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.

According to new research, not only do dogs give humans boundless joy and love, but can also improve mental health, and dog owners were found to live longer after suffering a stroke or heart attack. This is great news with more evidence that supports the fact that dog’s offer tangible health benefits to humans.

The new evidence comes from a meta analysis of almost 70 years of global research along with a new Swedish study of stroke and heart attack survivors spanning a decade.

The first meta analysis study drew upon data from close to 4 million people living in the U.K., the U.S., New Zealand, Canada, Australia and Scandinavia. The composite analysis included 10 studies with follow ups ranging from one year to 22 years.

It was discovered that dog ownership was associated with a 24% decrease in risk of dying by any cause and a 64% reduction in risk of death after a heart attack in particular. If a dog owner had experienced a stroke and heart attack, that person saw a 31% decrease in risk of death compared to those who experienced a cardiovascular without owning a dog.

Owning a dog was associated with lower blood pressure levels, better cholesterol profiles and increased physical exercise. All these are vital to a healthy heart.

A recent Swedish study also found that those who owned dogs lived longer and did better after suffering a stroke or heart attack. The greatest differences were found between dog non-owners and owners living in single households.

After adjusting for socioeconomic and demographic factors, this study found that the risk of death for those suffering a heart attack and who lived alone but had dogs, was 33% lower than the solitary adults who did not own dogs. Additionally, those who had suffered a stroke and lived with dogs had a 27% lower risk of death compared to those who did not have dogs.

The study analyzed data from outcomes of 182,000 people without and with dogs who had experienced a heart attack and 155,000 people after stroke. The study used health data recorded by the Swedish National Patient Register between 2001 and 2012.

Although all mechanisms can’t be confirmed since this was an observational study, the authors of the study were surprised by the large differences in the outcomes. They believe it is most likely due to exercise and companionship factors. Dogs can be great motivators for physical activity. Physical activity and social support are very important for optimal recovery after a significant cardiovascular event.

Both studies credit the additional exercise that keeping a dog entails. A recent Mayo Clinic study of 1,800 people discovered that those who had canine companions were more likely to practice heart healthy lifestyle habits such as having ideal blood sugar levels, eating well and exercising compared to those without a dog.

Researchers in the studies note that taking care of a dog or dogs also decreases depression and loneliness which can account for the added longevity among adults who live more isolated. Last year the National Poll on Healthy Aging surveyed over 2,000 adults aged 50 to 80. More than half owned a pet and 79% of the senior pet parents said their animal companion reduced stress in their lives. Among those who lived alone and/or reported fair or poor physical health, 72% remarked that their pets helped them cope with emotional and physical symptoms.

It is well known that social isolation is a significant risk factor for worse health outcomes and even premature death. Dog owners typically experience less social isolation and have more interaction with other people.

Of course dog ownership can be physically and financially demanding. A recent JAMA study showed that bone fractures related to seniors walking their dogs more than doubled between 2004 and 2017. 6% of seniors in the National Poll reported their pets caused them to fall or injure themselves. Seniors should always consider their physical limitations before adopting a pet for physical activity. Rover.com reports that dog ownership averages $153 per month so financial costs should also be taken into consideration.

To view the original scientific study click below

The power of support from companion animals for people living with mental health problems: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of the evidence

Excessive training can make the body tired, however can it make the brain tired? According to a new study, the answer is yes!

Researchers put triathletes on an excessive training load. They found they showed a form of mental fatigue. The fatigue showed reduced activity in the portion of the brain that is important for decision making. The athletes also showed more impulsive behavior, choosing immediate rewards over bigger ones that would take longer to achieve.

The lateral prefrontal portion of the brain that was affected by the overload in sport training was exactly the same which had been shown vulnerable to excessive work in earlier studies. This particular area of the brain appeared as the weak spot of the brain network which is responsible for cognitive control.

The two studies suggest a connection between physical and mental effort both of which require cognitive control. The reason for this essential control in demanding athletic training is that to maintain physical effort and to reach a distant goal, cognitive control is required. A person needs to control the automatic process that will make them stop when joints or muscles hurt.

The study originated from the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance in France which trains athletes for Olympic games. Some of the athletes suffered from over training syndrome. Their performance plummeted when they experienced an overwhelming sense of fatigue.

The question became, does this over training syndrome arise in part from neural fatigue in the brain which is the same kind of fatigue that can be caused by excessive intellectual work?

To discover the answer, the research team recruited 37 competitive male endurance athletes who had an average age of 35. The participants were assigned to either continue on with their normal training or to increase their training by 40% per session over a 3 week period.

The physical performance of the athletes was monitored during cycling exercises which were performed on rest days. The research team assessed their subjective experience of fatigue through questionnaires every 2 days. Behavioral testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning experiments were also conducted.

The results showed that physical training overload caused the athletes to feel more fatigued. Additionally, they acted more impulsively in standard tests which were used to evaluate how they would make economic choices.

The tendencies were shown as a bias in favoring immediate rewards over delayed ones. The brains of the athletes who had been overloaded physically also indicated diminished activation of the lateral prefrontal cortex which is a key region of the executive control system when they made the economic choices.

The studies findings indicate that while endurance sport is generally good for health, overdoing it can lead to adverse effects on the brain. The findings bring attention to the fact that neural states matter. People don’t make the same decisions when the brain is in a state of fatigue.

The findings may be important not only for producing the best athletes, but also for economic choice theory which typically will ignore fluctuations in the neural machinery which is responsible for decision making. It also suggests it may be important to monitor fatigue levels in order to prevent bad decision making in the judicial, political and economic domains.

Future studies will explore why exerting control during sports training or intellectual work causes the cognitive control system harder to activate in subsequent tasks. The hope is to find strategies or treatments that can help prevent such neural fatigue and the following consequences.

To view the original scientific study click below

Neuro-computational impact of physical training overload on economic decision-making.