Lengthen telomeres and stay young
The biological age of a person can be determined quite well with the help of the telomeres. The telomeres are the end caps of our chromosomes and provide them with the best possible protection against damage of all kinds (e.g. as a result of oxidative stress, free radicals, etc.). With every cell division, our telomeres naturally become shorter – and we age.
If the telomeres are used up, the cell can no longer divide and dies. On average, cells divide about 50 to 70 times before they die.
As has now been scientifically proven, people with longer telomeres not only live longer, they also stay healthy longer than people with shorter telomeres. So to stay young longer, we need longer telomeres.
This is how rejuvenation works
Our body now has a tool at its disposal to rebuild the telomeres: the enzyme telomerase. This enzyme lengthens our telomeres and can thus rejuvenate the cell.
Telomerase was discovered in 1984 by scientists led by Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn. Then, in 2009, Blackburn and two colleagues received the Nobel Prize for discovering exactly how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and telomerase ( 5 ).
A year earlier (2008) Dr. Ornish, one of the leading nutritional therapists in the United States and a permanent member of the University of California School of Medicine, and his team along with Dr. Blackburn investigated the effects of a wholesome, plant-based diet on telomerase enzyme activity. They made an amazing discovery!
As part of the study ( 1 ) 24 men changed their eating habits for three months and also made changes to their lifestyle. First, a blood sample was taken from each test person in order to be able to document the current status.
The men then followed a wholesome, plant-based, low-fat diet that contained few refined carbohydrates but plenty of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes (such as chickpeas, lentils, etc.). Meat, milk, eggs and highly processed foods were taboo. In addition, the test persons should exercise moderately (30 minutes of walking 6 days per week) and practice stress-reducing measures such as yoga, a breathing technique, meditation or progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobson.
At the end of the three months, the researchers examined the subjects’ blood again. Now the activity of the telomerase had increased by 29 to 84 percent in the participants! This is the first and only scientifically proven method to date that has achieved this. In addition to the physical rejuvenation, the BMI (Body Mass Index) and thus the body weight, the cholesterol level, the blood pressure as well as the liver and inflammation values decreased.
Telomere lengthening and rejuvenation through nutrition
But could the wholesome, plant-based diet really rejuvenate the cells? dr Ornish and Dr. Blackburn wanted to know for sure and re-examined some of the above subjects in a follow-up study in 2013. Ten of the men had been practicing the healthy diet and lifestyle for five years. The control group consisted of 25 men who ate normally and only rarely incorporated relaxation techniques and exercise into their everyday lives.
One would actually expect that the telomeres would now have shrunk, which was actually the case in the control group, which had stayed with their “old” diet (i.e. ate meat, refined flour, sugar, etc.). Her telomeres had now shortened to the expected extent.
The telomeres of the subjects who followed the healthy lifestyle, on the other hand, not only did not become shorter, but actually grew! They could be extended, something that until then had been thought unlikely. On average, their telomeres were now longer than when they were first examined five years earlier. Not only were their cells aged less, they had actually rejuvenated. The wholesome, plant-based diet was able to reverse the aging process.
Anti-Aging: Diet counts!
But what part did exercise and relaxation techniques play in rejuvenation? Couldn’t it be that exercise or meditation alone can make the telomeres grow? You can confidently deny this, because other studies have already shown that neither training nor relaxation nor weight loss or calorie reduction lead to a lengthening of the telomeres. The rejuvenation effect can therefore be directly attributed to the wholesome, plant-based diet.
The researchers concluded that this study found a significant correlation between plant-based, whole-food diets ( 4 ) and the length of the telomeres. Due to the small size of the study, however, further, larger and randomized studies are needed.
Nevertheless, the results are consistent with other studies, e.g. B. show that a high consumption of carotenoids can slow down aging and rejuvenate our cells, as we have already described here: Eat carotenoids – and become younger!
How to lengthen your telomeres and stay young for a long time!
We have summarized for you here how you can benefit from this knowledge. According to the study presented, you can use the following measures to lengthen your telomeres and thus stay young and vital for longer:
- First things first: Eat healthy, whole foods, and plant-based foods. Include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, mushrooms, and legumes like chickpeas, lentils, and beans in your diet as much as possible. This not only slows down the aging process, but also reduces your risk of so-called lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and the like.
- Avoid heavily processed foods such as meat, dairy products and white flour products. Heavily processed foods such as B. Soft drinks make us age faster. Meat and dairy products can also have health disadvantages, increase the risk of cancer as well as the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
- Exercise moderately, but if possible every day. Instead of driving everywhere by car, plan a longer walk more often. If you do a sedentary job, you should pay particular attention to getting enough exercise, because a lot of sitting accelerates the aging process.
- We live in a hectic time in which stress is unfortunately almost impossible to avoid. So learn how to deal with stress better. Good ways to do this include yoga, tai chi, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, or breathing exercises ( 2 ).
- Of course, you also take into account all other aspects of a healthy lifestyle, such as getting enough exercise in the fresh air, getting enough sleep with the window open, optimizing your supply of vital substances (vitamin D, vitamin B12, vitamin K, magnesium, to name just a few examples of vital substances that are often lacking). listed), regular detoxification measures ( 3 ).
You can read here what a healthy, plant-based diet looks like and how you can incorporate it into your everyday life: Alkaline excess nutrition.
And here you will find ours plant-based eating plans (7 days) for only 5 euros.