by Dave Asprey
That’s right—avoiding grains and sugar helped me reduce inflammation, stabilize my blood sugar, get smarter, and change my personality for the better. Once again, everything is connected. Realizing I’d been fed a bunch of lies (literally) about what to eat for most of my life, I dug into the research and tried different strategies, evolving from the cottage cheese smoothie to the Zone diet to Atkins. (Though I never got anywhere close to the abs promised in that magazine.) Eventually I realized that there had to be a science to this. There were clearly foods out there that acted as kryptonite, caused inflammation, and completely threw me off of my game. And when I ate them, I not only felt awful, but I was also one step closer to developing type 2 diabetes. It took me years, but I finally discovered what those inflammatory foods were and how to avoid them. You’ll read more about this in chapter 3.
ALZHEIMER’S
Just as immune cells in your body fat create inflammation that contributes to diabetes, there are specialized immune cells in the brain called microglia that perform similar functions. They control the brain’s immune and inflammatory response and are also in charge of killing off dysfunctional neurons in a process similar to apoptosis. The microglial cells constantly monitor the brain, and when they sense a threat, they trigger the release of inflammatory cytokines to attack and remove potential pathogens. This process causes inflammation, and if it becomes chronic this can damage or kill neurons, causing memory loss and other cognitive problems.18 Many researchers now believe that this is the root of Alzheimer’s.
In my twenties I was already experiencing significant cognitive dysfunction, and I wondered in the back of my mind if I was on track for developing Alzheimer’s. When I was in business school in the 1990s, my performance on tests was horrible. On exams with math questions, my grades showed a linear decline in per-question scores—100 percent on the first question, 70 percent on the next, 30 percent on the next, and directly downhill from there. My brain got fatigued so easily, even when I studied and knew the answers.
This experience led me to imagine what would happen if I couldn’t rely on my brain to earn a living. I’d had a successful career so far, but suddenly I wondered if I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was. I decided to undergo a then controversial brain imaging technique called a SPECT scan to see what was really going on in my brain. It showed that my prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain involved in complex thinking and decision-making—had essentially no activity when I tried to concentrate. Dr. Daniel Amen, who was one of the first people in this country to use SPECT scans, was shocked that I had been even remotely successful in my career with such clear cognitive dysfunction.
Once again, receiving bad news actually came as a relief. It was incredibly validating to hear that there was indeed a reason why everything felt like such a struggle. The issue wasn’t lack of effort or intelligence. It was an actual biological problem, a hardware problem. And there were lots of little-known things I could do to reduce inflammation and improve my brain function. When I found these interventions, the impact was immediate and allowed me to get smarter and faster with each passing year. The good news is that once you know them, the interventions are simple and practical.
If you’re in your twenties or thirties, it is much easier to reduce inflammation now to boost your brainpower and avoid cognitive decline with age, but even if you are older or experiencing symptoms of dementia, it is still possible to improve your brain function. The sooner you start, the better, but it’s never too late to begin growing a younger, more powerful, and more energetic brain. You’ll learn how to do this later in this book.
CANCER
More than 40 percent of Americans are diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.19 When mitochondria become dysfunctional and don’t produce energy efficiently—which, again, is typical of most people as they age—your risk of cancer increases. This is because an inflamed environment offers the perfect conditions for cancer cells to proliferate.
Think about a time you got a cut and the wound became swollen—an obvious sign of inflammation (an immune response) at work. When the body is injured, your cells multiply quickly so the wound can heal. That process alone does not cause cancer. But when cells multiply rapidly in an environment that contains excess free radicals—which damage the DNA of cells—the risk is that damaged or mutated cells will proliferate. If these damaged cells continue to reproduce, the result can be cancer.20
We often think that our risk of developing cancer is based mostly on our genetics, but the data shows that only about 2 to 5 percent of cancers are truly genetically based, and mitochondrial dysfunction causes most others. In 1931, a German biochemist named Otto Warburg won the Nobel Prize for discovering that highly dysfunctional mitochondria actually stop burning oxygen to make energy and turn instead to a much less efficient process called anaerobic metabolism, which is the combustion of carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. Anaerobic metabolism is associated with the vast majority of cancers. But if your mitochondria are strong, they will not have to resort to anaerobic metabolism. This greatly reduces your cancer risk.
Cancer is something of a double-edged sword when it comes to anti-aging. Any time you do something that makes your cells grow faster or get younger, you are inherently increasing your cancer risk because cancer cells can potentially grow and rejuvenate along with the healthy ones. Then you end up with this weird dichotomy: You can grow old “normally” with a roughly 40 percent chance of getting cancer, or you can get younger and maybe as a result slightly increase your risk. My solution to this dilemma is to do everything I can to make sure my mitochondria run like superstars because that in and of itself will reduce my risk of cancer. I also take action to promote my body’s natural detoxification efforts.
