Dr Bryant Villeponteau the formulator of Stem Cell 100 and other Life Code nutraceuticals was recently interviewed by Dr Mercola who owns the largest health web site on the internet. Dr. Villeponteau is also the author of Decoding Longevity a new book which will be released during December. He is a leading researcher in novel anti-aging therapies involving stem cells an area in which he has been a pioneer for over three decades.

Stem cell technology could have a dramatic influence on our ability to live longer and replace some of our failing parts, which is the inevitable result of the aging process. With an interest in aging and longevity, Dr. Villeponteau started out by studying developmental biology. If we could understand development, we could understand aging, he says. Later, his interest turned more toward the gene regulation aspects. While working as a professor at the University of Michigan at the Institute of Gerontology, he received, and accepted, a job offer from Geron Corporation a Bay Area startup, in the early 90s.

They were working on telomerase, which I was pretty excited about at the time. I joined them when they first started, he says. We had an all-out engagement there to clone human telomerase. It had been cloned in other animals but not in humans or mammals.

If you were to unravel the tip of the chromosome, a telomere is about 15,000 bases long at the moment of conception in the womb. Immediately after conception, your cells begin to divide, and your telomeres begin to shorten each time the cell divides. Once your telomeres have been reduced to about 5,000 bases, you essentially die of old age.

What you have to know about telomerase is that it’s only on in embryonic cells. In adult cells, it’s totally, for the most part, turned off, with the exception of adult stem cells, Dr. Villeponteau explains. Adult stem cells have some telomerase not full and not like the embryonic stem cells, but they do have some telomerase activity.

Most of the research currently being done, both in academia and industrial labs, revolves around either embryonic stem cells, or a second type called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS). Dr. Villeponteau, on the other hand, believes adult stem cells are the easiest and most efficient way to achieve results.

That said, adult stem cells do have their drawbacks. While they’re your own cells, which eliminates the problem of immune-related issues, there’s just not enough of them. Especially as you get older, there are fewer and fewer adult stem cells, and they tend to become increasingly dysfunctional too. Yet another hurdle is that they don’t form the tissues that they need to form…

To solve such issues, Dr. Villeponteau has created a company with the technology and expertise to amplify your adult stem cells a million-fold or more, while still maintaining their ability to differentiate all the different cell types, and without causing the cells to age. Again, it is the adult stem cells ability to potentially cure, or at least ameliorate, many of our age-related diseases by regenerating tissue that makes this field so exciting.

Dr Villeponteau believes you can add many years, likely decades, to your life simply by eating right, exercising (which promotes the production of muscle stem cells, by the way) and living an otherwise clean and healthy lifestyle. Extreme life extension, on the other hand, is a different matter.

His book, Decoding Longevity, covers preventive strategies to prolong your life, mainly diet, exercise, and supplements. A portion of the book also covers future developments in the area of more radical life extension, such as stem cell technology.

If you would like to read the entire interview here is a link to the text version:

Click here for more information about Stem Cell 100

Transcript of Interview With Dr. Bryant Villeponteau by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Now researchers have found a way not just to stop, but, reverse the aging process. The key is something called a telomere. We all have them. They are the tips or caps of your chromosomes. They are long and stable in young adults, but, as we age they become shorter, damaged and frayed. When they stop working we start aging and experience things like hearing and memory loss.

In a recent study published in the peer reviewed journal Nature scientists took mice that were prematurely aged to the equivalent of 80-year-old humans, added an enzyme and essentially turned their telomeres back on. After the treatment they were the physiological equivalent of young adults. You can see the before and after pictures in the videos above. Brain function improved, their fertility was restored it was a remarkable reversal of the aging process. In the top video the untreated mouse shows bad skin, gray hair and it is balding. The mouse with it’s telomeres switched back on has a dark coat color, the hair is restored and the coat has a nice healthy sheen to it. Even more dramatic is the change in brain size. Before treatment the aged mice had 75% of a normal size brain like a patient with severe Alzheimers. After the telomeres were reactivated the brain returned to normal size. As for humans while it is just one factor scientists say the longer the telomeres the better the chances for a more graceful aging.

