Anti-aging
There may be no such thing as dying from old age. From a study of more than 42,000 autopsies, centenarians were found to have succumbed to diseases in 100 percent of the cases examined. Though most were perceived to have been healthy just prior to death, not one “died of old age.” They died from disease, most commonly heart attacks.
Healthy plant-based diets are associated with a lower risk of premature death and better odds for healthy aging, longevity, and delaying age-related diseases. The benefits of plant-based eating likely derive from increasing protective dietary factors like fiber while decreasing intake of pathogenic (disease-causing) dietary factors like saturated fat. For eighteen years, the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging followed individuals from a starting average age around 60. Researchers found that more fruits and vegetables, as well as less saturated fat, were associated with a lower likelihood of dying from heart disease within that period, but only the combination of elevated produce consumption and decreased saturated fat intake significantly reduced the risk of dying from all causes put together.
The lowest validated rates of Alzheimer’s disease are found in rural India, where people eat traditional, plant-based diets centered on grains and vegetables. A recent study in Taiwan found that vegetarians developed dementia at only two-thirds the rate of nonvegetarians. In the United States, those who don’t eat meat (including poultry and fish) appear to halve their risk of developing dementia. And, the longer meat is avoided, the lower dementia risk may fall. Compared to those eating meat more than four times a week, individuals who have eaten vegetarian diets for thirty years or more had three times lower risk of developing dementia.
In my book, How Not to Age, I identify the eleven most promising pathways for slowing aging and recommend practical proposals for targeting them naturally with diet and lifestyle changes, construct the optimal anti-aging regimen and get into the nitty gritty on preserving your bones, bowels, circulation, hair, hearing, hormone balance, mind, muscles, sex life, skin, teeth, vision, and, finally, your dignity in death, and conclude with my Anti-Aging Eight, an actionable checklist offering some of the best opportunities to slow aging or improve longevity.
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For substantiation of any statements of fact from the peer-reviewed medical literature, please see the associated videos below.
Popular Videos for Anti-aging
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Is Rapamycin a Universal Anti-Aging Drug?
Self-experimentation with the anti-aging drug rapamycin continues to be strongly discouraged.
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Inhibiting mTOR with Rapamycin for Extending Lifespan and Healthspan
Rapamycin appears to be a universal anti-aging drug, extending the lifespan of all animals tested to date; it’s the only known drug to do so.
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The Enzyme mTOR as an Engine of Aging
Inhibiting mTOR, the “master determinant of lifespan,” is considered the best validated aging regulator.
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There’s a Fly in My Aging Research!
How do you unlock the mysteries of aging?
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Epigenetic Clocks for Testing Your Biological Age
Epigenetic clocks have become established as robust measures of chronological age, surpassing telomere length as the best age predictor.
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How to Prevent Skin Cancer with Diet
A randomized controlled trial found that a low-fat diet can result in a ten-fold lower skin cancer rate.
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The Best Supplement to Prevent Skin Cancer
Oral nicotinamide has been shown to prevent skin cancers in high-risk patients and cause precancerous lesions to disappear.
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How to Prevent Wrinkles with Diet
The evidence supports the recommendation to follow a whole food, plant-based diet for healthier looking skin.
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Does Increasing Protein Intake Slow Age-Related Muscle Mass Loss?
Adding extra protein to the diets of older men and women is put to the test.
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Does Astragalus Have Benefits for Life Extension and Fighting Cancer?
One of the most popular herbs in traditional Chinese medicine, astragalus root is marketed as a “life-prolonging” tonic.
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The TAME Trial: Targeting Aging with Metformin
If you have diabetes, metformin can make things better, but if you don’t, the drug may make things worse.
-
Side Effects of Metformin as a Life-Extension Drug
As a mild mitochondrial poison, metformin carries a variety of downsides.
-
Does Metformin Work as a Life-Extension Drug?
Amazingly, diabetics placed on metformin may live longer lives than those who never got diabetes in the first place.
-
Naturally Boosting AMPK with Exercise for Life Extension
AMPK is said to serve as a “mitochondrial guardian.”
