telomeres your mortality bean counter
What are Telomeres?
It’s a curious thing to now be able to determine your mortality by a simple testing of your Telomeres. It’s a relatively inexpensive (and over the counter) blood testing of those little caps that sit on the end of your chromosomes and stop them from unraveling – so when a cell divides your telomere gets shorter rather than your chromosome.
Telomeres are the biomarkers of biological aging, over riding your chronological age when it comes to mortality. Telomere shortening has been linked to a higher risk of death, cancers and accelerated aging.
Would you like to test for your mortality?
But now that we can test .. do we? It is one thing to be able to know your mortality – and the test is fairly accurate – but what are we to do with that information? The test is an indicator, a predictor of our mortality but the truth is, the changes you implement to elongate those telomeres are available to you now – and are known to bring about healthful living, with or without a telomere test.
The switch that turns back the ageing clock is telomerase – an enzyme. How you turn on this switch is through diet, lifestyle and changes in your environment that affect your health directly. Here’s what we know works in stretching those telomeres:
Meditation and moderate exercise – to keep you young.
Homocysteine – Lowering homocysteine is best done in consultation with your health practitioner.
Green tea – drink up! It supports longer telomeres. – 3 cups a day seem to add a few years to your telomeres.
Vitamin D – high levels suggest longer telomeres – top up!
Avoid burnt foods – anything that is burned will harm the body.
Nutrients, make sure you’re getting enough, first from food and secondary through supplementation – essential fatty acids through oily fish, nuts, seeds, olive oil, coconut oil; and Selenium – rich in brazil nuts.
And if you still want to get your telomeres tested .. www.spectracell.com can help.
Or better yet, see a nutritionist and just get healthy. Contact me here.
Deborah McTaggart is a registered nutritionist practising in Barnes, South West London, and global via Zoom. She works with corporate nutrition and individuals on healthy eating, with a special interest in Men's Health, Shift Work Health, Travel Health and Avoiding Jet Lag. Contact me here for further information on nutrition plans.