In addition to apoptosis, which you read earlier is healthy, controlled cellular death that targets old or unstable cells, your body also has a built-in detox process to recycle damaged cellular components. This is called autophagy, a Greek word that translates as “self-eating.” During autophagy, your cells scan the body for pieces of dead, diseased, or worn-out cells, remove any useful components from these old cells, and then use the remaining molecules to either make energy or create parts for new cells. This recycling process removes unwanted toxins, reduces inflammation, and helps to slow the aging process.
When you activate autophagy, you slow down the aging process, reduce inflammation, reduce your cancer risk, and increase your body’s ability to function at its best. There are specific supplements and lifestyle modifications such as brief bouts of fasting that boost autophagy. You’ll learn how to do this as we get deeper into the techniques that make you Super Human.
SLASH YOUR RISK
Despite overwhelming evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction and the resulting inflammation leads to the Four Killers, we live in a society in which an inevitable decline in mitochondrial function is considered a normal part of aging. Of course we expect to die from one of these diseases! Between the ages of thirty and seventy, you experience a decrease in efficiency of the average mitochondrion by about 50 percent, setting the stage for you to develop these killers.
Since you’re reading this book, you obviously have no intention of aging like an average person, and you shouldn’t. By the time I discovered the importance of mitochondria, mine were already trashed from years of toxic mold exposure. The mold had weakened my system and aged me prematurely, so in many ways I was the canary in the coal mine. I felt the “cuts” that affect all of us much sooner than most people because I started off in a weaker spot. In order to get to a basic level of functionality, I had to find out what was causing these cuts and work on eliminating them.
Feeling the cuts so early and so deeply allowed me to experience real-time feedback and determine which environmental factors impacted my health and performance the most. This turned out to be an enormous gift because I was able to learn—and can now teach you—how to stop damaging your own body with thousands of invisible cuts by focusing on the
basics: good nutrition, quality sleep, and a healthy environment free of toxins that cause more cuts.
Before we move on to learn how to do that, let’s take a closer look at exactly what these cuts do to our bodies. Obviously, you won’t go from eating an inflammatory meal to developing degenerative disease in one fell swoop. Instead, the cuts from your environment cause invisible damage on the subcellular level. This damage doesn’t age you at once, but it does so cumulatively, day after day, year after year. By the time you become aware of this damage, you’re old. But you can take action now to stop this damage before it stacks up. So after you take the steps to avoid the Four Killers, it’s time to focus on cheating death the way Super Humans do—by avoiding the Seven Pillars of Aging. These are the processes in your body that break as you age, and there’s a lot you can do to control them.
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Bottom Line
If you are average …
•You have a 23 percent risk of dying from heart disease.
•You have a 25 percent risk of diabetes.
•You have a 10 percent risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
•You have a 40 percent risk of cancer and a 20 percent risk of dying from it.
So start hacking. Do these things right now:
•If you have joint pain or blood sugar issues, consider taking glucosamine, which helps control blood sugar and extends the life-span of mice (and probably humans).
•Consume more antioxidants to fight off free radicals. Berries, herbs, spices, coffee, tea, and dark chocolate are good sources. There are also medical spas in most cities that offer antioxidant therapy via IV. It may be worth looking into if you travel frequently or need an energy boost.
•Short periods of fasting stimulate autophagy. You’ll read more about the longevity benefits of fasting and how to do it without hunger later, but it’s worth starting now to benefit right away from increased autophagy.
•To help with cardiovascular issues, try the Zona Plus, a digitally controlled handheld device that uses the science behind isometric exercise to increase both vascular flexibility (thus decreasing blood pressure) and the production and flow of nitric oxide throughout the body, which is linked to treating various cardiovascular conditions, erectile dysfunction, and muscle fatigue. It’s a cool biohack for anyone who wants to improve their cardiovascular health.
•While it is most useful to look at how the environment will control your energy levels and your aging, it’s not like your DNA is meaningless. The area of functional genomics is just getting going. Like functional medicine, it is the study of what you can actually do to influence risk besides worry about it. For instance, a functional review of my genome from the DNA Company revealed that I should take extra steps to take care of the tight membranes in my arteries, including taking the supplements in this book. Check out their tests to discover your weaknesses and learn how to combat them.
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2
THE SEVEN PILLARS OF AGING
Okay, now you’ve decided not to let the Four Killers take you out. That means it’s time to shore up the Seven Pillars of Aging. When I was working to reverse my early aging as a young man, I learned that there are specific forms of cellular aging that drive all forms of aging and disease, even my premature symptoms of aging. Later, I gleaned more detail from longevity experts such as Aubrey de Grey, who is the chief science officer at the SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) Research Foundation, which has the ambitious mission of curing aging by funding anti-aging research around the world. A lot of my elite anti-aging longevity friends (yes, I have weird and awesome friends) are focused on what SENS calls the “classes of cellular and molecular damage that constitute aging.” I call them the Seven Pillars of Aging.
