Turning back the clock naturally

It’s difficult to age naturally these days, particularly if you’re female. At last count according to several surveys, more than 9 million Botox injections are administered globally, some 86 percent of them to women.

Botox, or botulinum neurotoxin, to give it its formal name, is the most common nonsurgical procedure, but the big surprise is who gets it done—mostly women between ages 30 and 50. In fact, nearly half (4,417,000) of Botox injections went to that age group, and more than 2.2 million were injected into 18-to-30-year-olds.

These days, the average age of someone opting for the procedure is 43 years.

The youngest users have been primed on social media to use Botox preventively, believing that keeping foreheads smooth and crow’s feet at bay will prevent wrinkles from occurring later.

Not surprisingly, America is the world’s Botox destination, with 43 percent of the procedures performed there every year; Japan is the next most popular with a paltry 9 percent of the world’s injections. The US is also the center of facelifts, with 131,000 carried out every year. Many people opt for one in their 40s or 50s and then get a top-up or two in their 60s.

The UK is quickly catching up; a survey by Anglia Ruskin University discovered that Botox use is burgeoning in Britain; the country’s doctors give some 900,000 injections every year. Happily, with the advent of nonsurgical procedures, the number of facelifts has declined by two-thirds in Britain.

But clearly everyone—women especially—is terrified of getting and looking older.

The problem is that the rush to youth is only skin deep. According to the National Institutes of Health in the US, nearly one in three adults is overweight, and two in five (42 percent) are clinically obese. In the UK, while nearly 70 percent of men and 59 percent of women are overweight, slightly more than a quarter are labeled obese.

In other words, a huge percentage of people aren’t eating a healthy diet. What does this have to do with staying young? In short, everything.

All the lift, tuck and freeze procedures in the world won’t do what a good diet and select supplements can. As we describe in our latest special report, your body’s rate of aging can be measured fairly accurately by the length of your telomeres, the little caps that cover and protect the ends of your DNA strands.

These have nothing to do with genes themselves and everything to do with how you live. Certain foods are now known to keep telomeres intact: nuts and seeds, olives and olive oil, red onions, artichokes, dark chocolate and berries, particularly blueberries.

These, among other foods, are all high in polyphenols, which aid telomeres in remaining in rude good health. Animal foods like salmon, sardines and mackerel, high in omega-3 fatty acids, are effective, too.

Not surprisingly, research has found obesity is related to telomere damage.

When evidence appeared showing telomerase, the enzyme produced in stem cells and involved in telomere activity, can help lengthen telomeres by nearly one-third, supplement manufacturers tripped over themselves to produce plant extract supplements that could rebuild the gene caps. What they failed to recognize was the uncomfortable truth that this very enzyme can also promote cancer.

The point is that the very foods, herbs and spices that promote general health, such as curcumin, folate and coenzyme Q10, also promote a long life for telomeres. Other herbs, such as astragalus, ashwagandha and berberine, aid longevity as well.

Sadly, this message hasn’t gotten through to conventional medicine. Doctors, medical journals, newspapers and government bodies still promote the message that women over 50 who go through menopause are essentially ill and must take hormones like hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to regain their premenopausal health, and even to protect their hearts.

The latest evidence on HRT shows otherwise. It’s been clear for decades and has just been reaffirmed again: Women who take certain types of oral HRT nearly double their chances of heart attack and stroke and increase their risk of blood clots by around 60 percent.

But once again, a healthy diet, intermittent fasting, numerous herbs and homeopathy are simple ways to overcome some of the less desirable effects of menopause, such as weight gain, while reversing the aging process.

Possibly the most important way to maintain a youthful appearance is to look after your gut. Certain hormone regulators in the gut, including some 60 different bacteria, are largely responsible for regulating hormones. And dysbiosis—too many bad bacteria in the gut and too few good-guy bacteria—is responsible for many of the basic outward signs of aging.

The bottom line is simple. You may not be able to stop the clock, but you can prevent the ravages of time. To stay young and vibrant, focus on what you’re taking internally, keep exercising and follow these practices throughout your long, vibrant and youthful-looking life.

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