Yoga

Some cool mini videos from Tara Styles. To view more just click on here profile HERE

Below is one of her videos on strength building with Yoga



This is a preview of the Yoga DVD I use. It's really nice! I love doing yoga to this one!



Also Arturo (another person who does CR) has some good stuff on Yoga here

Live to be 150

A good brief introduction into various areas of life extension ideas and research. The program is quite fast paced, but it stays quite interesting all the way through. They cover areas such as life extending drugs such as resveratrol, cryonics, Aubrey De Greys SENS approach to aging, Calorie Restriction, and how others are keeping healthy at an old age.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

Juvess Second Try

It's been a few weeks now since I last tried using Juvess, see belolw to read a bit about the failure! :) Well I have two products now which could help make it work this time

1. Neutrogena Exfoliating gentle face wash to uplug pores and remove dead skin
2. Aloe Vera Gel from Aubrey Organics, which also contains a couple other ingredients like vitamin E and grape seed.

Rather than just using the Juvess all over I'll and apply it to one area like the chin. Which also happens to be where breakouts are more likely to occur because it's in the T zone.

Secrets of Living Longer

Secrets of Living Longer


I've spoke about this before but haven't put up this video yet. Dan explains his findings in 3 different areas where there is greater longevity in those that follow certain habits. The most consistent thing is that the poeple who live the longest were mostly vegetarian, they ate little meat and tended to be bean eaters. Seventh Day Adventists for example live upto 10 years longer than the average californian americans and they don't smoke, they don't drink, and they are vegetarian. However they are NOT on CR... as I've previously mentioned their BMI's are around 24 on average (Normal is 18.5-25).

Here are the survival curves for SDA Men and Women



"When vegetarians are forced to take medium-
risk values for all other covariates in the statistical
model, the corresponding expected ages at death are 85.3
and 88.6 years, respectively (Figures 3 and 4)"


Ten Years of Life; Is it a matter of choice?
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/161/13/1645

Background: Relative risk estimates suggest that effective
implementation of behaviors commonly advocated
in preventive medicine should increase life expectancy,
although there is little direct evidence.
Objective: To test the hypothesis that choices regarding
diet, exercise, and smoking influence life expectancy.
Methods: A total of 34192 California Seventh-Day Adventists
(75% of those eligible) were enrolled in a cohort
and followed up from 1976 to 1988. A mailed questionnaire
provided dietary and other exposure information
at study baseline. Mortality for all subjects was ascertained
by matching to state death tapes and the National
Death Index.

Results: California Adventists have higher life expectancies
at the age of 30 years than other white Californians
by 7.28 years (95% confidence interval, 6.59-7.97
years) in men and by 4.42 years (95% confidence interval,
3.96-4.88 years) in women, giving them perhaps the
highest life expectancy of any formally described population.
Commonly observed combinations of diet, exercise,
body mass index, past smoking habits, and hormone
replacement therapy (in women) can account for
differences of up to 10 years of life expectancy among
Adventists. A comparison of life expectancy when these
factors take high-risk compared with low-risk values
shows independent effects that vary between 1.06 and
2.74 years for different variables. The effect of each variable
is assessed with all others at either medium- or
high-risk levels.

Conclusions: Choices regarding diet, exercise, cigarette
smoking, body weight, and hormone replacement
therapy, in combination, appear to change life expectancy
by many years. The longevity experience of Adventists
probably demonstrates the beneficial effects of
more optimal behaviors.

How to prevent infections

Over the years you kind of get to know what helps and what doesn't when it comes to either stopping yourself from becoming sick, or just helping to relieve symptoms and hasten up the process of recovery. So in this post I will focus on what you can do to avoid becoming ill with viral infections. September is coming and when all the kids start going back to school there tends to be an outbreak of colds, and then shortly after the flu, and right now there seems to be a spike in the number of gastroenteritis illness which is mostly likely caused by the norovirus.

Green Tea - Green tea contains a polyphenol compound called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). This is usually the most active component against many virses, bacteria and fungi. Green Tea seems to alter the protein around the virus and stop it infecting the cells in the first place [1], but if this fails then green tea actually boosts the immune system. [2].

"Among subjects taking CSF there were 32.1% fewer subjects with symptoms (P = 0.035), 22.9% fewer overall illnesses of at least 2 days duration (P = 0.092), and 35.6% fewer symptom days (P < 0.002), compared to subjects taking placebo. gammadelta T cells from subjects taking CSF proliferated 28% more (P = 0.017) and secreted 26% more IFN-gamma (P = 0.046) in response to gammadelta T cell antigens, as compared to gammadelta T cells from subjects taking placebo. CSF was well-tolerated."

