Slow Aging: How to protect your telomeres

There are nutrients that make your cells behave like younger cells.

In the fight against aging, it makes sense to start directly at the root of the problem: the telomeres.

What are telomeres?

Telomeres are the end pieces of our genetic material threads – the chromosomes. With each cell division, they become a little shorter – and we become a little older again. When they reach a critical level, the cell can no longer divide, so it dies or causes inflammation. The telomeres are therefore also called “fuses of death”.

Some cells, including those of the skin, hair and immune system, are more affected by telomere shortening. This is because they divide more often than other cells. That is why we perceive the aging process most clearly in our skin and hair and in our general state of health.

The length of the telomeres is thus the unit of measurement for our biological age. This determines both how we look and how fit we feel.

What influences the length of telomeres?

Certain lifestyle factors increase the shortening of telomeres, such as stress, too much sun, alcohol, pesticides, or even excessive body weight.

However, science shows that there are also influencing factors that have a positive effect on the length of telomeres. These include certain nutrients. They can stimulate aging cells to behave like younger cells again. And we really like to hear that, don’t we?

In this article you will find out which nutrients are involved.

These nutrients protect your telomeres

However, apart from the negative effects mentioned so far due to certain lifestyles, there are also certain nutrients that have a positive effect on our telomeres. The following nutrients stabilize telomeres and also protect them at the innermost cellular level. This revitalizes aging cells and stimulates them to act like younger cells again. Find out here which nutrients support you accordingly in slow aging.

Turmeric

Turmeric, or the active ingredient curcumin contained therein, is a promising anti-aging substance for telomeres. It belongs to the polyphenols and is obtained from the rhizome of the plant Curcuma longa (turmeric). This is a member of the ginger family.

It is commonly used as a spice (curry, turmeric) and consumed daily in many countries, such as India.

Turmeric contains valuable active components, these include curcumin.

However, this active ingredient is poorly absorbed from food by intestinal cells due to its low water solubility and stability. In addition, it is also rapidly metabolized and excreted by the liver. Consequently, turmeric from food is hardly effective.

But there is a simple solution. This is because when curcumin is administered at the same time as piperine, the active ingredient in black pepper, the level of curcumin in the blood can be increased 20-fold compared to normal consumption. This makes turmeric more effective as a supplement than the spice (e.g., Tame The Flame by Ogaenics). In addition, extraction processes can significantly increase the curcumin content per gram.

Omega fatty acids

As a result, one of the first studies to look at the impact of diet on telomere length found amazing things about omega fatty acids. The intake of omega-3 fatty acids led to longer telomeres after 4 months.

Among the most important sources of omega fatty acids in the diet are fatty fish. Furthermore, oils, such as for example. Flax and walnut oil or chia seeds good omega suppliers. However, if you don’t like them or are vegan, for example, you can also supplement the precious fatty acids well.

At Ogaenics, for example, we use an absolute premium organic sea buckthorn oil from the Himalayas for Oilalala Skin Omega Complex, which contains omega 3, 6, 7 and 9 along with vitamin A and E. Consequently, a super combination to extend the telomeres.

Vitamin D

Good vitamin D levels also support longer telomeres, presumably due to its anti-inflammatory properties. Researchers first published this in 2007 in the American journal of clinical nutrition.

Unfortunately, the majority of us do not get enough vitamin D from food or sunlight. In Germany, for example, about one in three people has a vitamin D level that is too low. For this reason, supplementation to protect the telomeres makes sense (e.g. Hello Sunshine Vitamin _D3 Complex 2,000 I.U. or Hello Sunshine + K2.

It’s best to have your vitamin D level checked by your doctor first. The goal for protecting your telomeres here should be a blood level of 1,000 nmol or 40 µg/l.

By the way, the lack of vitamin D has other negative effects on our health. How you can recognize a deficiency and what it has as a consequence, you will learn in the article: Alarm signals for a vitamin D deficiency.

These antioxidants support slow aging

Moreover, the key to longer telomeres lies in the protection of telomeres from oxidative damage by free radicals. Free radicals are produced, for example, by stress, sunlight, environmental factors such as air pollution, radiation, cigarette smoke and pesticides, or even junk food.

On the one hand, the body copes well with free radicals as long as its supply of antioxidants is large enough. On the other hand, if not enough antioxidants are available, telomeres shorten. And that can then lead to premature aging.

