Telomeres

[pguyer807]

Hello everyone!

With all the brainpower on this forum I need feedback on this subject. I have gone down so many rabbit holes with my 23andme
I'm beginning to wonder if nievity would be much better! LOL

I am 60 years old, own a health club I am very fit used to drink very heavily for my size , mostly healthy diet (which we know is
relative) and have exercised pretty much lifelong. I have never been overweight and probably on the thin size but I do a lot of strength training so I have a fair amount of muscle. Have been on bioidentical HRT for 12 years.

I am COMT met/met apoe3/4 (came from my dad) I am also a non- Secretor? My crp is always very low, cholesterol low
I am never sick but suffer from extremely low adrenal , aldosterone function. My bp is pretty low. ( 100/60ish).

Sent in blood sample to one of the companies that tests telomeres in white blood cells. I was looking forward to finding out that my hard work of taking care of myself would be rewarded! Unfortunately it was a shock. I'm 80 years old on a cellular level!

If anyone has any reassuring information I would greatly appreciate it. My husband is 72 real age and his cellular age was 74!
I almost wish I hadn't learned this! I have done lots of research and can't seem to be reassured by this one.

Thank you all for your ongoing research and valuable information.

[SusanJ]

Sorry that you found out information you'd rather not know. Especially since you've done so many things to stay healthy.

Have you read this one? Sometimes it's easy to forget that we need to really watch our stress levels and do daily work like meditation...

Stress and Telomere Biology: A Lifespan Perspective
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3735679/

[Gilgamesh]

Sorry about the bad news! But it might not be so bad. The key might partly be what test it was (what company was it?). And, either way, a lot of research indicates it's the rate of change of telomeres, not abs. length, that matters.

[Greenie]

I strongly suggest reading "The Telomere Effect" by Blackburn and Epel. It mentions APOE 4 specifically as well as strategies that we can all do to preserve and even lengthen our telomere. I think at least part of the benefits from diet and exercise have to do with telomere preservation and lengthening. Coincidentally the recommendations are similar to the strategies we try such as low stress, meditation, exercise, diet, good sleep, avoid smoking and toxins etc. I think in the not so distant future some gene therapy might help restore telomere length. Check out the book and go from there.
Good luck!


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[apod]

Sent in blood sample to one of the companies that tests telomeres in white blood cells. I was looking forward to finding out that my hard work of taking care of myself would be rewarded! Unfortunately it was a shock. I'm 80 years old on a cellular level!

If anyone has any reassuring information I would greatly appreciate it. My husband is 72 real age and his cellular age was 74!
I almost wish I hadn't learned this!

Has anyone else had their telomeres measured for kicks? I was looking around the other day at a few labs that will do the test for a relatively small fee (although they range from < $100 to over $200.) I'm not quite sure what you'd do with the data (aside from stress out if it's a poor result and shorten your telomeres, haha), but it does seem like an interesting biomarker to check out. I've got the telomere-length test bookmarked next to IGF1, for the next time I'm feeling like splurging on some nerdy anti-aging health data.

This was an interesting post on reddit, but it seems pretty "high-risk:"


"If I can believe titanovo, I had the telomeres of a 55 year old man. In mid-April I started a course of epitalon... At the end of June I submitted another test, and the results just came back. My telomere length is up by 1,000 base pairs, and titanovo now says I have the telemore length of a ... ten year old boy."

Maybe there's new research on the horizon for other interventions.

[Gilgamesh]

Recommend reading peer-reviewed articles on the diff. methods of measuring length and diff. problems with each. And check the Conflict of Interest statements.... pguyer: scary results, but I wouldn't worry. But do let us know which company it was.

[TheresaB]

I’ve never tested telomeres, but I do get my IGF-1, Insulin Like Growth Factor-1, tested. Similar to telomeres, IGF-1 is tested to measure how well a person is aging (per Dr Gundry). A lower number is better. I know that body builders have (want) high IGF-1 and pguyer807 does a lot of strength training, I don’t know if that’s why the telomeres measure was poor.

According to Wikipedia:

Factors that are known to cause variation in the levels of growth hormone (GH) and IGF-1 in the circulation include: insulin levels, genetic make-up, the time of day, age, sex, exercise status, stress levels, nutrition level and body mass index (BMI), disease state, race, estrogen status and xenobiotic intake.

[pguyer807]

Thank you all for the responses. I probably should have never ventured down this path.
My only explanations may be excessive alcohol use in the past coupled with apoe4, and to the IGF-1 issue I work with
an anti aging doctor and was on hgh for a few years. Even during that time my IGF1 was never high.
Stress issues a problem, I have started meditating and working on my stress levels.

I will definitely check out the book! Who knows how all of this will pan out in the end! My relatives on my moms side
live to be 100! My mother is 90 and type 2 but in relatively good health. I did not get my 4 from her as I did a 23 and me on her!
It was really interesting.

Well we all push forward..... thanks but a test I would discourage

[pguyer807]

Thank you all for the responses. I probably should have never ventured down this path.
My only explanations may be excessive alcohol use in the past coupled with apoe4, and to the IGF-1 issue I work with
an anti aging doctor and was on hgh for a few years. Even during that time my IGF1 was never high.
Stress issues a problem, I have started meditating and working on my stress levels.

I will definitely check out the book! Who knows how all of this will pan out in the end! My relatives on my moms side
live to be 100! My mother is 90 and type 2 but in relatively good health. I did not get my 4 from her as I did a 23 and me on her!
It was really interesting.

Well we all push forward..... thanks but a test I would discourage

[pguyer807]

Oh it was TeloYears! I have since ordered a test from a different company that tests saliva! I will let you know how they compare.