The formal study Telomere dysfunction induces metabolic and mitochondrial compromise was published in Nature.

Additional information published by Harvard can be found in the following articles.

Scientists Find Root Molecular Cause of Declining Health in the Old

Decoding Immortality – Smithsonian Channel Video about the Discovery of Telomerase

While scientists are not yet able to accomplish the same results in humans we believe we have developed a nutraceutical to help prolong youth and possibly extend life until age reversal therapy for humans becomes available.

New evidence that adult stem cells are critical to human aging has recently been published on a study done on a super-centenarian woman that lived to be 115 years. At death, her circulating stem cell pool had declined to just two active stem cells from stem cell counts that are typically more than a thousand in younger adults. Super-centenarians have survived all the normal diseases that kill 99.9% of us before 100 years of age, so it has been a mystery as to what actually kills these hardy individuals. This recent data suggest that stem cell decline may be the main contributor to aging. If so, stabilizing stem cells may be the best thing one can do to slow your rate of aging.

There are many theories of aging that have been proposed. For example, damage to cells and tissues from oxidative stress has been one of the most popular fundamental theories of aging for more than half a century. Yet antioxidant substances or genes that code antioxidant enzymes have proven largely ineffective in slowing aging when tested in model animals. Thus, interest by scientists has shifted to other hypotheses that might provide a better explanation for the slow declines in function with age.

Stem cells provide one such promising mechanism of aging. Of course, we all know that babies are young and vigorous, independent of the age of their parents. This is because adults have embryonic stem cells that can generate young new cells needed to form a complete young baby. Indeed, these embryonic stem cells are the product of continuously evolving stem cell populations that go back to the beginning of life on earth over 3.5 billion years ago!

In adults, the mostly immortal embryonic stem cells give rise to mortal adult stem cells in all the tissues of the body. These adult stem cells can regenerate your cells and tissues as they wear out and need replacement. Unfortunate, adult stem cells also age, which leads to fewer cells and/or loss of function in cell replacement. As functional stem cells decline, skin and organs decline with age.

Blood from world’s oldest woman suggests life limit

Time Magazine: Long-Life Secrets From The 115-Year-Old Woman

Somatic mutations found in the healthy blood compartment of a 115-yr-old woman demonstrate oligoclonal hematopoiesis

Abstract
The somatic mutation burden in healthy white blood cells (WBCs) is not well known. Based on deep whole-genome sequencing, we estimate that approximately 450 somatic mutations accumulated in the nonrepetitive genome within the healthy blood compartment of a 115-yr-old woman. The detected mutations appear to have been harmless passenger mutations: They were enriched in noncoding, AT-rich regions that are not evolutionarily conserved, and they were depleted for genomic elements where mutations might have favorable or adverse effects on cellular fitness, such as regions with actively transcribed genes. The distribution of variant allele frequencies of these mutations suggests that the majority of the peripheral white blood cells were offspring of two related hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) clones. Moreover, telomere lengths of the WBCs were significantly shorter than telomere lengths from other tissues. Together, this suggests that the finite lifespan of HSCs, rather than somatic mutation effects, may lead to hematopoietic clonal evolution at extreme ages.

Automobiles and many other sources of air pollution produce nanoparticles. The size of these particles is less than a micron which is one millionth of a meter. Unlike larger particles nanoparticles are so small that some can pass through your lungs into your bloodstream. New findings have found that they build up in diseased areas in our arteries. That may explain why air pollution increases the risk of strokes and heart disease. They also suggest that current efforts and laws to regulate air pollution might be focusing too much on the larger particles which are less dangerous.

Many studies have shown that air pollution results in millions of premature deaths globally each year. The World Health Organization estimates outdoor air pollution in both rural areas and cities caused 3 million deaths worldwide in 2012. Even in European countries where the air is relatively clean, air pollution is to blame for 400,000 premature deaths every year.

