Anti Aging
Back Clinic Anti Aging Chiropractic and Functional Medicine Team. Our body is in a constant and never-ending battle for survival. Cells are birthed, cells are destroyed. Scientists estimate that each cell must withstand over 10,000 individual assaults from reactive oxygen species (ROS) or free radicals. Without Fail, the body has an incredible system of self-healing that withstands the attack and rebuilds what has been damaged or destroyed. This is the beauty of our design.
To understand the biology of aging and translate scientific insight into interventions that improve late-life health through treatments. It is useful to have a clear, consensus view on what exactly constitutes anti-aging treatment.
Since before the days of Ponce de Leon’s search for longevity, man has always been enticed by the chance of eternal youth. Chiropractic care with its health movement is a powerful method of stabilizing and enhancing this self-healing ability. Dr. Alex Jimenez discusses concepts surrounding the anti-aging pandora.
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by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Anti Aging
Primary care optometrists and ophthalmologists may sometimes fail to detect age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of vision impairment in the elderly, a recent U.S. study suggests.
Researchers examined data on a total of 1,288 eyes from 644 older adults who got what’s known as a dilated eye exam, when clinicians widen the pupils with eye drops to let in more light and get a better look at the retina in back of the eyeball.
Based on these exams, none of the participants were diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration by primary care optometrists and ophthalmologists. But when retina specialists took another look, they diagnosed the eye disorder in 25 percent of cases.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study to address the extent to which age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is under-diagnosed by primary eye providers in the U.S.,” said lead study author Dr. David Neely, a researcher at Callahan Eye Hospital and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“As treatments for the earliest stages of AMD are developed in the coming years, correct identification of AMD in primary eye care will be critical for routing patients to treatment as soon as possible so that the disease can be treated in its earliest phases and central vision loss avoided,” Neely said by email.
About 14 million Americans have age-related macular degeneration, and as the baby boomer population ages, the ranks of patients with this disorder are expected to swell, the researchers note in JAMA Ophthalmology.
It happens when a part of the retina called the macula gets thinner with age. Over time, people with the condition can lose what’s known as central vision, or the ability to see things in detail when facing them head on. They can become unable to read books or see the road well enough to drive a car, but they may retain some peripheral vision.
There’s no cure, but there are some medications and laser procedures on the eye that can sometimes slow the progression of the disease and help avoid extensive vision loss. Eating plenty of leafy greens and avoiding cigarettes may help prevent the condition from developing.
Patients in the current study were 69 years old on average. They were seen by one of 31 primary eye care providers in Birmingham, Alabama, between 2009 and 2011.
They were more likely to have undiagnosed age-related macular degeneration if they were older, male or had less than a high school education.
One limitation of the study is that results from practices in one region might not necessarily reflect how accurately age-related macular degeneration would be diagnosed elsewhere, the authors note.
There’s also wide variation in severity with this condition, said Dr. David Parke II, chief executive officer of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
“It’s a little like a person saying `I have high blood pressure,’” Parke, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “It can be just borderline high and difficult to detect or it can be dangerously high leading to a high risk of stroke or heart attack.”
It’s not surprising that good quality, high magnification images of the macula interpreted by a trained ophthalmologist retina specialist catch more subtle changes in the eye, Parke added. But it’s also more expensive than traditional dilated eye exams done by primary eye care providers and won’t necessarily catch many additional cases of AMD in people who don’t have symptoms, he said.
As the condition worsens, some previous research suggests that nutritional supplements with ingredients including zinc, copper, and vitamins C and E may help minimize vision loss.
“For many patients with more severe AMD the use of nutritional supplements can reduce the subsequent rate of worsening of AMD and vision loss,” said Dr. Paul Lee, director of the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
“One piece of good news is that AMD is generally something that progresses over years, so that if detected on the next visit, there is still the opportunity to have the therapy started then,” Lee, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Anti Aging
Medical researchers have discovered a naturally occurring compound the human body produces that can speed DNA repair, combat disease, and may turn back the clock on aging.
The compound — called NAD+, which is present in all cells — plays a key role in regulating protein interactions that control DNA repair.
An international group of scientists predicts the team’s discovery of NAD+ will lead to a new drug to reverse aging, speed DNA repair, and even keep astronauts healthy on long space flights.
