A Whole-Body Approach to Slowing Down Aging

iUniverse, Inc.

Contents

Preface........................................................................................................ixChapter 1 Primary Causes of Aging..............................................................................1Chapter 2 A Whole-Body Approach to Slowing Down Aging..........................................................11Chapter 3 Nutritional Needs for Optimal Immune Function........................................................31Chapter 4 Avoiding Mistakes in Taking Medication...............................................................45Chapter 5 Wise Use of Antioxidants.............................................................................59Chapter 6 Cardiovascular Disease Is Preventable: Have We Missed Doing Something Important?.....................77Chapter 7 Osteoporosis Can Be Prevented and Reversed...........................................................97Chapter 8 Can Age-Related Cancer Be Prevented?.................................................................111Chapter 9 Protecting Your Brain and Keeping It Healthy.........................................................127Chapter 10 Taking Charge of Your Own Health: Maintaining Quality of Life.......................................1551. My Recipe for Reducing the Risks of Age-Related Diseases....................................................1622. Recipe for Red Wine with Onion:.............................................................................163Suggested Reading..............................................................................................165Index..........................................................................................................171About the Author...............................................................................................189Your Record of Morning Fasting Saliva pH Tests.................................................................191

Chapter One

We all have a chronological age, which is time-related and involves the celebration of birthdays, and our physiological age, which reflects the rate at which we are getting older. Everyone ages at the same chronological rate, but people do not age at the same physiological rates. The rates of aging throughout the body systems vary considerably from person to person.

Aging is universal, but each of us experiences it in different ways. We are the sum of our life experiences, and the condition of the various environments throughout our life affects our health, which, in turn, affects the aging process. Aging is influenced by many factors, including genetic makeup, lifestyle, eating habits, and environmental exposure. Therefore, our calendar age has little bearing on our real, physiological age.

Scientists have begun to recognize that misplaced, unnecessary, and prolonged inflammatory response may be the common root of many chronic degenerative diseases among seniors. Every disease I studied shared a common theme: inflammation was present. Whenever I look at a disease, everything from arthritis to heart disease, under a microscope, inflammation is always a component. Whether inflammation is simply a secondary response by the immune system or the key to the whole process of disease remains to be solved.

Genes are considered to be powerful predictors of health, susceptibility to diseases, and longevity. However, there is no question that healthy eating habits and a proper lifestyle are also powerful weapons against the susceptible genes we may be born with. Healthy living may delay many of the body changes that aging will bring. As long as no structural damage to a vital organ has occurred, it is never too late to start on the road to better health.

Primary causes of aging are summarized as follows:

1. Suboptimal Physiological Condition of the Body

For many of us, especially seniors, our bodies are no longer in optimal physiological condition due to improper lifestyle and eating habits and our increasingly toxic environment. Intracellular and extracellular tissue fluids outside of blood vessels, where most physiological functions take place, tend to gradually become acidic. The pH of the "body fluids" is traditionally believed to consistently be 7.4. In older literature, the term body fluids literally includes all the various kinds of fluids in the body, but in fact, this number refers primarily to the pH of the blood, which can fluctuate only slightly, from 7.35 to 7.45, due to the powerful, built-in homeostatic control mechanism by chemical buffer systems (including H₂CO₃ and NaHCO₃ systems, Na₂HPO₄ and NaH₂PO₄ systems, and the hemoglobin in the red blood cells). This homeostatic control mechanism in the circulating blood is extremely important; because the body cannot function properly if the pH of the blood falls below 7.35 or rises above 7.45.

When we examine sections of human tissues under a microscope with the help of special staining technique, we are able to observe a vast amount of non-circulating intracellular and extracellular tissue fluids in the space outside of blood vessels. These chemical buffer systems, which are so effective and vigilant in the circulating blood, do not work as efficiently in these relatively stationary tissue fluids. As a result, the pH of these intracellular and extracellular tissue fluids can fluctuate a lot more, depending on our body's alkaline reserve, which is affected by the foods we eat and the lifestyle we lead.

There appears to be much confusion about what constitutes "body fluids" in the older literature, due to lack of techniques to obtain more precise measurements of the amount of fluids in specific parts of the body. Now using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), we are able to accurately measure that the total amount of body fluids in a man weighing 70 kg is approximately 40 L—57 percent of the body weight. In an infant, the total amount of body fluids is around 75 percent of the body weight, but it gradually decreases from birth to old age, with most of the decrease occurring during the first ten years of life. Obesity decreases the percentage of body fluids in the body to as low as 45 percent. The total amount of body fluids in a man weighing 70 kg can be broken down into three major compartments:

(1) Intracellular tissue fluid amounts to 62.5 percent, or 25 L. It represents a conglomeration of fluids from all the different cells. It is not homogeneous and does not circulate.

(2) Extracellular tissue (or interstitial) fluid amounts to 30 percent, or 12 L. It surrounds all the various cells in the space outside of blood vessels and does not circulate.

