I watched a YouTube presentation by Dr. Greger that introduces his new book “How Not to Age” and decided I would make a few notes. The book will be released on 5 December 2023 and I plan to read it. One thing led to another and now I have a pretty detailed set of notes on this presentation that I think might be useful to others. This is part 1 of a series of posts, it covers the first 21 minutes of the talk. If there are errors in this post, they are likely mine, let me know and I will correct it. I learned a couple of things from this talk:
1. increase my intake of foods that contain spermidine; I am adding wheat germ to my diet every day.
2. Investigate fasting to increase autophagy [11]
3. When possible, try to exercise for 60 minutes or longer [13]
4. Can’t wait to read the book but I also wanted to read a few of the papers.
I researched the citations to some of the papers that Dr. Greger cites in the talk. One reason I did this is to keep up with the sheer volume of research that he uses in the talk; he covers a lot of ground. It was interesting to see that some of the papers cited in his talk aren’t included in “How Not to Age”.
Notes for Part 1
- Centenarians die of disease; not old age
- Aging kills via disease, why wasn’t “How Not to Die” a good enough book?
- BUT rate of death increases exponentially as we age
- Risk doubles about every 7 years
- Age is the leading risk factor for disease
- Cholesterol is a modifiable risk factor
- What if the rate of aging was modifiable?
- BUT rate of death increases exponentially as we age
- Slowing down the rate of aging would address risk from many diseases.
- Anti-aging schemes unscrupulous (at best)
- Need to rely on evidence, not anecdotes
- “How Not to Age” has over 13,000 citations (see How Not to Age Citations)
- “My aim was to cover every possible angle for developing the optimal diet and lifestyle for the longest, healthiest lifespan based on the best available balance of evidence.” Dr. Greger’s goal
- Experts such as Valter Longo and David Sinclair have identified essential pathways that can be modified by drugs [1]
- Dr. Greger realized these eleven pathways can be modified via diet
- Part 1“Slowing Aging by Blocking Eleven Pathways to Aging”
- The phrase “anti-aging” is greatly abused in popular culture, often for the purpose of marketing cosmetic procedures or unproven nutritional supplements purported to slow or reverse aging. This has the unfortunate consequence of creating confusion among the general public and diminishing the impact of legitimate scientific discovery. Here, we define “anti-aging” as delaying or reversing biological aging by targeting the established molecular mechanisms of aging, which have been formalized as “hallmarks” or “pillars” of aging. [2]
Hallmarks of Aging
- [7:30] Autophagy “Self-eating” housekeeping process by which defective cellular components are scrapped for spare parts clearing out damage implicated in aging process
- Autophagy, a term acquired from the Greek words “auto (self)” and “phagein (to eat)”, literally meaning “self-eating”, refers to an evolutionary conserved catabolic mechanism that allows cells to remove their own unnecessary or dysfunctional components.[4]
- Autophagy critical for lifespan and healthspan extension
- Proteostasis is supported by autophagy, a conserved machinery that helps to eliminate dysfunctional proteins and cellular organelles via lysosomal degradation. The rejuvenating power of cleaning up garbage and replacing it with recycled and newly synthesized cellular components speaks to the imagination and is an attractive explanation for the positive correlation between autophagy and lifespan.[5]
- …. mounting evidence suggesting that autophagy is not only necessary but, at least in some cases, also sufficient for increasing longevity.[6]
- …. specific activation of autophagy through a mutation in beclin 1 prolongs median survival by approximately 12% in both male and female mice. [7]
- A decrease in autophagy with age has been described in almost all organisms and tissues analyzed.[8]
- Pharma wants to exploit autophagy using drugs
- To circumvent such diseases of aging, efforts to pharmacologically modulate autophagy are at the forefront of multiple research programs in academia and the pharmaceutical industry.[9]
- Fasting can cause autophagy [10]
- Don’t fast longer than 24 hours without medical help
- Fasting periods lasting longer than 24 hours and particularly those lasting 3 or more days should be done under the supervision of a physician and preferably in a clinic.[11]
- Exercise can cause autophagy [12]
- Activated after more than 60 minutes of moderate exercise
These data demonstrate that autophagy signaling is activated in human skeletal muscle after 60 min of exercise, independently of nutritional status, and suggest that initiation of autophagy constitutes an important physiological response to exercise in humans.[13]
- Activated after more than 60 minutes of moderate exercise
- Diet can inhibit autophagy
- Acrylamide – in deep fried foods (fries, chips) causes inflammation [14][15]
- Put it to the test – some evidence
- Air frying is better [16]
- Coffee (including decaf) can activate autophagy [17]
- Bioactive compounds other than caffeine
- Chlorogenic acids (CGA)
- Bioactive compounds other than caffeine
- Spermidine rich foods activate autophagy[18]
- Levels decline with age (except in naked mole rats which don’t age [19])
- Largest documented lifespan extension [20]
- Improves cardiac, [21] immune, [22] and brain function in animals
- In humans, greatest consumption of spermidine has lowest mortality[24]
- An anti-aging vitamin to maintain autophagy
In sum, in our view, spermidine is synthesized by our organism in sufficient quantities during youth, but not in old age. Thus, one may argue that, as we age, spermidine evolves to the status of a vitamin, and thus has to be supplemented from external sources to secure the maintenance of autophagic flux required for organismal homeostasis. [25]
- Wheat germ is the most concentrated source of spermidine, 2.5 mg per tablespoon
- Caused improvement in mild dementia patients
- Work much better than Aducanumab anti-Alzheimer drug
- Autophagy Takeaways (summary from “How Not to Age”)[26]
To help slow this aging pathway, on a daily basis, consider.- 60 min or more of moderate to vigorous (55%-70% VO2 max) aerobic exercise
- minimizing your intake of french fries and potato chips
- drinking three cups of regular or decaffeinated coffee
- trying to consume at least 20 mg of spermidine by incorporating foods such as tempeh, mushrooms, peas, and wheat germ into your diet
- instituting the recommendations to activate AMPK (see chapter 1)
- following the recommendations to suppress mTOR (see chapter 8) “How Not to Age” diet and lifestyle takeaways for 10 other aging pathways
References
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