And another mechanisms from another study [3]

The compounds strongly inhibited adsorption of the viruses on red blood cell (RBC). They also restricted the growth of avian influenza virus in ovo with minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of 5-10 microM far exceeding the neuraminidase (NA) inhibitor oseltamivir or M2 proton channel inhibitor amantadine. The antiviral activity appears to be mediated by interaction with hemagglutinin (HA)/viral membrane rendering HA less fusogenic at the initial stage of infection.

My advice is to replace whatever you drink with green tea. Make sure you get a good quality one however, something like Sencha or Matcha green tea, and from Japan if possible rather than China. The decaf products do comtain less EGCG than the caffeinated also. I believe 3 cups of decaf is equivalent to 1 cup of caffeinated green tea.


Garlic - It has been known for a very long time that garlic was a good anti bacterial, and anti viral. The compound responsible for this is the one that gives off that funny smell when you eat too much... but wouldn't you rather just smell a bit of garlic than be sick? I know I would. There was a report a few years back saying that 'garlic is the common cold cure'. Well not quite, however it does seem to do a remarkable job at reducing the number of colds, and reducing the number of days ill with symptoms. What you do is get 2 cloves of garlic and consume them immediately when you feel a cold coming on, then I eat 2 every 3-4 hours for a couple days... I then just stick to me normal intake of 2-4 per day as a preventative measure. So crush the garlic well and then you could possibly put it on a bit of bread, or if you're really brave try chewing it and swallowing. Be careful you don't burn your mouth because believe me, it is pretty strong and can burn right through the tissue in your mouth easily. From BBC news website that reported on the garlic study

Over a 90-day period during the winter when most colds occur, just 24 colds were recorded among those taking the supplement, compared to 65 amongst those taking the placebo.

The study also found that those taking the supplement who did catch a cold were more likely to make a speedier recovery than those taking the placebo and the chances of re-infection following a cold were significantly reduced

If you actually take a look at the full paper you will see that the people who were taking garlic only had significant symptoms for 1.5 days compared to 5 days in the placebo group!

More studies are definitely needed on garlic and common colds/flu. I have tried it out on a few friends and family members and their colds completely went away within 1 day if caught early enough. It has also worked for me and over the last 14 months since I been trying it I have only felt like I had a cold for about 1/2 a day. The results will vary because it also depends on the hosts immunity to virses as well. Garlic might simply just restore you to normal (average) if you are under stress, sleep deprived, already ill or have some other condition that affects your immunity.

Nasal Irrigation - Sounds disgusting right? Well a recent study was published showing that kids who used products that spray water up the nose such as sterimar help ward of infection. Sterimar contains water and sea salt at the right concentrations similar to that of the human body. Because of the osmotic effect of salt you want to have the right concentration so that it doesn't cause irritation to the nasal lining and even bleeding. But interestingly sea salt (or any salt) actually helps kill bacteria by this method, as well as increasing the action of cilia which is tiny hairs in your nose that remove particles and keep mucous moving. When these stop working or are paralyzed by things like cigarette smoke you can be more susceptible to colds and sinusitis (bacterial infection). You can also buy something called a neti pot which are quite cheap and make up your own using 1/4 of a tea spoon of salt for 500ml water. This seems to work fine for me. Make sure it's cooking salt and not table salt. I personally do not recommend doing this neti wash if you have an active infection because it can easily spread the cold to your ears and block those up, simply because of where the eustachian tubes are located.

Vitamin D3 - Have you been looking at the news lately on this vitamin? It seems like everyday there is positive results coming from studies. A double blind placebo controlled study that was held in new york showed that giving subjects vitamin D3 resulted in 70% less colds and flu. There was another study that took place in a hosptial where a doctor gave his patients over 1000IU of vitamin D3 per day and when there was an outbreak of flu, none of those recieving the vitamin D caught it. I predict that in the UK there will be a big cold and flu season again simply because we've had such a poor summer. The best thing you can possibly do for yourself right now is to make sure that you have high normal level of 1,25(OH)D3. You can order this test from your doctor, but 1000IU capsules should get you within a good range, and 2000IU is almost certainly safe too. If you go down to my previous posts a bit you can view a couple videos on vitamin D that might interest you. Here are some extracts from the medicalnews website.

guess our hospital was under luckier stars as only about 12% of our patients were infected and no one died. However, as the epidemic progressed, I noticed something unusual. First, the ward below mine was infected, and then the ward on my right, left, and across the hall - but no patients on my ward became ill. My patients had intermingled with patients from infected wards before the quarantines. The nurses on my unit cross-covered on infected wards. Surely, my patients were exposed to the influenza A virus. How did my patients escape infection from what some think is the most infectious of all the respiratory viruses?

