First of all, I’ve always struggled with deciding what I wanted to do with my physical body once I’m declared dead.  The thought of being put into the ground in a box isn’t very appealing and neither is going into an oven ending up as a pile of ashes.  I suppose a mausoleum is a little more palatable, but I don’t think I have the money for one of those.  Taxidermy could be an option…LOL…but I rather doubt my children and grandchildren want me standing in the corner of their living rooms peering over their shoulders for years to come.

There is always the off chance that I may not make my goal of 105, and cryonics just might be the answer to that possibility.  It’s at least an intriguing thought.  Until I started researching, I didn’t know much about cryonics, although I was aware it existed.  Did you know Ted Williams is “on ice” as I write this blog?  Anyway, in layman’s terms, cryonics is:

“…the science of placing humans and animals into a low-temperature, biologically unchanging state immediately after clinical death, with the expectation that advances in medical technology may eventually enable full restoration to life and health.”

Here is an even better medical explanation of the logic behind cryonics:

“The purpose of cryonics is to save the lives of living people, not inter the bodies of dead people. Death is a neurological process that begins after the heart stops. A stopped heart only causes death if nothing is done when the heart stops.  Alcor uses life support equipment to restore blood circulation to maintain brain viability after the heart stops, ideally within minutes. This means that every cell and tissue of a cryonics patient can be just as alive at the beginning of cryonics procedures as any other medical patient.  The purpose of cryonics is to intercept and stop this dying process within the window of time that it may be reversible in the future. The first few minutes of clinical death are certainly reversible, even today. There are good reasons to believe that this window will extend further in the future. That is why cryonics is sometimes implemented even long after the heart stops. Cryonics is not a belief that the dead can be revived. Cryonics is a belief that no one is really dead until the information content of the brain is lost, and that low temperatures can prevent this loss.”   Alcor Life Extension Foundation

It makes sense, don’t you think?  Apparently, several hundred “participants” do, including Ted Williams.  It certainly does have me thinking.

More to come in my next blog post.

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In the past year or so, I’ve read about little things called “telomeres”…and they are, indeed, little!  They are little pieces of DNA that are like the plastic ends of shoelaces, only they sit at the end of our chromosomes to help prevent them from falling apart.  As we get older, the telomeres start to get shorter at a rate that is greatly dependent on our lifestyles.  Eventually, they get so short that our cells do start to become dysfunctional and we begin to age.

An article in Nature, a scientific journal, addressed a study done on mice whose aging had been accelerated by depriving their systems of the enzyme telomerase.  When telomerase was re-introduced back into their bodies, the telomeres that had shortened began to grow again, working like a “fountain of youth”, restoring their organs and brain functions to their younger versions.

According to Life Extension Magazine for April 2011:

“The significance of the Nature study is that it tested the effects of telomere lengthening in an animal model analogous in many ways to disabled elderly humans.”

Studies have been done on human cell cultures that show “restoring” the length of the telomeres promotes cell division, rather than having them deteriorate and die.

There are many who would argue that the benefits to humans cannot be established or even suggested merely by rapidly aging mice then administering the telomerase enzyme.  However, those who authored the study had this to say:

“In conclusion, this unprecedented reversal of age-related decline in the central nervous system and other organs vital to adult mammalian health justify exploration of telomere rejuvenation strategies for age-associated diseases, particularly those drive by accumulating genotoxic stress.”

The Life Extension Foundation is so encouraged and excited by the potential benefits of telomere lengthening in fighting the aging process that is has been funding research to delve into reversed aging in humans, which included telomere lengthening.  As of December of 2010, it has donated $2 million to ReCyte Therapeutics to do a new group of studies, at least one of which will be with mice to delve into cell rejuvenation and how it can be done.  One part of the study will include telomere lengthening in rejuvenating vascular systems (to prevent heart attacks) and immune senescence to help protect humans from cancer, infectious disease and autoimmune disorders.

Once these studies have proven, hopefully, the great potential for telomere lengthening and its affect with mice, the research can go on to try and document findings using human specimens.  Pretty amazing stuff, and something I intend to keep my eyes on.

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Of course, there’s an acronym for those nasty free radicals, as well…ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species).  “Species”…sounds sinister!  I’m thinking the less “species” I have in my body, the better.