A leading member of research team — geneticist Dr. David Sinclair, whose team is based at Harvard Medical School and the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia — said the first human trials of a therapy based on the compound will begin within six months.
Twenty-five volunteers will be injected with a substance to verify its health and longevity benefits. If the trial turns out successfully, larger scale human trials will be conducted in the United States, Australia, and possibly other countries.
“Then we really get serious,” Sinclair tells Newsmax Health.
NAD+ is what’s known as a metabolite — a substance naturally found in our bodies which are vital for metabolism. It is present in all cells and plays a key role as a regulator in protein-to-protein interactions controlling DNA repair.
Sinclair’s laboratory research involved using NMN — a NAD+ precursor or “booster” — which the team has shown is successful in improving cells’ ability to repair DNA damage caused by radiation exposure (including sunlight) and old age.
The team’s lab work found that mice, injected with NMN, appeared more youthful — at the cellular level — in a variety of standard biological tests.
“The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice after just one week of treatment,” Sinclair says.
“This is the closest we’ve come to a safe and effective anti-aging drug that’s perhaps only three to five years away from being on the market, if the [human] trials go well.”
The research project has come to the attention of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which has asked to be kept fully briefed on progress because of the possibility of using the substance to keep its astronauts healthy during long space missions, which can speed up aging processes.
Another group that stands to benefit: Survivors of childhood cancers.
According to Dr. Lindsay Wu, a University of New South Wales-based member of the research team, 96 percent of childhood cancer survivors suffer a chronic disease by age 45.
These include cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and various cancers unrelated to their childhood cancers.
“All of this adds up to the fact they have accelerated aging — which is devastating,” Wu says. “It would be great to do something about that — and we believe we can with this molecule.”
For the past four years, Sinclair, Wu, and others on the research team have been working with biomedical companies with the aim of making NMN into a drug substance that can be used on patients. It will act by boosting the effectiveness of the body’s own NAD+.
The research was reported in a recent issue of the journal Science.
As well as delaying the onset of visible signs of aging, Sinclair believes the compound could have a great “impact on health and longevity.”
“We took mice that were 20 months old, which is equivalent to a 60- [to] 70 year-old human and we gave them NMN and we found that . . . many aspects of aging were reversed,” Sinclair notes.
“Their DNA repair activities went up to youthful levels and they were more resistant to radiation and should therefore be more protected against cancer and aging itself.”
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Anti Aging
Researchers say they’ve found an enzyme in mice associated with obesity and a loss of exercise capacity in midlife, suggesting that the discovery could eventually lead to new weight-loss medications.
The team at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) gave one group of mice a drug that inhibits the activity of the enzyme called DNA-PK. Another group of mice wasn’t given the drug. Both groups were fed a high-fat diet.
The group that received the inhibitor had 40 percent less weight gain than the other group, according to the study in the journal Cell Metabolism.
The findings challenge current ideas about why people gain weight as they age, the researchers said.
“Our society attributes the weight gain and lack of exercise at midlife [approximately 30-60 years] primarily to poor lifestyle choices and lack of willpower,” said study lead author Dr. Jay Chung, head of the institute’s Laboratory of Obesity and Aging Research.
The researchers said the average weight gain between age 20 and 50 is about 30 pounds, even though the amount of food a person consumes generally decreases during this time.
Chung and his colleagues looked for biochemical changes in animals during midlife and found that DNA-PK increases in activity with age. Also, the researchers said the enzyme helps the conversion of nutrients to fat.
“This study shows that there is a genetic program driven by an overactive enzyme that promotes weight gain and loss of exercise capacity at midlife,” Chung said in a NHLBI news release.
“Our studies indicate that DNA-PK is one of the drivers of the metabolic and fitness decline that occurs during aging, which makes staying lean and physically fit difficult and increases susceptibility to metabolic diseases like diabetes. The identification of this new mechanism is very important for improving public health,” he said.
Obesity is linked with a number of chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
“The study opens the door to the development of a new type of weight-loss medication that could work by inhibiting DNA-PK activity,” Chung said.
However, it’s important to note that research that seems promising in animals doesn’t always translate well to humans.
For now, middle-aged people fighting obesity need to focus on calorie reduction and increased exercise, the researchers recommended.
