One of the most rewarding and important organizations I belong to is the American Academy of Anti-Aging, led by Drs. Ronald Klatz and Robert Goldman I have had the privilege of serving as the senior vice president of the organization for the past few years. During this time, I have attended and given talks at many A4M conferences all over the world. For those unfamiliar with the term, anti-aging medicine simply means “preventive” medicine.
Almost universally, we can agree that our current system is broken; both financially and in our approach to the disease. We spend billions on gastric bypass surgery every year in the United States, but essentially pennies to teach people how to eat better and have a healthier relationship with food to avoid obesity. Examples of perverse priorities abound, and members of the system know that changes must be made to make disease prevention a priority.
Anti-aging isn’t about being “against” aging, it’s about knowing how to live longer and healthier by avoiding disease as it begins.
Anti-Aging Tips
Even my closest friends are often surprised when they ask me my age. Despite my youthful appearance, I can tell you that the date of birth listed on my driver’s license is correct. While looking youthful isn’t the only goal of adopting an anti-aging lifestyle, it’s a great side benefit. Our skin, without makeup or other cosmetic enhancers, provides a fairly accurate window into our overall health and aging.
One of the main reasons the skin is so informative about our overall health is the aging of our skin, like the rest of our body, which is characterized by the effects of inflammation. Aging and inflammation go hand in hand. Aging is partly due to the cumulative effects of low-level inflammation that we are exposed to throughout our lives. There are many blood markers, such as cytokines, TNF-alpha, NFK-beta, and interleukin-2, that can be tested to quantify your body’s inflammatory state. These are important markers also used to track diseases of aging. It is not a coincidence.
Our skin is uniquely exposed to the damaging effects of radiation and dehydration from the sun, but along with the rest of our organs, it suffers from the effects of environmental toxins, unhealthy dietary fats, free radicals and other inflammatory molecules that we consume, and from the effects of limited physical activity and excessive mental stress so common in our fast-paced society.
What are some of the best ways to maintain health and youth as we age? What are the main causes of aging and what can we start doing today to counter or even reverse them? My whole adult life was not about trying to look younger, but about preserving the youthful health I had and always enjoyed.
Role of inflammation and aging
For most people, food is the primary source of inflammation in accelerated aging. Foods of animal origin found in beef and pork, cheeses and dairy products contain saturated fat. Certain vegetables such as coconut oil, cottonseed oil, and palm kernel oil products also contain higher amounts of saturated fat. These oils are often found in deserts which are also high in saturated fat. Saturated fat can directly stimulate genes in fat storage cells called adipocytes to make inflammatory cytokines that have been linked to the onset and severity of diabetes and vascular disease. Conversely, a diet low in saturated fat and high in unsaturated fat (mono- or polyunsaturated) can reduce inflammation-related diseases and allow our bodies to age healthier.
Omega-6 fatty acids are found in many grains (corn, safflower, cottonseed) and nut-based oils and are widely used in cookies, cakes and other baked goods. Although they are essential for our good health, excessive consumption of omega-6s also contributes to excessive inflammation throughout the body. Omega-6s, unlike omega-3s found in fish, seafood, and many fresh vegetables, can be converted by our bodies into inflammatory molecules called eicosanoids. Although a healthy inflammatory response, when called upon by our immune system, is important in protecting us from infections and diseases like cancer, as well as in promoting healing; high levels of omega-6 can overwhelm the O3/O6 balance needed to avoid an inflammatory state.
Omega-3 and Omega-6 are both polyunsaturated fats that exist in a ratio in the membranes of every cell in our body. Over the past 150 years, with the industrial farming of grains like corn and sunflower, omega-6s have become the dominant polyunsaturated oil in our diets. This change means that many more omega-6s are used by our cell membranes compared to omega-3s. The result is not just a change in the physical properties of our cells, but has contributed to what many consider to be the major health epidemic of the 21st century – chronic inflammatory disease.
Atherosclerosis or “hardening of the arteries”, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, certain cancers, Alzheimer’s disease or type 2 diabetes are all chronic inflammatory diseases and are today the diseases most common in the Western world. Although eating the wrong fats is a major contributor to chronic inflammatory diseases, other dietary causes, excess weight and lack of physical activity, environmental toxins and even emotional stress can all play a major role in the development and the continuation of these diseases and thus accelerate the aging process.
Here’s a list of some of the best and most researched tips to help reduce inflammation and promote healthy aging to look younger on the inside and out.