The most important antioxidants include certain vitamins such as vitamins C and E, minerals such as selenium and zinc, superoxide dismutase, and secondary plant compounds. Especially for vitamin C there are many natural sources, if you like fruits. But it can also help in supplement form if it comes from plants. This is for example with our high-dose Healthy Kick Plant-Based Vitamin C .

Another super antioxidant is the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD). Because it is 13 million times as strong as vitamin C. It can be found, for example, in special cantaloupe melons, which we use for our antioxidant superstar, Ogaenics Beauty Fuel Skin Radiance Complex. It also contains another very powerful antioxidant, oligomeric proanthocyanidins, or “OPC” for short, from pine bark extract. This further protects skin and organs from premature aging.

Multivitamins as an all-in-one solution for telomeres

Furthermore, multivitamins are also among the nutrients with a positive effect on our telomeres. A study from 2009 was able to prove this. During the study, researchers examining 586 women found that those women who took multivitamins permanently had longer telomeres compared to the control group (not taking multivitamins). Compared to the non-users, the relative telomere length of the DNA was on average even 5.1 percent longer.

At Ogaenics, all multivitamins come from organic fruits, organic vegetables, and organic mushrooms that your body can immediately recognize and use without detours. They are without any additives and optimally adapted to your gender and stage of life. Because they also contain vitamin D and many antioxidants (for example, vitamins A, C, E, selenium, and zinc), they are often a more useful addition to your slow aging diet than supplementing everything individually.

What lifestyle factors shorten telomeres?

The shortening of telomeres also depends a lot on how you live otherwise. What you should better change or avoid in the sense of your telomeres, we explain to you in the following.

Body weight

There is scientific evidence that excessive body weight can accelerate aging. But therelationship between body weight and telomere length appears to be complex.

For example, there are some studies that found that people with a higher body mass index have longer telomeres. While other studies found the opposite.

A study of women aged 35 to 70 also linked yo-yo dieting and weight gain from age 30 with shortened telomeres. This could be because obesity and large fat stores cause chronic inflammation, which causes oxidative damage to the body. Our telomeres then react sensitively to this.

In this sense, in any case, it is beneficial if you try not to have too high a body weight and avoid weight fluctuations.

Alcohol

The bottom line is pretty simple: the more alcohol you drink, the more your cells seem to age. Of course, we already know that alcohol has negative effects on our body.

However, researchers also found that people with alcoholism have a shortened telomere length. Consequently, this also put them at higher risk for age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia. In your slow aging process you should therefore try to avoid alcohol.

Stress

Several studies have demonstrated that chronic stress leads to shorter telomeres. To this end, a 2004 study compared mothers of healthy children (control group) with mothers of chronically ill children (caregiving mothers) who were exposed to high levels of emotional stress.

The result of the study: on average, the telomeres of the caring mothers were 10 years shorter than those of the control group. That is, their cells behaved as if they were a decade older!

In another study of postmenopausal women, an increase in stress on the stress scale meant their telomeres were 15 times more likely to be short – unless they exercised regularly to compensate.

What can be concluded from this? Stress is not only bad for our mood. It has also been shown to be responsible for premature aging. Stress avoidance and stress reduction is consequently enormously important to switch the body to Slow Aging.

In addition to exercise, sleep, breathing techniques and yoga, certain supplements can also help reduce stress. Adaptogens such as ashwagandha are particularly noteworthy. These are herbal active ingredients that can effectively and gently rebalance the body, mind and spirit and assist in the reduction of stress hormones (especially cortisol). This has even been scientifically proven.

For example, in a clinical study of 64 people, the ashwagandha extract KSM-66® used by Ogaenics resulted in a 27.9 percent reduction in the stress hormone cortisol in the blood after 60 days. Subsequently, the subjects felt more stable, more relaxed and were better able to deal with stressful situations.

Australian researchers also found that B vitamins help against stress. According to the study, the subjects who took B vitamins over a period of three months experienced significantly less stress at work than the placebo group.

So with its combination of natural B vitamins and KSM-66® ashwagandha extract, our Ogaenics ADAPTO GENIE Balancing Complex is the perfect supplement for your stress reduction and lower cortisol levels – for longer telomeres.

We hope we could give you some useful tools to protect your telomeres and wish you good luck with your Slow Aging!