Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

Here’s the latest anti-aging news headline:

Scientists ‘successfully REVERSE human ageing process’:
oxygen treatment altered elderly people’s bodies at a cellular level to how they were 25 years earlier, researchers claim.

Researchers claim intermittent HYPERBARIC OXYGEN (high pressure oxygen chambers) lengthens end caps (telomeres) on chromosomes by 20-38% while senescent cells lost 11%-37% of telomere length.

In the early 1990s another researcher successfully tested the exact opposite – – intermittent HYPOBARIC conditioning (oxygen deprivation) to achieve optimal physical and mental human performance and reversed markers of human aging.  Hypobaric oxygen therapy was explained in the book ADAPTIVE PROTECTION OF THE HEART by Felix Z. Meerson, a Moscow-based biologist who later emigrated to the U.S.

Felix Meerson was known for his instruction of Olympic athletes to “train high” (altitude) and compete low (altitude).

The study

In the most recent study involving pressurized 100% oxygen, healthy adults age 64 and older were subjected to 90-minutes of oxygen by face mask for 5 days a week for three months.  The O₂ therapy was said to have reverted their bodies at a cellular level to what it was 25 years earlier.  Normally the atmosphere humans breathe has ~21% O₂.

The researchers also showed that hyperbaric O₂ triggered the elimination of senescent cells by activating the immune system. These positive effects were measured after the 30^th O₂ session.  Telomeres of T-cells and natural killer cells were protected from shortening.  T-cells and NK cells are type of white blood cells that fight infection.

These O₂ sessions also increased production of internal antioxidant enzymes (glutathione, catalase, superoxide dismutase.

Curiously, pressurized 100% O₂ was said to have induced many of the same physiological responses that occur in a state of oxygen deprivation, said the study published in the journal AGING (Volume 12, 2020).

Mistaken presumption: telomere length controls aging

The primary problem with this research is the presumption that telomere length equates with longevity.

There are many unexplained contradictions in telomere science.

Telomere length is just a measure of oxidation but not a governor of aging. Telomere shortening is not necessarily a marker of aging.  Individuals with long telomeres have about the same chance of developing cancer if they have short telomeres.  This is now called the cancer-telomere paradox.

Iron controls telomeres

High body iron stores are associated with shorter telomeres.

Similarly, increased transport of iron in the body as measured by the blood transport protein transferrin is associated with telomere aging (shortening).  It is not surprising to learn, taking iron supplements shortens telomeres.   Inherited iron overload (hemochromatosis) is associated with shorter telomeres.

Telomere shortening is more pronounced among omnivores who consume highly absorbable heme iron from meat compared to vegetarians who consume non-heme iron from plant foods.

So, iron supersedes control of telomeres and aging.  Telomere shortening due to iron-induced oxidation confirms the over-mineralization theory of aging.

Hormesis

Do anything mildly injurious.  Fall down and damage your knee. Get sunburned.  Be exposed to sub-freezing temperature.  Any non-lethal dosed biological stress, particularly if intermittent, such as high or low oxygen levels, will activate protective mechanisms in the body.  For example, some people visit mine shafts where low-levels of radon gas escaping from the earth are inhaled.  Health risks are reduced with this “radon gas therapy.”

The theory that low-dose biological stress “pre-conditions” the body is known as hormesis.  This is why low-dose consumption of polyphenols from wine or nutraceuticals are optimal over mega-doses.

The exposure to mild biological stress activates a gene transcription factor known as NRF-2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2).  Every living cell in the body is then alerted to internally produce three enzymatic antioxidants: glutathione, catalase and superoxide dismutase-SOD).  These internal antioxidants are produced after adverse health events such as heart attacks and strokes.  If taking a resveratrol pill, these endogenous antioxidants are already being produced and minimize damage to brain and heart tissue, in some instances to zero.

The consumption of polyphenols like resveratrol, quercetin and fisetin, will molecularly switch on NRF2 without any agony.  In the animal lab, use of resveratrol pre-conditioned the heart and reduced the size of scarred heart tissue after an experimentally induced heart attack.

In the shadow of hyperbaric oxygen are oxygen bars where people receive 40% oxygen via nasal tube.  I’ve suggested those individuals who subject themselves to oxygen, take an antioxidant “chaser” like vitamin E (oxygen = oxidation).

One study shows high-altitude living adds about 1.2 to 3.6 years to the life of males and 0.5 to 2.5 years to the life of women.  That’s not much of a longevity effect.  For comparison, extreme 40% calorie restriction (about 1 meal a day) doubles the healthspan and lifespan of laboratory animals.

The most profound anti-aging effect was produced by a complex of natural molecules (resveratrol, quercetin, rice bran IP6 and vitamin D), that activated 9-fold more longevity genes than calorie restriction or plain resveratrol.  All of the ingredients in this formula chelate (key-late) or bind to minerals (calcium, iron, copper and heavy metals i.e. lead, cadmium, mercury and facilitate their disposal.