(3) Plasma amounts to 7.5 percent, or 3 L. It is the fluid portion of the blood inside blood vessels and circulates continuously throughout our lives.

The amount of plasma (blood) inside of blood vessels only accounts for 7.5 percent of the total amount of the body fluids. Circulating blood supplies nutrients and oxygen to the body's cells and transports waste products away from these cells to keep us alive; however, the majority of physiological functions take place via enzymatic reactions in the intracellular and extracellular tissue fluids. Thus, the pH of tissue fluids, which greatly affects the efficiency of enzymatic reactions, plays an important role in maintaining one's health. Restoring acid-alkaline balance in the tissue fluids to pH 7.4 is therefore key to maintaining good health.

Restoring the acid-alkaline balance in tissue fluids to a slightly alkaline condition (pH 7.4) allows optimal physiological functions, including metabolism, tissue repair, enzymatic reactions, and immune function. Lipofuscin, a granular, orange cellular waste product, is a substance that tends to build up in aging tissues. When we look at human tissues from seniors under a microscope, lipofuscin is frequently found in liver cells, heart muscle cells, and nerve cells. If the physiological condition of our body is suboptimal, lipofuscin accumulates over time and continuously builds up, binding fat and proteins together in the cells and interfering first with cell function, then tissue function, and then organ function. However, if the body's physiological condition improves, lipofuscin buildup decreases. Researchers found a significant decrease in lipofuscin buildup following supplementation with health-promoting resveratrol.

Many major studies (including a long-range study by the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition that monitored 470,000 people in ten different countries, and another study by the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard University following 91,000 nurses over twelve years) found that increased risks of colon, breast, and prostate cancer were closely linked to long-standing, high consumption of red meat, refined sugar, and/or refined grains, all of which are acidifying foods. They also found that reduced red meat consumption was associated with decreased risk of colon cancer (Journal of the National Cancer Institute, No. 12, 2005). All these studies appear to say that high and prolonged consumption of acidifying foods increases the acidity in the tissue fluids (even though the pH of the blood remains 7.4), resulting in the development of cancer. I will discuss this further in chapter 8.

In recent years, medical doctors have been trying to make use of the adjustment of acid-alkaline balance in the tissue fluids to correct health problems. One recent study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, January 2009, by Dr. Dawson-Hughes and his colleagues is such an example. In this study, 171 healthy men and women aged fifty and older were treated with either alkaline bicarbonate or no bicarbonate. Those receiving alkaline bicarbonate, in an amount equivalent to nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily, experienced much lower levels of calcium loss in the urine, as well as a loss of N-telopeptide, the biochemical marker of bone resorption. Dr. Dawson-Hughes's team concluded that increasing the alkaline content of the diet by eating more fruits and vegetables can be used as a safe and low-cost approach to preventing osteoporosis and improving bone health in older Americans. You can discover more about this finding in chapter 7.

The natural protection against diseases and self-healing power of the human body is powerful only if the body is in optimal physiological condition, with a healthy pH of 7.4 in the tissue fluids. As a result of improper lifestyle, eating habits, and environmental changes, the tissue fluids gradually become acidic. Bacteria are often found in aging arthritic joints, arterial plaques, gums, tooth cavities, tonsils, and intestinal tracts. In fact, the mouth is the habitat of many bacteria, and there are as much as 500 million bacteria per milliliter of saliva. The presence of bacterial products, including organic acids, amines, and thiols, causes saliva to sometimes carry a foul odor. Numerous microbial species may infest us. Populations of bacteria and fungi may thrive throughout the body without causing acute disease, yet they produce copious acid waste products. Furthermore, the human body makes acid as a natural by-product of metabolism, but it produces nothing alkaline. These factors, if they are not corrected, all contribute to the rise of acidic levels in the tissue fluids.

The proper function of the various organs is mostly carried out by enzymatic reactions that continually take place in the intracellular and extracellular tissue fluids of our body. All enzymes have an optimum pH range and can only perform their tasks correctly and efficiently in an environment with a clearly defined pH; otherwise their activity can be disrupted and even cease completely. When enzymatic activity is merely slowed down, illness appears. Following a long period of acidic tissue fluids, various physiological functions of the body, including immune function, deteriorate. The acidification of the internal terrain of our body is in fact the source of many health troubles.

2. Weakened Immune System

The human immune system, which protects our body from internal or foreign invaders, may not function properly if our body suffers from multiple nutritional deficiencies or suppression of the central nervous system due to stress, worries, and/or pressure. In order to function optimally, the immune system needs vitamins, essential minerals, essential amino acids, and essential fatty acids. People whose diets are low in certain nutrients, notably the minerals iron, selenium, magnesium, calcium, and zinc, and the vitamins A, B, C, and D, tend to have fewer and less active natural killer (NK) cells, a group of white blood cells that are the body's vital first line of defense against disease. Vitamin E maintains an adequate arsenal of T lymphocytes, virus-fighting immune cells that typically decline with age. Research also shows that vitamin D is extremely important for the immune system. It helps regulate T lymphocytes and turns on the gene that produces cathelicidin, a natural antimicrobial chemical compound that fights infection (Future Microbiology, November 2009).