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Anti Aging
Seniors who have a good relationship with their adult children also have a reduced risk of developing dementia, according to a new UK research published Tuesday in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Carried out by a team of researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA), University College London (UCL), London Metropolitan University and the University of Nottingham, the study looked at the effect of positive social support on dementia risk.
The team analyzed data that followed 10,055 participants over a 10-year period, who were all dementia-free at the start of the study.
Participants were interviewed every two years and incidence of dementia was identified from self-reports by participants or information given by nominated friends and family.
The results showed that positive support — characterized by having a reliable, approachable and understanding relationship with partners, children, and family — reduced the risk of developing dementia.
However, negative social support — characterized by critical, unreliable and annoying behaviors — had a stronger but negative effect on health, and was linked with an increased risk in developing dementia.
Commenting on the findings Dr Mizanur Khondoker, one of the study’s authors, said, “It is well known that having a rich network of close relationships, including being married and having adult children, is related to a reduced risk of cognitive decline and developing dementia.”
“However, a relationship or social connection that does not work well can be a source of intense interpersonal stress, which may have a negative impact on both physical and mental health of older adults. It is not only the quantity of social connections, but the quality of those connections may be an important factor affecting older people’s cognitive health.”
UCL Prof Andrew Steptoe also added that, “Our results will add to the impetus underlying local and national efforts to help strengthen the social relationships of older people, many of whom are isolated and lonely.”
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Anti Aging, Seniors, Skin Health
Prices for generic topical steroids to treat skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis are on the rise, and many seniors may pay more for generic medications than the brand-name versions, a U.S. study finds.
Researchers compared average out-of-pocket patient costs as well as spending by Medicare, the U.S. health insurance program for people 65 and older, for several commonly prescribed topical corticosteroids that have been used for decades to treat a wide variety of inflammatory skin conditions.
Medicare Part D, the drug benefit program, spent $2.3 billion on topical steroids between 2011 and 2015, the study found. During that period, spending surged 227 percent while the number of prescriptions increased just 37 percent.
If doctors had prescribed the cheapest version when a variety of similarly effective options were available, Medicare could have saved $944.8 million, the researchers calculate.
Patients could have saved a lot too; seniors’ annual out-of-pocket spending for topical steroids grew from $41.4 million to $101.8 million, 146 percent, during the study period.
“Patients often have difficulty paying for their medications and many patients on Medicare are retired and on fixed incomes,” said senior study author Dr. Arash Mostaghimi, a dermatology researcher at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“Paying extra for their medications may mean going without other medications or sometimes food,” Mostaghimi said by email.
Generics accounted for almost 98 percent of total spending on topical steroids during the study period, the researchers report in JAMA Dermatology.
In theory, generic drugs are supposed to come on the market after brand-name versions lose U.S. patent protection and help lower prices by increasing competition. The study of topical steroid costs, however, offers one look at a much more complex and confusing reality.
For the study, researchers examined costs for drugs grouped based on potency, or how much medication is blended into the ointments and creams. They sorted drugs into five classes, with one being the most potent and five being the weakest potency.
Costs grew at the slowest rate, 23 percent, for the weakest steroids, the study found. By contrast, costs rose the most, 604 percent overall, for the most potent group of steroids.
Within that group of most potent steroids, the steepest increase in average user costs was for clobetasol propionate (Temovate), which is used to treat itching and inflammation from skin issues caused by allergic reactions, eczema and psoriasis. During the study, user costs for this drug climbed by more than 605 percent.
Limitations of the study include the lack of data on certain drug manufacturer rebates that might help lower costs, the authors note. Researchers also didn’t know if doctors had certain clinical reasons for choosing specific versions of similar medicines.
Still, the study illustrates something doctors already see all the time: that these costs often take a toll on patients, said Dr. Joslyn Kirby, author of an accompanying editorial and a dermatology researcher at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
One challenge for doctors is that they can’t always see what different steroids of similar potency cost when they prescribe the drugs, because that’s not in electronic medical records, Kirby said by email.
“I ask my patients to contact me and let me know if the medication I prescribed during the appointment is too expensive when they go to the pharmacy,” Kirby added. “I need my patients to know that it’s ok to tell me that something is too expensive, because I can work with our staff to find an alternative or a solution.”
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by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Anti Aging
Older adults who want to get moving to help boost their brain function have a wide variety of workouts to choose from, a research review suggests.
