Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

2

A new study came out in Nature about backwards-aging mice who had had their telomerase enzymes artificially lowered and then restored. Apparently, elevated levels of the stuff can make cells young again, reversing damage from hepatitis and alcoholism. Some say it could be the fountain of youth.

Teleomeres are the bits of DNA that protect cells, and telomerase is the enzyme associated with them. People with longer telomeres tend to live longer, healthier lives, whereas those with shorter telomeres suffer more from age-related diseases, such as diabetes, Alzheimer's, and heart disease.

It has also been implicated in both encouraging cancer and curing it...

Where does the Paleo community fall on this one? Also, if we want to increase this 'fountain-of-youth-enzyme' are there ways to get more of it from our diet?

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/11/the-curious-case-of-the-backward.html?ref=hp

edited Nov 30 2010 at 1:27

Ed♦
12.5k●2●17●43

asked Nov 29 2010 at 18:01

MikeD
3,855●1●5●19

Ambimorph · Answer 1 · 2010-11-29 20:51:54Z UTC

6

Meditation appears to help: Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators

answered Nov 29 2010 at 20:51

Ambimorph
19.6k●18●66

mari · Answer 2 · 2010-11-29 22:26:54Z UTC

2

Exercise has alsobeen shown to protect telomeres, but maybe its just a healthy user effect. I don't want to mess with it till we learn more. It could be very good, or very bad when we change it artificially.

answered Nov 29 2010 at 22:26

mari
7,469●2●8●24

yea i am definitely weary of drug companies making it into a pill. – MikeD Nov 30 2010 at 4:10

Richard N · Answer 3 · 2011-10-17 23:01:26Z UTC

1

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15474517 Check this out...L-Carnosine being the agent

answered Oct 17 2011 at 23:01

Richard N
1,595●3●10

hal · Answer 4 · 2011-11-20 23:21:15Z UTC

Telomeres are one part of aging, a little unclear how it can be upregulated directly. I second the suggestion of meditation above, and exercise as well. There may be a hereto unrecognized connection to mitochondria which is definitely governed by exercise.

Telomerase - Fountain of Youth or Cancer agent?

4 Answers