My patients were no younger, no healthier, and in no obvious way different from patients on other wards. Like other wards, my patients are mostly African Americans who came from the same prisons and jails as patients on the infected wards. They were prescribed a similar assortment of powerful psychotropic medications we use throughout the hospital to reduce the symptoms of psychosis, depression, and violent mood swings and to try to prevent patients from killing themselves or attacking other patients and the nursing staff. If my patients were similar to the patients on all the adjoining wards, why didn't even one of my patients catch the flu?

A short while later, a group of scientists from UCLA published a remarkable paper in the prestigious journal, Nature. The UCLA group confirmed two other recent studies, showing that a naturally occurring steroid hormone - a hormone most of us take for granted - was, in effect, a potent antibiotic. Instead of directly killing bacteria and viruses, the steroid hormone under question increases the body's production of a remarkable class of proteins, called antimicrobial peptides. The 200 known antimicrobial peptides directly and rapidly destroy the cell walls of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, including the influenza virus, and play a key role in keeping the lungs free of infection. The steroid hormone that showed these remarkable antibiotic properties was plain old vitamin D.

Steam Inhalation - This is simple but can be quite dangerous so be careful if you decide to do this. Just boil kettle water and put it into a bowl. Then get a towel and put your head under it and breath in the steam. Simple but only seems effective for a short while. I still use the method however.

Ginger - Ginger is a well known anti emetic. Meaning, it prevents sickness and nausea. Some doctors instruct women to use it while pregnant and has morning sickness, other uses are travel sickness, general nausea and indigestion, acid reflux disease. The only one it doesn't seem to be effective for is when use post operatively (after operation with G.A). It can be also used to help unblock the noise and is an weak antiviral so could help with cold symptoms. The best use for this herb is simply when you have a bad stomach and don't like being sick. I have managed not to be sick for almost 6 years because of gingers anti emetic effect.

Red Wine - There was a study on the BBC news website a few years back showing that red wine stops common colds. This is probably due to the resveratrol found in red wine. [5]

"Rather than directly attacking the flu virus itself, resveratrol seems to block host-cell functions that are essential for viral replication, says the report by Anna T. Palamara and colleagues at the University of Rome. They write that the substance holds promise as a possible weapon against flu."

Resveratrol also has been succesful at blocking bird flu too. Might be worth keeping this one handy in case of a future outbreak.

Broccoli - Broccoli can restore supressed immune function and also transiently stimulate immune function. The effect is quite dramatic and in-vivo studies show that it stimulates various immune system components to augment the hosts defence against cancer, viruses, bacterial infections and fungi infections.

Diindolylmethane (DIM) Immune Modulating Properties Include:
Stimulation of Interferon-γ Sensitivity by Increasing IFN-γ Receptors
Stimulation of Interferon-γ, G-CSF, IL-6 and IL-12 Production
Synergy with Interferon-γ in Expression of the MHC-I Complex

From DIM activation centre website



I recommend you look at reference [8] and read the results for yourself.

Lactoferrin - Lactoferrin can be found in breast milk, cows milk, whey protein. Your body uses lactoferrin in various places such as saliva, tears, urinary tract to prevent infections. It can also be useful in preventing food poison too. Theres a good article over at LEF that you can take a look at, see HERE

Beta Glucan - The one derived from yeast is best, but oats also have an impact on immune system too. I recommend you view this WIKI article here. Beta Glucan clearly has a massive impact on immunity.

Wash hands How simple is this? Just wash your hands frequently and do it with soap for at least 25 seconds under running water. Do not eat before washing your hands


UTI Infections - This is mostly for the girls as they tend to get these much more than men, but the advice can apply to both. Cranberry juice has severeal mechanisms by which is can stop things like bladder infections. Both because it is acidic and it makes the wall of the bladder slipper so the bacteria can't attach. E coli is most often the culprit in these infections. Another very effective method is to use something called D-Mannose. D mannose is basically a sugar and doesn't get digested, passes into the urine and coats the bladder wall, and the bacteria (only works mostly for E coli) attach to the sugar molecules and flush out... without killing a bacterium too! :D


Dental Infections - There is some evidence that green tea is effective against the bacteria that involved in tooth decay. Abscesses are painful, from experience, and from hearing other peoples cry of pain lol. So apart from your daily routine of brushing, flossing, mouth wash etc... drinking green tea is good for this too!