Among the many options for working out over 50, tai chi may have the biggest effect on cognitive function, but aerobic and resistance exercises may also have some benefit, the review found.
“Age is a risk factor no one can avoid when it comes to cognitive decline and other neurological disorders such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease,” said lead study author Joe Northey of the University of Canberra Research Institute for Sport and Exercise in Australia.
“As our study shows, undertaking just a few days of moderate intensity aerobic and resistance training during the week is a simple and effective way to improve the way your brain functions while also reducing the impact of other risk factors for cognitive decline such as obesity and diabetes,” Northey said by email.
Some previous research suggests that heart-healthy lifestyle choices like avoiding cigarettes, eating a balanced diet and getting plenty of exercise may help stall the cognitive decline that happens with age, but these studies offer a mixed picture of what type of activity is best.
For the current review, Northey and colleagues analyzed data from 36 previously published studies looking at how much the intensity and frequency of different types of exercise was associated with improvements in cognitive function in people 50 and older.
Studies in the analysis were controlled experiments that randomly assigned some participants to specific exercise interventions to assess how activity influenced cognition.
While researchers included people with varying levels of cognitive ability, they excluded patients with a history of stroke, depression or other mental illnesses.
Across all the studies, they compared the average amount of improvement for different types of exercises and found the largest gains associated with tai chi, a Chinese meditation practice that combines deep breathing and slow, fluid movements.
Aerobic exercise, resistance training and workouts that blended different types of physical activity were also associated with gains in cognitive function, but didn’t have as much of an effect as tai chi, researchers report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
In particular, working memory improved with tai chi and resistance training, which was also associated with gains in executive function.
Yoga had a slight impact on brain function, but it was too small to rule out the possibility that it was due to chance.
Workouts of 45 to 60 minutes were associated with significant improvements in cognitive function, which weren’t seen with shorter or longer exercise sessions.
As for the intensity of workouts, light exercise didn’t have an effect on cognitive function but both moderate and vigorous exercise was associated with similar and meaningful gains, the study found.
Exercising more often was associated with bigger gains in cognitive ability, but there was still an improvement with no more than two workouts a week, the study found.
One limitation of the study is that the analysis focused on supervised exercise interventions, which might not reflect what people would do in the real world, the authors note.
Still, the study offers fresh evidence that the biggest benefits of exercise on brain health are expected with higher amounts, like 45 minutes or more multiple times a week, said Dr. Jeffrey Burns, co-director of the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Kansas City.
“More exercise is likely better for driving brain benefits than modest amounts but we also know that some is better than none, especially for other physical benefits,” Burns, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “So the key message from this study is don’t just exercise for heart health, exercise also to promote your brain health.”
by Dr Alex Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, CFMP, IFMCP | Anti Aging
Researchers in the USA have developed an ingenious system that uses virtual reality to help prevent falls by detecting and reversing balance impairments in elderly people.
The sense of balance declines in elderly people, as well as in those with neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis. This leads to greater reliance on visual cues to maintain balance and prevent falls.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and North Carolina State University (NC State) developed a system to recreate the visual illusion of losing balance, tested on volunteers walking on a treadmill. The participants walked on machines set up in front of a large screen depicting a moving hallway.
“As each person walked, we added lateral oscillations to the video imagery, so that the visual environment made them feel as if they were swaying back and forth, or falling,” explains study co-author Jason R. Franz.
The researchers used 14 cameras to record the positions of 30 reflective markers on each volunteer’s legs, back and pelvis.
In response to visual disruptions and perceived loss of balance, the volunteers took longer or shorter steps, as the scientists expected. Their head and trunk swayed further sideways with each step. The variability of these measures — their tendency to change from one step to the next — increased much more significantly.
During the experiment, the researchers analyzed muscles’ ability to respond to perceived loss of balance and identified which muscle groups worked to correct it. The researchers found that individual muscles were highly coordinated in preserving walking balance.
The scientists’ data provide important reference measurements that could be used in future clinical procedures to detect balance impairments before they start to cause individuals to fall.
This kind of system could be used as a therapeutic tool to help teach balance-impaired individuals how to improve their balance and avoid falls.
According to the study, falls lead to the hospitalization or death of hundreds of thousands of elderly Americans every year.
The study is published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.