Essential amino acids, such as lysine, tryptophan, etc., are also necessary for healthy cellular growth and immunity. However, they cannot be produced by our bodies. The sources of essential omega-3 fatty acids, which are important components for cell membrane formation, nerve-impulse conduction, hormone production, metabolic function, brain function, and immune function, are becoming less available through food sources found in supermarkets. Omega-3 fatty acid molecules are a biochemical by-product of the happy meeting of sunlight and carbon dioxide in the chloroplasts of terrestrial plants and marine algae. The production of omega-3 fatty acids in nature has been gradually decreased by human intervention. For example, cattle are no longer grass-fed; chickens are raised in cages and stuffed full of corn; and farm-raised salmon, trout, and steelheads are fed soy pallets.

Furthermore, chronic mental stress, whether it stems from external pressure or internal perception, also impairs immunity. People who experience higher levels of stress or negative moods are more susceptible to infection, develop more severe illnesses, and take longer to heal.

In addition to mental stress, physical stress can be caused by trauma and wounds. Both mental and physical stresses can trigger the production of cortisol, a hormone that can have dire consequences for your health. When a high level of cortisol circulates in the body for long periods of time, it will raise blood glucose, elevate blood pressure, decalcify bones, destroy brain cells, and eventually damage the immune system.

Chronic alcohol abuse and smoking can also suppress immune system. Alcohol impedes the ability of white blood cells to travel to infected sites, gobble up and destroy foreign invaders, and identify dysplastic cells and malignant cells. As a result, alcoholics are more susceptible to bacterial diseases and have an increased risk of developing cancer.

3. Increased Free radical Attacks

In the 1950s, Denham Harman, professor emeritus of medicine at the University of Nebraska, identified free radicals as atoms or molecules that are missing one of their two electrons. They are unstable and will try to take another electron from any other atom or molecule in the immediate environment. If a free radical acquires an electron from the atom or molecule next to it, then that atom or molecule may become a free radical. In turn, the new free radical attacks an atom or molecule next to it, and so on, creating a chain reaction of atoms or molecules that are desperately seeking an electron. Dr. Harman postulated that it is the damage to these molecules that leads to aging. The medical community ignored Harman's theory for some twenty years. Scientists finally found evidence of the free radical theory in the biological aging process, and it began to gain acceptance.

As mitochondria (microscopic bodies in cells containing enzymes responsible for energy production) convert nutrients into energy, they generate corrosive free radicals. Free radicals are also produced as part of many other enzymatic reactions that our body performs to sustain life. In addition, free radicals are created in very high levels throughout the body whenever there is trauma, infection, or inflammation.

Free radicals are really by-products of metabolism and act like highly reactive oxygen molecules. Every cell in our body receives an estimated 10,000 free radical hits daily. By reacting with nearby fats, proteins, and nucleic acids, free radicals give rise to many diseases. Those intracellular free radicals can attack DNA and cause cell death or mutations, resulting in precancerous dysplastic cells. Extracellular free radicals foster everything from cataracts, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease to loss of cognitive ability. In heart disease, free radicals promote the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, which tends to accumulate as fatty plaques in the artery walls and may further clog or obstruct the arteries. The brain, which consists of 60 percent of fats with elevated levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, the targets of lipid peroxidation, is uniquely vulnerable to oxidative injuries from increased free radical attacks. In nerve cells, free radical attacks dramatically cut back on the nerve cells' ability to communicate, leading to age-related cognitive decline (see chapter 9).

However, the healthy body, especially in young people, produces a profusion of superoxide dismutase (SOD), a powerful free radical killer that mops up free radicals. SODs are present in almost all cells and in extracellular tissue fluids. In seniors, the production of SOD is greatly reduced, and free radical attacks may thus become out of control. Although cells repair more than 99 percent of the ensuing damage, mistakes add up. The accumulation of damage over the decades impairs cells, then tissues, then organs, and may eventually age the whole person.

When we are young and healthy, our bodies are equipped with a fully functioning immune system, capable of destroying foreign invaders, and strong self-healing powers. However, throughout years of improper lifestyle, unhealthy eating habits, and an increasingly toxic environment, many of us are bombarded by various adverse factors on a constant basis. Our bodies are no longer in optimal physiological condition. Our weakened immune system becomes vulnerable to the development of a host of chronic degenerative diseases. In addition to that, the production of protective, endogenous free radical killers is greatly reduced with age, permitting frequent free radical attacks. Dysfunction in one area is echoed in other areas. Aging affects not only isolated areas of the body but eventually the body as a whole.

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Excerpted from A Whole-Body Approach to Slowing Down Agingby Liang-Che Tao Copyright © 2011 by Liang-Che Tao. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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