Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Our immune system becomes less competent with age. This makes a person more vulnerable to diseases and can make a common infection, such as the flu much more dangerous. Here’s what you need to know about your aging immune system.
On today’s episode, Amanda Williams discussing Resveratrol, the popular anti-aging supplement that is so important for your body, especially your brain and heart. Let’s get started.
Ouch! You stub your toe on your bedpost for the hundredth time. Almost instantly, the redness, pain, swelling and heat wash over your toe. These four symptoms are the classic and predictable signs of acute inflammation, and they serve a very important purpose. This type of inflammation is a healthy, normal part of the healing process; it is how the body heals itself and it is essential to maintain your health. But when there is a decline in the part of the immune system that fights infections and an aggravation of overreactions in your body – dubbed “inflamm-aging” – you need to pay attention to the signals your body is giving you.
Inflammation that occurs after stubbing your toe, for example, is acute and is normal. Chronic inflammation has a significantly negative impact on our vitality and long-term health. It impacts our immune system, tissue function, biochemical reactions and much more. It can be caused by our food choices, medications and lifestyle factors like stress and alcohol use.
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According to integrative medicine physical Pooja Amy Shah, MD, “As we age, our bodies tend to have more consistently elevated levels of inflammatory biochemicals. While these chemicals are good to help our immune systems fight off infections and keep us healthy, if they are chronically elevated, they can lead to problematic things such as cancer and muscle wasting.”
1. Focus on the health of your gut
Gut microbial diversity generally decreases when people age, which is likely due to changes in diet, medication and other lifestyle behaviors. Decreased diversity has been linked to an imbalanced state and correlates with frailty, inflammation and disorders like Alzheimer’s, according to a January 2019 study published in the journal Aging (Albany, NY).
Delicious news! This study says Dark Chocolate Reduces Inflammation! Click here to learn more >>>
Dr. Shah explains, “The gut microbiota of elderly people generally has decreased diversity which may weaken the barrier of the gut mucosa against bacterial invasion, this can lead to increased and more chronic inflammation.” To help optimize your gut health, many healthcare professionals recommend Probiotics. A superior probiotic contains non-GMO bacterial strains, is vegetarian and is supplied in colony-forming units in order to survive stomach acids and intestinal enzymes.
2. Speak with your doctor about thyroid testing
According to the American Thyroid Association, ‘thyroiditis‘ is a general term that refers to inflammation of the thyroid gland. This can be brought on by numerous factors including infection. The thyroid’s job is to create hormones that the body uses for energy, to stay warm and to keep the brain, heart, muscles and other organs working as best as possible. When inflammation occurs in the thyroid, fatigue, weight gain, constipation and dry skin may occur. Speak with your doctor about thyroid testing.
3. Follow an anti-inflammatory diet
Certain foods can add to the inflammatory response in our bodies, including highly processed foods and sugar. Following an anti-inflammatory diet that is full of vegetables, fruit, unprocessed foods, getting enough sleep and ridding yourself of stress are important in minimizing inflammation.
The term ‘healthy aging’ is meant literally to optimize the years of healthy living by protecting ourselves from damage and avoiding common concerns associated with aging. Luckily, ample research suggests that antioxidants can provide protective effects.
Slowing down the aging process doesn’t mean stopping it completely. But what if we told you there were ways you could slow down the aging process in order to age optimally? Here’s what you need to know.
Anti-aging is one of the most common buzzwords in the health and nutrition world. This is because almost everyone is looking for that miracle product or food or treatment that can help them to look younger than they are. Getting older is commonly attributed to unwanted skin developments, like saggy skin and wrinkles. It is also attributed to issues with memory and cognition. But what if the problem wasn’t your skin or your memory, but your glutathione production?
Glutatione has been hailed the universal and all-important molecule that is the mother of all antioxidants. It is present in all human tissues and its main objective within your body is to defend it against damage caused by free radicals, harmful chemicals, and inflammation.†
Numerous studies have shown this antioxidant is key for liver detoxification, immune system protection, and cellular health. In cells, it helps maintain antioxidants that are not produced by the body and must be derived from food or supplementation, such as Vitamin C and Vitamin E.†
Here’s the problem with Glutathione today; in the modern world, filled with pollutants and other toxins, the demand for this nutrient exceeds our ability to make it, making our bodies extremely depleted of it. Without enough glutathione, our body builds up too many reactive oxygen species and environmental toxins, which can result in DNA damage, oxidative stress and even chronic disease.†
If you leave your bike outside in the rain, the metal will eventually rust due to being exposed to the elements. This is much like what happens to our body’s with oxidative stress. Too many reactive oxygen species or too few antioxidants can create an imbalance and cause damage to our DNA, proteins and lipids in our body, which is called oxidative stress.†
Glutathione helps to prevent this by acting as a reducing agent and free-radical scavenger. This is especially important in the mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of our cells. Poor mitochondrial health is implicated in most age-related diseases and has a lot to do with energy and metabolism, including brain fog, fatigue, slow metabolism, and poor muscle recovery.†
In a study performed by researchers at Oregon State University, Glutathione was shown to help resist the toxic stresses in the everyday life of rats. Scientists tried to identify the resistance to toxins of young cells, compared to those of older cells. They used a compound called menadione to stress the cells, and in the face of that stress, the younger cells lost significantly less of their glutathione than older cells did. The glutathione levels of young rat cells never decreased to less than 35 percent of its initial level, whereas in older rat cells glutathione levels plummeted to 10 percent of their original level.
“I’m optimistic there could be a role for this compound in preventing the increased toxicity we face with aging, as our abilities to deal with toxins decline,” Tory Hagen, lead author and the Helen P. Rumbel Professor for Health Aging Research in the Linus Pauling Institute at OSU said. “We might be able to improve the metabolic resilience that we’re naturally losing with age.”
The good news is that there are a few things you can do to optimize your levels of this very important antioxidant.