THE SEVEN PILLARS OF AGING
It’s important to understand how the Seven Pillars of Aging affect your body on the cellular level. While some degeneration over time is a given, there’s a lot you can do to protect yourself from the worst of it. From simple and inexpensive lifestyle changes and nutritional modifications to high-end technologies that are rapidly becoming more affordable, I’ll outline multiple strategies to hack the aging process—most of which I’ve tried out myself.
Is this anti-aging science still nascent? Yes. Do we have ironclad evidence that these strategies work perfectly? No. But we do have some pretty compelling research that suggests they will help you spend more quality years on this planet. Plus, they’re not going to kill you—and aging definitely will. So why not give them a shot?
First, let’s take a closer look at each of the aging pathways and how they affect us.
PILLAR 1—SHRINKING TISSUES
When you are young, your body has a multitude of stem cells—undifferentiated cells that are capable of giving rise to many more cells of the same type. When cells die via apoptosis, your stem cells spring into action to replace them. As you age, however, a few things happen. Your stem cell reserves dwindle, your stem cells themselves age and thus become less efficient at replacing dead cells, and your mitochondria may not trigger apoptosis at the right times. Some cells die before they’re supposed to. Others aren’t quickly replaced. As a result, tissues throughout your body lose more and more cells and begin to atrophy, or break down.
Quick, picture a stereotypical “old person.” In your mind’s eye you probably see a frail person with loose skin, no muscle tone, shaky hands, and a foggy memory—right? The truth is that these things happen as we age and cells die and are not replaced. In fact, loss of muscle tissue is so common that it has its own name, sarcopenia, a condition that can lead to falls and broken bones and even impairs the body from fully recovering after those tumbles (or a surgery).1 In most people, sarcopenia sets in as early as age thirty and gets worse with each passing decade.2
When neurons in the brain die and your body isn’t able to replace them, your brain literally shrinks. And yes, this typically happens as we age. This contributes to cognitive decline and dementia, as well as a decrease in fine motor skills. In particular, when that neuron loss takes place in the hippocampus—the part of the brain that controls emotion, memory, and the nervous system—you begin to look and sound a lot like that old person you just imagined. Since hippocampal atrophy is so common, the size of your hippocampus is considered a key marker of aging.3 But there is nothing normal about it—at least, there shouldn’t be.
So the big question becomes, What can you do to make sure those dead cells get replaced (or don’t die in the first place)?
It turns out that if you keep your mitochondria healthy, you can avoid a lot of unnecessary cell loss. The biggest game changer here is eating foods that boost the efficiency of your mitochondria so they can make more energy and your body has the raw goods it needs to manufacture all the proteins, hormones, and fatty acids they require to function. We’ll cover those foods in the next chapter.
It is possible to reverse atrophy by taking advantage of stem cell therapy—a medical treatment in which stem cells are injected into your body. I’ve had more stem cell treatments than probably anyone on Earth (more on this later), and it’s been a game changer for me. I went from having chemical-toxin-induced brain damage as a young man to having a hippocampal volume that’s in the 87th percentile for someone my age. But stem cell therapy does not come cheaply or easily, so it’s better to prevent atrophy in the first place!
The key to success with any of these interventions is to start them now, even if you don’t think you need them. After all, humans are good at avoiding things that hurt. You don’t step on nails or burn yourself because you feel the impact of those cuts immediately. But when it comes to aging, you’re the proverbial frog in a pot of slowly heating water. You keep taking the hits because you don’t feel the impact right away. But cutting down on just a few of those hits by making small changes in your environment can really ramp up what’s possible for you. Perfection not required.
PILLAR 2—MITOCHONDRIAL MUTATIONS
Mitoch
ondrial mutations—aka damaged mitochondria—are the second pillar of aging. The importance of this aging pathway cannot be overstated. When the power plants of your cells—the very things that create the energy that keeps you alive—start mutating, is it any wonder everything goes haywire?
Unfortunately, this is a cause of aging that is often overlooked. Even those on the forefront of biotechnology have been so focused over the past several decades on mapping the human genome that they have paid little attention to mutations in mitochondrial DNA. Don’t get me wrong—the sequencing of the human genome changed the world, and I’m grateful for the scientists who accomplished this monumental task. But unless you have a significant genetic disorder, it turns out that the human genome is not usually of great value in predicting how you’ll age compared to your mitochondrial DNA status.
You can think of your genetic code as the building plans for your body—but who wants a body that doesn’t have any energy? (Hint: That’s called death.) Remember, your mitochondrial genome is separate from your human genome—mitochondria evolved from bacteria and have their own genetic code. But your mitochondrial DNA serves a very important function—it controls how your body makes energy. Unfortunately, your mitochondrial DNA is a lot more susceptible to mutations than your human DNA because mitochondrial DNA has a limited ability to repair itself when it is damaged. So you’re going to want to take fewer hits to your mitochondria.