What I want to share today is which antioxidants have been shown to score the highest according to the ORAC rankings.  I used to work for a pharmaceutical company for quite a number of years; and one of the bits of knowledge I took away from that experience is that “bioavailability” is imperative if you expect a supplement or drug to have the desired effect.  Knowing this was one of the reasons I became a believer in Juice Plus years ago.  Their extensive research has shown that what is in their capsules is actually “bioavailable” to our bodies.  This is also the reason I’m a little skeptical of companies that sell supplements touting all the marvelous medical conditions they can impact when they don’t have the research to back up their claims, including whether or not their wonder pill or drink is bioavailable.  So I admit I’ve been skeptical of all the information I’ve seen about the acai berry…up until now.

The article I read today in the June issue of Life Extension explores the scientific validation of the ORAC value of the acai berry, as well as numerous other berries and vegetables, which I’ll share later.  The acai is a kind of palm tree found in South America near the Amazon.  According to the scientific analysis of the acai berry, its…

…complete polyphenolic profile boasts a formidable array of beneficial compounds, including polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (11.1% and 60.2% respectively), along with 19 health-promoting amino acids.

Another description of the benefits of the acai berry from this article states:

Its potent antioxidant properties and highly beneficial polyphenolic profile endow acai with a singular ability to combat cellular aging and oxidative damage.  The latest research reveals the potential for significant beneficial effects on longevity and incidence of chronic disease.

There are a couple things that excite me about the information in this article.  One is a finding that antioxidants in the freeze-dried acai extract “…have been shown to enter human cells in a fully functional form and effectively neutralize free radicals at very low doses”.  Bioavailability…extremely important!  This freeze-dried extract is also “…extraordinarily effective against the most damaging Reactive Oxygen Species, the superoxide and peroxyl radicals”.

Even more exciting to me (and many others) is the growing research that shows acai berries may be a major battler against cancer.  I’m aware these same findings are in the alternative treatment world in regards to raspberry extract (which I currently take).

What makes these berries (and others) even more powerful is that they contain anthocyanins, one of the classes of polyphenols (chemicals found in plants).  These are the berries that have deep red, blue or purple colors.  Anthocyanins have benefits that are extremely important to thriving longevity.  Those benefits include:

• Inhibiting cancer cell growth and actually killing the cells

• Reduced risk of heart disease

• Improvement in eye function

• Limiting the damage done to DNA cells by free radicals

In Friday’s blog post, I’ll share which other berries were mentioned in the article and their individual benefits to your health.  I’ll also share the ORAC values assigned to all of them.  The acai berry is by far the most potent, highly ranked berry at 18,400 ORAC units per 3.5 ounces (or 100 grams).  Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends 3-5,000 ORAC units per day.

Are you a fan of acai berries?  I’m thinking I’m heading in that direction!

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As I read them over the first time, I thought they were being facetious and telling them “tongue in cheek”.  However, reading on, I soon came to realize that the first rule needs to be taken to heart.  If you can follow Rule #1, the other two may take care of themselves for many, many, many years!

The first rule they list is:  Don’t get sick!  Well, duh!  I thought that was fairly obvious.  But what came after the rule made it make more sense.  We need to not get sick in order to stay out of doctors’ offices and hospitals.  Rather an odd statement coming from a couple of physicians.  However, the statistics stated can’t be ignored.  According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, each year physicians are the cause of over 120,000 accidental deaths  here in the U.S.  The unfortunate death of Michael Jackson is a perfect example (although he wasn’t in a doctor’s office).  A report by a not-for-profit organization stated one person out of 20 who is admitted to a hospital gets an infection and 90,000 each year die from those infections.  That being said, obviously the good that is done by doctors and the miraculous procedures and surgeries they perform far outweigh the aforementioned stats.  I think the important thing here is to be diligent in maintaining your health; and if you need to consult with a doctor, ask questions.  Don’t automatically accept what is told you or given to you if there is something that doesn’t sound right or feel right in a doctor’s office or the hospital!

The second rule is:  Don’t get old; and the third rule is: Don’t die! Well, that makes sense.  The whole idea behind anti-aging medicine is to help prevent us from (or at least slow down) growing old.  Following Rule #1 makes Rule #2 much easier to accomplish.  Of course, rule #3 speaks for itself.  Rules #1 and #2 both lead to the accomplishment of Rule #3.

If we can adhere to the rules, we’ll have this anti-aging thing down!!

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