OK that is all from me today... I hope that some of this information will be of use to you. I hope everyone is able to stay well and free from infection. The above wont always work, but it can help as the evidence shows.

[1] Song JM, Lee KH, Seong BL.
Antiviral effect of catechins in green tea on influenza virus.
Link to study

[2] Rowe CA, Nantz MP, Bukowski JF, Percival SS.
Specific formulation of Camellia sinensis prevents cold and flu symptoms and enhances gamma,delta T cell function: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
Link to study

[3] Garlic 'prevents common cold'

[4] Epidemic Influenza And Vitamin D

[5] Red wine 'protects from colds'

[6] Chemical in grapes inhibits flu virus

[7] Compound in broccoli has immune-boosting properties, finds new study

[8] DIM

Free 5 day pass

I just spoke to David Lloyd Health club yesterday because my friend recommended me for a free 5 day pass (or was it 3? will have to ask my friend again). I really want to start building up my strength as I said in my previous post. Last time I managed to bench about 70kg weights, which is actually not bad at all for weighing something around 50kg. I'll probably start slow because I'd rather not risk any injuries... . I think I'm probably going to gain a few pounds of muscle and see how I feel then. Mostly I'm dong this for bone health though because with CR that is of course very important. We don't want fractures so starting weight bearing exercises at a young age is a good idea :)

Nothing really new in terms of any changes to my CR lately, and I'll probably be doing a repeat of a few blood tests as the last ones had a few unexpected numbers. I'm sure everything will be fine now, things are looking up :D

Hope everyone is dong well, and CR is going good...

Ready to go back, almost

I'm almost ready to get back into karate! My Yoga is going quite good at the moment and doing it twice a week. Now that I recovered about 95% from that cipro poison I need to start building back to how I was before that stuff happened.

One thing has changed however, my mind is saying to be 'gain weight'. I dont particularly like looking skinny as I do, in fact I think I would look healthier by gaining at least 5-10 lbs more. The thing is, if I want to stay true to my beliefs and use the only method known right now to slow ageing, then by sticking with CR I 'could' make it to 'escape velocity' and Aubrey De Grey puts it. But you know, given my age which is only 23, 24 soon (noooo!), I would probably make it anyway without moderate CR... if you believe in the Kurzweil future lol.

There is one thing I'd never go back to though, and that is eating a shitty diet. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, not forgetting the bit of dark chocolate lol, and I'm pretty happy. It tastes far better than any junk food out there :D

Two different paths

I got asked a question today about what I'm going to do when I go to university. As medicine has been my goal now for quite a while I just said that, and forgot about the amount of thought I put into deciding over the last few months. It's true that I'd be happy with biomedical science, but medicine is my ideal job, I think. I have to decide really quickly what to do because by the time I'd finish I'd be over 30 years of age... well, maybe not so bad considering CR will keep me younger for longer... but those that have been reading my blog now know by now that I do want to get involved in researching into ageing too. Medical school would be like 6 years, thats including foundation year, and a degree in something like biomedical science would be half that. There is no saying that I'll even make my first attempt to get into med school, but it sure is a decision that I would want to make sure I'm doing the right thing -- the stress of long hours would age me lol.

There is always another idea and that is to go into med school as a grad student, complete biomedical degree and then apply for 4 year course in medicine. I really do have some big decisions to make, and pretty soon, if I am to apply for 2009... Biomedical science I have a bit more time to decide as you don't have to apply so early for that.

But I wont think no more about this now, it's 5am as I type this and I have work at 1pm... I am going to be tiiirrreeed today! :(

Is this guy for real? He is 52 years old?

So is this guy for real, he claims he has been doing Calorie Restriction since his 20s and is now 52 years old in that photo. I think one person Brian Delaney from the CR Society has run into him once before, so maybe this is real. We can clearly see from the animal experiments that the old CR monkeys look really young. Some CRers who are now approaching 40 look like they're in their 20's. So I wouldn't rule it out. It would be interesting to see Elixer in a video or something, rather than an image which can be photoshopped a bit.

There is a discussion over at Imminst about him. I don't know, you decide, do you think it's possible to look in 25-30 years old at 50? I think so, but have no idea if this guy is real because hes so mysterious lol.

