KNOWLEDGE BASE
Why Aging Humans Need More Carnitine?
An inevitable consequence of aging is a rapid decline in our cellular energy levels. The outward effects often manifest as a sense of overall fatigue, depression, and sexual dysfunction. The internal effect of a cellular energy deficit is a greater vulnerability to a host of degenerative diseases.
The prime reason cells lose their energy-producing ability is that the powerhouses of the cells—the mitochondria—become dysfunctional. Research has shown that the amino acid carnitine is critical to maintaining optimal mitochondrial function and supporting high energy production.
Carnitine is responsible for fueling the fires of energy production at the cellular level. Without this valuable nutrient, the mitochondria are unable to burn dietary fats to create the energy we need to live.
Scientists have discovered several different forms of carnitine that, in addition to bolstering energy production, produce health benefits that include protecting against neurodegenerative diseases, alleviating depression, stimulating nerve growth, and improving heart function.
Quercetin: Broad-Spectrum Protection
Many of our most powerful medicines, including those for diabetes, chemotherapy, and cardiovascular health, are derived from plant extracts. One reason that plants hold so much potential for human health is that they are able to withstand a variety of destructive forces such as environmental radiation, oxidative damage, and chemical toxins due to their unique ability to manufacture complex molecules called flavonoids.1-4 For humans, these same conditions can be lethal. Yet when we consume plants as food and beverages, the protective benefits of these same flavonoids are readily transferred to our bodies!5
One flavonoid in particular, quercetin, is found in a broad range of foods, from grape skins and red onions to green tea and tomatoes. Quercetin is attracting intense scientific interest for its unique anti-aging and immune-boosting activities.6 Several recent studies show that organisms exposed to high levels of quercetin live longer, healthier lives.6–12 Laboratory models of aging, ranging from simple yeasts and primitive worms to cultured human cells, demonstrate that quercetin alone produces up to a 60% increase in life span!6,8-12 In addition, quercetin has been found to be cancer chemopreventive as well as reduce allergic reactions, boost immunity, and protect the cardiovascular system.
Due to its synergies with resveratrol, health-conscious people often obtain some quercetin in science-based resveratrol formulas they already use.
Getting Back To Basics … How Low-Cost Zinc Helps Combat Deadly Immunosenescence
Zinc is required by the body for more than 2,000 transcription factors involved in gene expressions of various proteins.1 What this means in everyday language is that thousands of essential biological functions are dependent on zinc.
The medical community has known of zinc deficiency for more than 50 years, but the health imp act of this crucial mineral has been largely ignored by global health organizations. Extensive scientific inquiry has made it clear that nutritional deficiency of zinc is widely prevalent and its morbidities are severe.1
Overwhelmingly, the elderly are deficient in zinc1. Because zinc governs so many biological functions, a simple zinc deficiency can affect multiple facets of health and development.1 The result is a decline in our body’s vigilant immune system, opening the door for an onslaught of numerous diseases. A zinc deficiency contributes to atherosclerosis, cancer, neurological disorders, autoimmune diseases, and other age-related chronic conditions.2
One target that researchers are focusing on is the fact that a zinc deficiency can cause your immune system to decline, a phenomenon known as immunosenescence. This decline in immunity places older adults at increased risk for a range of almost every serious disease, from infections and cancer.3
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Estrogen. Enjoy Estrogen’s Multiple Benefits While Guarding Against Potential Risks
Women who properly replace their estrogen and progesterone usually feel better, sleep better, look better, think better, have stronger bones, firmer muscles, improved endothelial function, and longer life spans.1,2
The downside to all these benefits is concern of increased cancer risk in certain women (colon cancer risk is an exception, which goes down).3,4
Compelling evidence indicates that natural progesterone slashes estrogen-induced cellular proliferation, particularly in the breast and endo-metrium, without the adverse risks associated with synthetic progestins.5,6
Consuming cruciferous vegetables, avoiding well-done meat, ensuring higher vitamin D blood levels, and following other healthy lifestyle choices also reduce breast cancer risk.7-10
Unlike biased propaganda based on economic motives, Life Extension® wants maturing women to understand the facts and decide for themselves if they want to consider using a natural progesterone cream along with a precise individualized dose of natural estrogen to restore their sex hormones to youthful ranges.