The secret to longevity is closer than we think. From the jungles and rainforests of a bygone era, to modern research labs, explorers and scientists alike have searched for the secret to longevity.
Researchers in the emerging field of rejuvenative medicine believe the answer may be right under our noses, or more specifically beneath our skin – in our blood.
It was said that Cleopatra kept her youthful beauty by bathing in the blood of young virgins. The rejuvenating power of “young blood” has always been part of the various “vampire mythologies.”
Now, what was once the stuff of legend, is becoming a reality.
In several recent experiments involving mice, scientists have been able to demonstrate how the secret to longevity is in the healing potential of “young blood.”
Secret to Longevity and Healing Factors
One of the most recent examples of the healing factors (or the secret to longevity) found in young blood was published in the January 2015 edition of the medical journal Nature Communications.
The paper demonstrated how young blood could in fact be the secret to longevity. The young blood sped up the healing of broken bones when circulated through older mice with such injuries. The researchers could get the same effects by transplanting the bone marrow from the younger mice, into the older mice with bone fractures.
The scientists were also able to isolate a “signaling molecule” that accounted for the more rapid healing in the mice exposed to the young blood.
The molecule is a protein known as beta-catenin. Beta-catenin is known to influence the healing of bones. The scientists could not explain its decreased presence in the blood of the more elderly mice, but its reintroduction with the infusion of young blood, seems to be the mechanism of action for the secret to longevity.
Interestingly enough they found the reverse was also true. Damaged bones in young mice that were transfused with “old blood,” healed more slowly.
The research is intriguing on many levels, but it challenges the notion that bones heal more slowly in older people because they are weaker. Or the ability of bone cells to repair themselves 
decreases over time.
This research seems to indicate it is not the bones themselves, but the levels of healing factors (like beta-catenin) in the blood stream. There are many such proteins and “healing factors” in the blood.
Isolating these healing factors is one of the cornerstones to uncovering the secret to longevity for rejuvenative medicine.
Scientists have already been able to use such “healing factors” to stimulate the regeneration of muscle tissue, skin, and eye-tissue. This research indicates that we may soon be able to obtain a derivative of beta-catenin that can help to regenerate bone, and maybe even reverse age-related bone loss.
You Can Age Optimally
Breakthroughs in labs continue to bring us closer and closer to finding the true secret to longevity and increasing human lifespan. Myself, and many of my colleagues in physician guided age management believe the first person to live to 120 years or more, is already alive today.
Until the ultimate age-defying solution becomes available, there are many things you can do right now to add years to your life.
You can start by simply reducing the number of calories you eat. Caloric reduction is the single most effective method to increase lifespan we know of to date.
Beyond that you should:
- Not smoke
- Exercise
- Adopt a Mediterranean diet
- Reduce the consumption of alcohol
- Get enough sleep
- Learn to reduce and manage stress
- Consider hormone optimization
If you do these things you will not only find the secret to longevity, but more importantly you will increase your “healthspan”. Healthspan means the number of years you are able to live as a strong, vital, and productive member of society.
Have you or anyone you know tried any “age management” treatments? What were the results?
Start the conversation below.