Juvess no more?

As with the majority of skin creams I've run into a problem, yet again. I am thinking that i'll just have to go with the copper peptides to remodel the skin, and use just a general non oily moisturzer like oil of olay or something. The Juvess original contains somethings that could clog up pores and be comedogenic. For the majority of people the cream is fine but clearly not me. I will try an experiment and use it around the chin area and use an exfoliator like salicylic acid. The positives I noticed though were that in the morning my skin was much better, less red, better complexion, more soft and smooth. It's just approx 2 weeks after using it, it's like I'm 15 again. What I would give to have perfect skin! arghh! lol.

One thing I'm going to add back into skin care is Aloe Vera gel and apply at night, then wash off in the morning because I got told that direct exposure to sunlight will cause damage while using this.

Juvess Skin Cream

I've just started using a new skin cream the other day which apparently is similar to the popular 'Creme de le mer' which is endorsed and used by many celebs such as kate moss, jennifer aniston, kera knightly, johnny depp are using because it is supposed to be a high quality moisterizer. Well it should be, because it costs $110 per ounce. However Juvess has apparently got a very similar cream but also contains a few active compounds such as: Copper peptides, which help increase collagen synthesis. It increases elasticity of the skin, helps remove scars by replacing abnormal collagen matrix with normal collagen. In studies shown here at SkinBiology the results of using copper peptides on skin is dramatic. Another interesting ingredient is Beta glucan, which is found in yeast and oats. A study a little while back found that oat beta glucan can penetrate the skin and increase collagen synthesis, stimulate removal of dead cells and it may help with acne prone skin. At Juvess they have a bar graph which shows the effects of the ingredients. The one below is the results of Beta glucan on skin



The other ingredient is Carnsoine which prevents glycation, and has the ability to actually renew cells to a more youthful state as seen here in this picture.



I've read that many people have had some good success with this cream and now use it to prevent damage and aging, and treat skin that has already been damaged and aged. At the moment I cannot comment on how well it worked for me and my post acne hyperpigmenation and minor scars, because I've only applied the cream 4 times in total. However, what I can say is that the texture is really nice, it doesn't feel to heavy on the skin, and it's non greasy --  leaving a very soft and smooth feel to the skin. By now typical moisturizers would have me breaking out in spots the following day of application.... I feel confident about this cream because the ingredients are backed up with some good, and up to date science from what I've researched over the past week. Juvess also only costs $30 for two ounces, and can last up to 6 months.

I can't wait to 'hopefully' see some good results in the coming months, I'll keep you posted.

Also has anyone else tried this Juvess with much success?


Here are the reference Juvess.com provides to support their cream. Some good evidence, take a read :D

References

1. Int J Cosmet Sci, Vol 27, Issue 5, pp. 292-292 (1), Pillai, R. et al - Anti-wrinkle Therapy: Significant New Findings in the Non-Invasice Cosmetic Treatment of Skin Wrinkles with Beta-Glucan.
http://www.ceapro.com/pdfs/ifscc.pdf

2. Biofactors. 1999; 9(2-4) : 371-8. Hoppe U et al - Coemzyme Q10, a cutaneous antioxidant and energizer. [PMID 10416055]

3. Z Gerontol Geriatr. 1999 Apr;32(2):83-8. Blatt T et al - Modulation of oxidative stresses in human aging skin [PMID 10408011]

4. Ann NY Acad Sci2006 May;1067:369-74. Hipkiss AR - Would carnosine or a carnivorous diet help suppress aging and associated pathologies? [PMID: 16804013]

5. Eur J Dermatol. 2007 Jan-Feb;17(1):12-20. Epub 2007 Feb 27. Pageon H et al - Collagen glycation triggers the formation of aged skin in vitro. [PMID: 17324821]

6. Exp Gerontol. 1999 Jan;34(1):35-45. McFarland GA, Holliday R. - Further evidence for the rejuvenating effects of the dipeptide L-carnosine on cultured human diploid fibroblasts. [PMID: 10197726]

7. Am J Pathol. 2006 Jun;168(6):1861-8. Varani J et al - Decreased collagen production in chronologically aged skin: roles of age-dependent alteration in fibroblast function and defective mechanical stimulation. [PMID: 16723701]

8. J Cosmet Sci. 2002 Jan-Feb;53(1):1-9. Fujimura T, Tsukahara K,... - Treatment of human skin with an extract of Fucus vesiculosus changes its thickness and mechanical properties. [PMID: 11917251]