-
Naturally Boosting AMPK with Caloric Restriction for Life Extension
Amping AMP-activated protein kinase is one of the anti-aging pathways I cover in my longevity book, How Not to Age.
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A Testimonial from Dr. Ornish’s Alzheimer’s Progression Reversal Study
What does improving the cognition and function of Alzheimer’s patients with lifestyle medicine actually translate to in terms of human impact?
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Can Alzheimer’s Disease Be Reversed with a Plant-Based Diet?
Dr. Dean Ornish publishes the first randomized controlled trial investigating whether a plant-based diet and lifestyle program may reverse the course of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
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Does Resveratrol Make You Live Longer?
Is the red wine molecule resveratrol responsible for the “French paradox”?
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APOE—The Single Most Important Gene for Longevity
APOE is the primary cholesterol carrier in the brain and plays a major role in packaging and transporting LDL cholesterol throughout the body.
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Is Longevity Genetic?
Based on a study of thousands of twin pairs, only about 25 percent of the difference in lifespan among people is genetically determined.
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Can Getting Transfusions of Young Blood Slow Aging?
Ready for the mind-blowing twist in the mystery of why the injection of blood from young animals into old ones has a rejuvenative effect?
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Parabiosis Experiments Prove Bloodborne Aging Factors
Macabre experiments surgically attaching old animals to young ones show there is something in the blood that causes aging.
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The Efficacy and Safety of Fillers, Chemical Peels, and Laser Skin Resurfacing
Chemical peels and laser skin resurfacing may do more harm than good, and filler injections in certain areas of the face can cause blindness in rare cases.
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The Efficacy, Safety, and Side Effects of Botox and Facelifts
Botox injections and facelift surgery are considered to be relatively safe with complications happening in only about 1 in 2,000 and 1 in 20 procedures, respectively.
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Is Aging a Disease?
Aging is arguably one of the most important unsolved problems of humanity, yet less than 0.1 percent of the federal research budget is spent on understanding the aging process.
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DHEA: What Is It and What Are Its Benefits?
DHEA levels naturally decline with age. Does replenishing youthful levels have restorative effects?
-
The Side Effects of Human Growth Hormone as an Anti-Aging Therapy
Taking human growth hormone (somatotropin) may actually accelerate the aging process.
-
The Benefits of Topical Vitamin C for Reversing Skin Aging
What are the pros and cons of alpha hydroxy acid lotions and chemical peels, as well as the roles of topical antioxidants vitamin E and C, in reversing the signs of aging?
-
The Benefits of Topical Niacinamide for Reversing Skin Aging
Niacinamide, a form of vitamin B3 also known as nicotinamide, is a precursor to two potent antioxidants that can help reverse signs of skin aging.
-
Topical Retinoids to Reverse Skin Aging
Tretinoin, also known as all-trans retinoic acid (sold under a variety of brands including Retin-A), can reverse the signs of aging, but at what cost?
-
What Is the Most Important Anti-Aging Cream Ingredient?
Most anti-aging creams may work no better than typical moisturizers.
-
How Not To Age – Live Presentation
In this live lecture, Dr. Greger offers a sneak peek into his latest book, How Not to Age, a New York Times Best Seller.
-
Is It Possible to Reverse Aging and Live Forever?
Some animals, like the immortal jellyfish, can effectively live forever, so why can’t we?
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Book Trailer for How Not to Age
Learn about my newest book, How Not to Age, a New York Times Best Seller.
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Greens, Green Tea, and Nuts Put to the Test for Telomeres
Not all plant foods are linked to less cellular aging based on telomere attrition, and not all animal foods are linked to more.
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What to Eat to Prevent Telomere Shortening
The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of plant-based diets may explain why they can effectively reverse cellular aging by elongating telomeres.
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The Best Diet for Healthy Aging
Swapping just 1 percent of plant protein in place of animal protein was associated with significantly less age-related deficit accumulation.
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How to Boost FGF21 with Diet for Longevity
Fasting and exercise can boost the longevity hormone FGF21, but what can we eat—or avoid eating—to get similar effects?
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Life Extension with FGF21
What can we do to boost the longevity hormone FGF21?