Most of these deaths are due to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Just being exposed to high air pollution for even short periods can trigger strokes and heart attacks. Long term exposure to air pollution causes vascular damage and the question is why?

It has been suspected that nanoparticles in the air we breathe enter the bloodstream and are then carried to various parts of the body including the heart, blood vessels and arteries. These nanoparticles are made up of mostly carbon compounds so finding them inside carbon based lifeforms like humans is particularly difficult.

The research team at the University of Edinburgh, UK, had volunteers breathe air contained with harmless gold nanoparticles. After 15 minutes these nanoparticles began to show up in the volunteer’s blood and they could still be found in their urine and blood three months later. While the gold nanoparticles are inert, reactive compounds found in air pollution can have a variety of harmful effects.

The team also analyzed surgically removed plaques from people who were at a high risk of stroke. They discovered that the nanoparticles tended to accumulate in fatty plaques which grow inside blood vessels and lead to strokes and heart attacks.

Air quality laws in various parts of the world set limits on particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers which is called PM2.5. This limit is on the total mass of the particles in a cubic meter of air rather than the total number.

Thousands of ultra fine particles can weight much less in total than a few relatively large ones. PM2.5 per cubic meter has fallen in most wealthy countries over the past decade which suggests air quality is improving. However, due to the increased numbers of diesel vehicles, the number of ultra fine particles has risen.

The problem is that measuring the number of ultra fine particles is extremely difficult and cannot be accomplished using roadside devices which are widely used to monitor air pollution.

Further studies by the UK team will focus on whether gold nanoparticles can enter the brain. Air pollution does seem to increase the risk of brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia. A recent study discovered tiny iron particles in the people’s brains which may have come from vehicle exhaust.

What can you do about nanoparticles in the air in your home? One possiblity is to purchase a high end air purifier such as the Air IQ. It can remove particles down to 3 nanometers in size which is 100 times smaller than other air purifiers. The purifier is expensive both to purchase and maintain, however it goes far beyond other solutions. Life Code is not associated with the Air IQ company or sales of the product.

To view the original scientific study click below

Inhaled Nanoparticles Accumulate at Sites of Vascular Disease.

If you are stressed to the max you will be glad to know that researchers have discovered the type of sleep that is most apt to not only calm but also reset the anxious brain. It is deep sleep known as non rapid eye movement or NREM. This slow wave sleep allows neural oscillations to become highly synchronized which lead to drops in heart rates and blood pressure.

Researchers at UC Berkeley have identified this new function of deep sleep which is one that decreases anxiety overnight through reorganizing brain connections. This deep sleep appears to be a natural anxiety inhibitor as long as a person gets it each and every night.

The findings demonstrate one of the strongest neural links between anxiety and sleep to date. The team points out that sleep is a natural and non pharmaceutical remedy for a variety of anxiety disorders which have been diagnosed in 40 million American adults and the numbers are rising among teens and children. The research suggests that lack of sleep amplifies anxiety levels and conversely deep sleep helps reduce the stress.

Through a series of experiments utilizing MRI and polysomnography along with other measures, the team scanned the brains of 18 young adults while they viewed emotionally stirring video clips following a full night’s sleep and then again following a sleepless night. The levels of anxiety were measured after each session through a questionnaire which is known as the state trait anxiety inventory.

Following a night of no sleep, the brain scans indicated a shutdown of the medial prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps us keep anxiety in check while the deeper emotional centers of the brain were overactive. The team believes that without sufficient sleep, the brain works overtime on the emotional accelerator pedal without sufficient braking.

Following a full night’s sleep when the participant’s brain waves were measured by electrodes placed on their heads, the results indicated their levels of anxiety declined significantly. This was especially true for those participants who had experienced more slow wave NREM sleep.

It appeared deep sleep or NREM sleep had restored the prefrontal mechanism of the brain which regulates our emotions thus lowering physiological and emotional reactivity thus preventing an escalation of anxiety.

