothing.
The results were clear: Telomerase activity in runners and those who did intense training doubled. Strength exercises did not significantly affect her activity, although they gave other positive results.
The exact mechanism is not yet known, but it seems that it is the movement that puts stress on the circulatory system that affects the telomeres. The study showed that regardless of the type of physical activity, telomere activity increased more in those whose physical condition was better.
3. Nutrition: Omega-3 fatty acids and all traditional healthy foods
Now for the good and bad news. The bad news is that there is no single product that works a miracle. The good news is that a person worried about their telomeres does not need to invent anything new - almost all the healthy foods you know have a beneficial effect on telomeres as well.
For example, one study shows that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are beneficial for telomeres. The more omega-3 fatty acids in the blood, the more the telomeres lengthened.
Blackburn lists foods that are good for telomeres: fiber, vegetables, nuts, legumes, algae and omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in oily fish.
Short telomeres are associated with red meat, white bread, lemonades, sweetened juices, fatty foods, and omega-6 fatty acids.
However, it should be noted that the role of products was discussed indirectly; it was not present in the chain of causation. It has not been reliably established that telomere length depends on any particular product. For coffee drinkers, the good news is that one study found coffee drinkers have longer telomeres than other drinks.
Moderate alcohol consumption also has no effect on telomeres. Only those who drink more than four drinks a day have them shorter.
Is it all true?
In some places, Blackburn's book seems too good to be true: has a recipe for eternal youth really been found, or at least for a longer youth? In addition to meditation, exercise and nutrition, Blackburn also looks at the effects on telomere length of sleep, chemicals, income levels, social relationships, and even where you sleep.
The book highlights useful tips. Blackburn, for example, pays a lot of attention to sleep and gives advice on how to sleep better. But the causal relationship remains unclear to the reader.
Telomeres for those who sleep less than seven hours are shorter than those who sleep for more than seven hours. But where is the cause and where is the effect?
Chief Physician Matti Korhonen thinks this book is great and can serve as a popular introduction to the world of health. The attempt to make complex discoveries in the study of telomeres accessible to him arouses admiration and at the same time has not been left without criticism.
For example, he criticized the following: in the book there are many illogical transitions in which serious scientific discoveries become a guide for poorly reasoned household advice.
He gives an example: “The book says that based on research, we can say that stress shortens telomeres. But there is much less evidence as to whether dealing with stress lengthens them. It is completely unreasonable why a person who coped with stress increased their life expectancy. Was it due to lengthening of telomeres, or for some other reason? New research is needed.
Genes have the biggest impact
Elizabeth Blackburn does not at all claim in her book that man is the blacksmith of his telomeric happiness. This is still written in the book, albeit in small print and in passing. “Genes determine how long telomeres will be at birth, how quickly they will wear out. But, fortunately, no one is powerless in the face of genes - a person can to some extent affect the length and strength of their telomeres, Blackburn writes at the beginning of the book.
Thus, Blackburn recognizes that genes are the most important factor, not human actions. The book does not return to this question further.
Recently, there have been many studies devoted to the issue of telomeres. After reading the book, Matti Korhonen himself was surprised at how many relationships have been found between telomere length and factors such as stress, depression, exercise, sleep and nutrition.
"When I looked through the list of sources, I noticed that the studies were published in serious scientific journals, some of them in very respectable publications."
This information was new for Korhonen, since his own research has nothing to do with lifestyle, but is only a scientific study of the cell.
Not everything is explained by telomeres alone
The book is written in an entertaining way, nothing bad will happen, even if we follow not very reasonable advice. After all, the advice is so familiar: avoid stress, think positively, sleep and move enough, eat healthy foods. Specific tips, there are even ready-made recipes. The book is suitable for those who strive for a better life. Korhonen wants to warn against the common researcher's delusion. If a topic begins to interest you, everything is confirmed.
“After reading this book, the lay reader might get the impression that everything related to health and aging depends on telomeres. Of course it is not."
The most interesting thing in the book is the hundreds of references to the research conducted. Based on them, the reader can easily find all sources on the Internet.
Päivi Ala-Risku