I can’t tell you how many times I heard this from cancer doctors (oncologists): “Don’t give my patients antioxidants; you’ll blunt the effect of the chemo and help the cancer!” I always found it ironic that, before the cancer occurred and after they had done whatever they did, which in many cases did not save …
The cancer doctors were wrong about telomerase activators and antioxidants! Read More »
A couple of questions have been nagging at those of us who study telomeres and telomerase closely. The first is – what is the correlation, if any, between tissue types? Typically we measure telomere length in the granulocyte line of White Blood Cells. These cells are typically responsible for fighting off viral infections and the …
New Study on Telomeres Answers some Huge Questions Read More »
Scientists are by nature skeptics. Usually it takes more than one positive result and one positive study to convince them. There is no set number of studies you need to do to sway scientific opinion and quiet naysayers. More often than not, it depends as much on opinion and bias of the so-called scientific community. …
Yet another study connects human lifespan with telomere length Read More »
Over the past couple of days, I have dug pretty deep into the metabolic associations between obesity, diabetes, and short telomeres. The end result is of course, accelerated aging. But, more and more I have to tell you, I think aging is the real cause, or at least a major contributing factor to many of …
Aging fat as a cause for diabetes – the role of short telomeres Read More »
In the last blog I delved into some associations between the biologic time clocks we call Telomeres, sugar control and obesity. The net summary of that blog is that the body has only so many responses to insults like high blood sugar and obesity, and those responses can wind up looking pretty much the same …
I read an interesting article recently. Without going into all the gory scientific details, the gist of the article was as follows: even lean diabetics may have the same metabolic profile and telomere length shortening as non-diabetic obese people, if those lean diabetics have poor sugar control. What is the big deal? Well, it means …
Telomere Length and Metabolic Obesity in Skinny People Read More »
Warning: this blog is not just regurgitation or rewording of a press release from somewhere else. It contains original content and original commentary. Since February is National Heart Health Month, I thought I would update you on some recent advances in how telomere length interacts with the health of your heart. Telomeres and the heart …
Have you ever heard someone tell you, “I am sick all winter”, or “I am always sick”? Barring allergies, this could actually be a symptom of short telomeres and a weak immune system. Can one exist without the other? Well, the immune system is a complex interaction between all kinds of cells that “present” pathogens …
Colds and Chromosomes – how telomere length affects cold symptoms Read More »
Heart disease has one of the longest standing associations with short telomeres. Recently a similar association was established for strokes (thrombotic ((clot) and hemorrhagic (bleeding)). The limitations of these studies in terms of direct correlation are that they are not using modern technology to determine the shortest telomere lengths or percentage. They are still using …
If you study the biologic time clocks in the cell, known as telomeres, and you study the enzyme that lengthens them, telomerase, you are truly learning about magic. Here are a couple of amazing things I have learned: 1) Telomeres are intimately involved with just about every longevity and health pathway known to science. 2) …