The team also replicated the results in another study with 30 participants. Across all participants, the results once again showed that the participants who got more deep sleep experienced the lowest levels of anxiety the following day.

In addition to the lab experiments, the team conducted a study online in which they tracked 280 people of all ages on how both their anxiety levels and sleep changed over the course of four consecutive days. These results indicated that the quality and amount of sleep they got from one night to the next predicted how anxious they would feel the next day. Even very subtle nightly changes in their sleep affected their anxiety levels.

People who suffer from anxiety disorders routinely report experiencing disturbed sleep. However, very rarely is improvement in sleep considered as a clinical recommendation for reducing anxiety. The study shows not only a casual connection between anxiety and sleep, but it also defines the kind of NREM deep sleep a person needs to calm down the overanxious brain.

To view the original scientific study click below

Overanxious and underslept.

Although blue light may not be shining in someones eyes, it can still affect a person’s longevity. A new study has suggested that the blue wavelengths which are produced by light emitting diodes from phones, household fixtures and computers damage cells in the brain and in the retinas.

The research conducted at Oregon State University utilized the common fruit fly in its study as it is an important model organism due to its developmental and cellular mechanisms which it shares with other animals and also humans.

The team examined how fruit flies respond to daily 12 hour exposure periods to blue LED light. This is light that is similar to the blue wavelengths in devices such as tablets and phones. They found that the blue accelerated aging in the fruit flies.

Flies that were subjected to the daily 12 hours in light and then 12 hours in darkness had shorter lives when compared to flies that were kept in total darkness or those that had been kept in light with the blue wavelengths filtered out. The fruit flies that had been exposed to blue light showed damage to their brain neurons and retinal cells and also had impaired locomotion. Their ability to climb the walls in their enclosures which is a common behavior, was diminished.

Some of the flies used in the study were mutants that do not develop eyes and those eyeless flies also experienced locomotion impairments and brain damage. This suggests that flies don’t have to see the blue light to become harmed by it.

The team was initially surprised that the blue light accelerated the aging process in the flies. They measured expression of genes in the older flies and discovered that stress response, protective genes were expressed when the flies were kept in the light. They hypothesized that light was regulating the genes. They then wondered if it is the light that is harmful so they looked at the spectrum of light. It was quite clear that although light without the blue light slightly shortened the flies lifespan, blue light alone shortened their lifespan quite dramatically.

Natural light is critical for the body’s circadian rhythm which is the 24 hour cycle of physiological processes such as hormone production, brain wave activity, and cell regeneration which are important to sleeping and feeding patterns. There is evidence that suggests that increased exposure to artificial light is a risk factor for circadian and sleep disorders. With the widespread use of LED device displays and lighting, people are exposed to increasing amountsof light in the blue spectrum. Commonly used LEDs emit a high fraction of blue light. However, LED lighting has not been used for a long enough period to know its effects across the lifespan of humans.

Flies when given a choice avoid blue light. The team is going to test to see if the same signaling that causes them to escape blue light in involved in longevity. Advances in medicine and technology could work together to address the damaging effects of blue light if the research in flies proves applicable to humans.

As science looks for a variety of ways to help people stay healthy as they live longer, creating a healthier spectrum of light may be a possibility, not only in terms of better sleep, but in terms of overall health.

There are a few things people can do to protect themselves that do not involve being in darkness for hours. Eyeglasses that have amber lenses will filter out blue light and will protect the retinas. Some laptops, phones and other devices can be set to reduce blue emissions. Blue light screen filters can be purchased and cut to size for almost any device including LED televisions. Special light bulbs are available that are filtered to reduce or eliminate blue light. These products can be found on Amazon.com or LowBlueLights.com. In the future there might be phones that auto adjust their display depending on length of usage which the phone perceives. This kind of phone while most likely difficult to create, would have a big impact on health.

To view the original scientific study click below

Daily blue-light exposure shortens lifespan and causes brain neurodegeneration in Drosophila.