Is Getting Older Inevitable?

Getting older is just a part of life… but what if it wasn’t?

What if I told you that being healthy well past your 100s can, and will be the new normal soon?

What if I said there are people alive today that will live to be 200, 300, or even 500 years old, and spend most of that time healthy, happy, and with a sharp, functioning mind?

And what if I also said there are things you can do right now to slow the aging process for yourself, and begin looking and feeling better than your age would imply?

Think I’m crazy? Well you’d probably be correct… but not because of the statements above.

Scientists have been studying the effects of lifestyle, diet, and pharmacological changes on the lifespan and healthspan of animals and humans for a long time. Although we can help many species live longer than ever before, humans have proven more difficult. Despite our lack of success so far, things are beginning to change.

We now have a better understanding of how and why we age, and strategies that can slow this process down, and soon, possibly even reverse it. We may see professional athletes playing into their 50s, people traveling the world at 105, and others redefining and transcending what we thought was possible as we get older.

Calorie Restriction Mimetics

Caloric restriction is the most reliable intervention to prevent age-related disorders and extend lifespan. Reducing calories by 10-30% compared to a standard diet is known to extend the longevity of various species from yeast to rodents, and basically everything in between.

The downside? You have to eat less, and you have to do it for a long period of time. Eating 10-30% less for a month will have beneficial effects on many biomarkers of health, and you may notice you have more energy, and mental clarity, but to add the most years to your life, you would ideally maintain that 10-30% reduction in calories for even longer, aka forever.

Luckily there are many ways to mimic the beneficial effects of calorie restriction without actually eating less. One of the most popular methods is intermittent fasting, commonly known as IF. Intermittent fasting is usually achieved with a 16/8 protocol, meaning you eat all of your calories in an 8 hour window each day, and go 16 hours without eating. Although this may sound difficult initially, don’t forget you’ll be sleeping for some of that time. Most people will delay breakfast and choose to eat from 10am-6pm, or 11am-7pm to make this strategy manageable and effective.

In addition to eating over a smaller window of time everyday, researchers have identified many compounds that act as calorie restriction mimetics, giving many of the benefits of eating less, without actually having to.

Sound too good to be true? Until recently it was.

Sirtuins

One of the most promising classes of calorie restriction mimetics are Sirtuin activators. That’s because sirtuins have been implicated in the majority of the beneficial effects of calorie restriction on the many signs of aging and diseases. Sirtuins are amazing, and activating them has been shown to increase health and longevity in basically every species ever studied. They’re a family of seven proteins that play a role in aging by controlling cellular health – and are even nicknamed “the longevity genes,” and “guardians of the genome”.

The most famous of the sirtuin activators is resveratrol, the phenolic compound found in red wine, grapes, and other foods. In calorie restricted environments, the expression and activity of sirtuins are increased in many tissues, including adipose, muscle, cardiac and brain tissue.

Unfortunately, resveratrol studies in humans haven’t been as mindblowingly successful as we’d hoped. The good news is that researchers now have a better understanding of why that is, and what can be done to improve these outcomes which I will talk about later on.

The Magic of NAD+

NAD+, which stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide is a crucial coenzyme found in all living cells in humans, yeast, bacteria, and even plants. It’s required for the fundamental processes that make life possible, from metabolism to DNA repair. Nothing can live without it, and lower levels are often accompanied by negative health consequences.

Unfortunately lower levels of NAD+ is exactly what happens as we get older. Levels are highest when we’re born, and gradually decline throughout our lifetime.

“A strong negative correlation was observed between NAD+ levels and age in both males and females.” — MASSUDI, H., ET AL., 2012

Here is one last quote, featured in Time magazine by one of the most famous anti-aging and longevity researchers alive:

“NAD+ is the closest we’ve gotten to a fountain of youth,” says David Sinclair, co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School. “It’s one of the most important molecules for life to exist, and without it, you’re dead in 30 seconds.”

Here’s the problem with declining levels of this fountain of youth compound:

Sirtuins can only function in the presence of NAD+.

And since our levels continue to decline the older we get, our longevity genes are activated less, leading to increased risk of chronic disease, less energy, and all the other negative side effects that are stereotyped into old age.

But we don’t have to accept that fate.

By increasing NAD+ in our cells, we can turn back the clock and allow those genes to work like they did when we were younger.

And luckily for us, science has the answer.

NAD+ Boosting Compound

Nicotinamide Riboside – NR for short, increases the levels of NAD+ in every one of the trillions of cells in our body. Simply by taking an NR supplement, you can increase your sirtuin activation, and age slower and healthier than if you didn’t. NR is a precursor, meaning when we consume it, it goes through one or more steps until it’s finally converted to NAD+ for our cells to use. Nicotinamide Riboside supplements are somewhat new, as most clinical trials have happened in the past few years.

Multiple clinical trials on humans have shown it can increase NAD+ levels between 40-90% in a somewhat dose dependent manner. That’s right, we actually have studies proving this stuff is safe and effective in humans.

Now we’re going to circle back to calorie restriction. Although it appears to be one of the best known ways to prevent chronic diseases, maintain health, and live longer, we don’t know for sure how much of an impact it has in humans. It’s easy to test a theory on things that only live a month or three, but testing this same theory on something that lives 80-90 years is a little trickier.

The great news is we know realize we can take control of our health and how we age without restricting what we eat for the rest of our lives. Supplementing with compounds such as NR, that boost NAD+ and sirtuin activation even as we get older is one of the easiest and most effective ways to do this (currently). Of course that’s just one piece of the puzzle, but one that’s under our direct control.

Nicotinamide Riboside Dosage

Studies have consistently shown that supplementing with 250-500mg per day is safe and effective. Similar to taking a multivitamin, you may not feel any different when supplementing with NR but plenty of people do notice more energy and endurance after a few weeks or months of taking it.

Getting your hands on NR is also easy and straightforward, as it’s patented and only a few companies are allowed to sell it.

To get it straight from the source, you can head over to their website and join the thousands of people already living longer with NR. They also offer free shipping and large discounts if you order multiple bottles or opt into subscribe and save.

Another popular option that I personally use is ResveraCel from Thorne Research. What makes ResveraCel unique, is that in addition to having 300mg of NR per serving, it also contains that famous sirtuin activator we discussed earlier – Resveratrol.

The one-two punch of Nicotinamide Riboside along with Resveratrol should mean higher levels of anti aging and health effects, as your longevity genes are activated even more than with NR alone.

To wrap things up, here are a few bullet points to summarize everything we’ve talked about today:

*Calorie restriction is the most reliable and well studied intervention for living longer and preventing chronic disease
*Most people don’t like eating less, every day, forever – so it’s not exactly practical
*The NAD+ precursor nicotinamide riboside, or NR, raises NAD+ levels, activates sirtuins, and provides many of the health benefits of calorie restriction, including increased longevity

Thanks for reading!

This was originally posted on my website with the following link: https://johnfloodrd.com/nad-boosters-the-next-fountain-of-youth/

If you'd like to read more about longevity and anti-aging you can at https://johnfloodrd.com/blog