The Life Plan (70 page)

Adult stem cells can be harvested from anyone weighing 80 pounds or more. Better stem cell quality/potency comes from younger, healthier persons.

Over 70 diseases have been treated successfully with adult stem cells.

Banking your own is a smart move. It ensures a perfect match and quick availability whenever you need them; your body won’t reject them.

Families often bank together so they can share cells with each other.

Telomeres are DNA repeats located at the end of chromosomes that act as caps to protect genes. Telomeres shorten every time a cell divides, causing a cellular digression and conditions associated with aging, and eventually, death. In order to prevent the ravages of aging as we get older, we need to learn how to lengthen our telomeres now, or prevent the ones we have from getting any shorter. Short telomeres lead to premature cellular aging and an enhanced risk of cancer, and of fatal cancer in particular.

In January 2009, I entered the telomere revolution, becoming a consultant for TA Sciences in New York, the first company worldwide to offer a synthetic version of telomerase—a natural enzyme—that can help maintain telomere length. Their product, TA-65™, is a nutraceutical that prevents telomeres from shortening. TA-65 comes from extracts of the Chinese herb astragalus, which has been used for medicinal purposes for more than 1,000 years. I am one of just a handful of physicians in the United States licensed to offer TA-65™ to my patients. It’s important for all men to know about this amazing nutrient, and be ready to talk to their physician about it when it becomes more widely available.

This brand-new formulation allows men the best opportunity to maintain their quality of life as they age, reducing risk for disease and maybe even extending their life span. I can offer TA-65 to all my healthy-aging patients and have a few patients who are taking TA-65, with great results. For example, Bill is a molecular geneticist and a 100-mile run enthusiast, completing more 100-mile runs in 1998 than anyone else in the world. He retired from running in 1999 and began to devote most of his time to his research company. But once he switched his focus, he found that he had little exercise, which led to a sharp decline in his health. In midyear 2007, Bill started taking TA-65™ and started training again. He finished the 2008 and 2009 Badwater events (the “toughest foot race on the planet”), going from a “back-of-the-pack runner” to the front. He attributes his success to TA-65.

Other companies are starting to form that will target the science of lengthening telomeres. A new company that seems to hold particular promise is Telomere Sciences. Their first nutritional supplement, Telomere Length Formula, targets all three major causes of telomere shortening: aging, oxidative stress, and inflammation.

For more information, visit www.maxlife.org/Telomeres for a comprehensive resource for telomere health.

My colleague Calvin B. Harley, Ph.D., released in 2010 the first scientific paper that demonstrated the benefits in humans of activating telomerase. These benefits include immune system rejuvenation and lengthening of critically short telomeres. He and his collaborators were the first to demonstrate that telomere length is specifically lost with age in normal dividing cells, and that this process is responsible for cellular aging.

We also know that you can naturally increase levels of telomerase activity, which can take care of cellular damage and in turn increase the length of telomeres. The best way to do this is, once again, to just follow the Life Plan. By decreasing stress, eating healthy, and exercising properly, you can prevent telomeres from shortening while you are giving your body all it needs to continue feeling and looking young.

T
he best of preventive medicine is in your own hands. You have the ability to look and feel younger and better, stronger and sexier, right now. You don’t have to wait for science to catch up with you: You are on the leading edge. My goal for you is to embrace this program so that everyone you love notices the differences in your health and the way you look every time you walk into a room. More important, I want you to feel good about yourself, now, and well into the future.

As with any other wellness plan, talk to your doctor before you start my program. Let him or her understand that you are interested in a heart-healthy lifestyle that is meant to increase metabolism, prevent disease, and slow aging. Together, you can beat the system and join the revolution of healthy aging. Working with your doctor as a team is one of the best motivators that you will ever have to stay on the program. Your doctor can keep you accountable for reaching your goals, and monitor your health along the way.

The best place to start is with your current physician. However, it’s important to recognize that many primary care providers may feel threatened when you bring up such subjects as age management medicine, because they may not be knowledgeable about the practices I preach. Bring this book with you, and show your M.D. or D.O. the reference section and the dozens of studies that support my work. If he or she still blows you off, telling you that “aging is just part of the game of life,” then you are getting a clear signal that it’s time to find another doctor.

These 10 questions will be your medical shopping list. If you don’t like the answers you receive, it may be time to find yourself a new doctor.

If costs and insurance were not an issue, what would you do as my doctor to improve my quality of life as I age and to reduce my risks for age-related disease?

What would you recommend for nutritional supplementation that will reduce my risks for disease and possibly extend my lifespan?

What are your thoughts about correcting any hormonal deficiencies I may have that may improve my quality of life and reduce my risk for age-related disease?

Do HMOs or insurance companies affect or influence your decisions on what medications, diagnostic tests, or referrals to specialists you make regarding my medical care?

If you or a member of your family had my condition, what would you do?

If your primary care physician refers you to a specialist, ask: Is this the specialist you would use if

had this same problem?

Is your compensation affected by your prescribing patterns, referral patterns, or the diagnostic tests you order?

If insurance or costs weren’t an issue, what advice, treatment, or medical/lab tests would you recommend that might provide early warning signs of diseases I may be at risk for?

Are there any alternative or complementary medical therapies that might help my medical condition?

10.
How much training and education have you had about the role nutrition and exercise play in overall health?

The doctor who is going to be the most receptive to the Life Plan is typically not an endocrinologist, a specialist who is trained to diagnose problems by helping to restore the normal balance of hormones. Endocrinologists focus on health issues such as diabetes, thyroid diseases, metabolic disorders, osteoporosis, hypertension, cholesterol (lipid) disorders, lack of growth (short stature), and cancers of the endocrine glands. While you may be affected by one or more of these conditions, the place to start is with a primary care physician who is either an M.D. or a D.O. who is familiar with andropause and its related issues, including the treatment of hormone deficiencies. Your doctor should also be able to talk about the importance of exercise and nutrition in a deeper way than, “You need to exercise more and eat less in order to lose weight.”

You can interview potential doctors on the phone before your office visit, or talk to their office manager or their staff. Search the internet to see if they maintain a website that shares their medical philosophy. You can also find out if they have recently published, which is a good sign that the doctors in question are current with the latest findings. I don’t recommend the various websites that rate doctors: I find that these are often biased, or not always reliable.

You can also choose a doctor who is affiliated with a hospital that you would choose to be admitted to if you ever required serious hospitalization. However, many doctors like me who practice age management medicine are not affiliated with a hospital and are not considered “primary care physicians.”

Most doctors you may consider are looking into this type of medicine as an addition to their current practice. Another option is a specialist in age management medicine like me. On my website, www.drlife.com, is a listing of highly regarded age management medicine specialists across the country.

The next time you meet with your physician, tell the nurse checking you in that you want to talk about a specific issue, such as bone density. Once you bring up any health concern, it becomes what’s known as a “chief complaint” and a permanent part of your medical record, making it incumbent upon the doctor to do something about it. So get the ball rolling and ask the right questions, weaving in any genetic factor potentials:

“My parents died from age-related disease that started when they were relatively young. I’m here to do all I can to prevent or reverse age-related disease. Would you check my hormone levels, bone density, and cholesterol levels?”