Your Health
How to Die Young, at a Very Old Age - Part 5 7 common myths about aging. By Dr. Frank Sievert I will be quoting from the new book by Dr. Steven Gundry: The Longevity Paradox Myth 1: Your genetics determine your health. There is a lot of excitement about genetic testing and what kind of information could be gathered from it. But many people do not realize that genetics are estimated to only determine about 10% of your overall lifetime disease risk, the other 90% are environmental factors and epigenetics. Epigenetics are the sum of all factors that determine which genes are turned on and which are left turned off. Myth 2: The Mediterranean diet promotes longevity. Don’t get me wrong, you’re better off following the Mediterranean diet then the standard American diet. Two of the “Blue Zones” are in the Mediterranean. The Blue Zones are regions of the world where Author Dan Buettner claims people live much longer than average which led many people to believe that the Mediterranean diet was the ideal diet to follow. The term first appeared in his November 2005 National Geographic magazine cover story, “The Secrets of a Long Life”. Buettner identified five regions as “Blue Zones” -Okinawa (Japan); Sardinia (Italy); Nicoya (Costa Rica); Icaria (Greece); and among the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, California. The Mediterranean diet contains cereal grains though, and this is actually a negative component of that diet. These people live long despite eating so many grains, not because of it. What Blue zones have in common is not what they eat, but what they don’t eat, which is a large amount of animal protein. Myth 3: Animal protein is essential for strength and longevity. You do need an adequate amount of protein to power your body and build muscle to avoid muscle wasting as you age. But there is a big difference between the amount of protein you have been let to believe you need and the amount you actually need, primarily because of commerce. Animal protein has become ridiculously
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inexpensive thanks to government subsidies of corn, other grains and soybeans that are fed to industrially farmed animals, poultry and even fish. The result is that many western societies vastly overconsume animal protein, leading to higher blood sugar levels, obesity, and a shorter life span. You might ask why animal protein is so mischievous when it comes to aging. It goes back to the fact that we are “wired” to thrive on an annual cycle of growth and regression. During periods of growth, your cells communicate with one another by a pathway that sends signals for cells to grow and proliferate. This pathway, which is known as the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), helps to regulate cell metabolism and is itself a sensor for energy availability within the body. If “mTOR” senses that there is plentiful energy in your body, it assumes that you are in the growth cycle. It then activates the production of a growth hormone called insulin-like growth factor I, which sends a signal to your cells to grow. On the other hand, if it senses that there is little energy in the body, it assumes you are in a period of regression, such as a famine, and food scarce, so it’s time to limit production of IGF 1. Constantly high levels of IGF 1 lead to disease and rapid aging, it also paves the way for cancer cells to proliferate. Your cells never get the signal to cull the herd and recycle dysfunctional cells through autophagy, which is programmed cell death necessary for renewal of tissue and optimal function. You can therefore use IGF 1 testing as a marker for aging. But what does this have to do with animal protein? When mTOR is scanning the body for energy availability, it keeps an eye out for certain amino acids more than others, specifically methionine , cysteine and isoleucine, which are most prevalent in animal protein. Mouse studies have shown that avoiding these amino acids extends the life span at levels comparable to those that result
Willamette Living Magazine October / November 2019
from calorie restriction. Myth 4: Growth hormones promote youthfulness and vitality. It makes sense that hi IGF-I levels, caused by mTOR sensing energy in the body, would promote cell growth. This includes growth of both the cells that help us grow tall and the cells that become cancerous. Many studies have also revealed connection between height and cancer. In one study, rapid growth during adolescence resulted in an 80% increased risk of cancer 15 years later. Another way to look at this is that if consuming sugars in animal proteins increases your IGF 1 level, then lessening your consumption of them generally, or at least periodically, is the way to go. Myth 5: A high metabolic rate is a sign of good health. A high metabolic rate is not a sign that you are burning calories more quickly at all; it is a sign that your metabolism is inefficient and working much harder than it should in order to burn fuel. During times of stress your cells become more fuel efficient by stimulating the birth of new mitochondria, the energy plants within each cell. A high metabolic rate is the exact opposite–like a car that gets only 10 miles to the gallon. Recently, I have seen a lot of my patients jump aboard the high protein ketogenic or carnivore diet craze as a weight loss strategy. Yes, if you are looking to lose weight quickly, consuming a lot of protein will work, but it works in much the same way that a 12 cylinder sports car works. The heat generated by a high metabolic rate ages you quickly. A chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars is called the Maillard reaction, compounds called advanced glycation end products (AGE’s) are produced. This is a function of both your metabolic rate and, which determines the heat in your body, and the amount of sugar you burn. One example for this process are the brown age spots that show up as you get