Lying about your age is
about to get a whole lot easier. Groundbreaking research suggests that
you can shave years off your biological age—and looks—with a few simple
lifestyle changes. "The body has tremendous reparative capabilities not
just to stave off the effects of aging but to reverse them," says
plastic surgeon Darrick Antell, an assistant professor at New York's
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Best of all, you can begin now.
THE DIET THAT WORKS
Some of the most intriguing research involves telomeres, the caps at
the ends of chromosomes that protect our DNA from damage. Although
telomeres shorten naturally with age, smoking, stress, and obesity can
speed up the process. "Short telomeres have been associated with higher
risks of chronic diseases, including diabetes and some cancers," says
Cindy Leung, a researcher at the University of California, San
Francisco, School of Medicine. Studies have concluded that shorter
telomeres can also make us look older. "You know how some people who are
70 look 90?" says Immaculata De Vivo, an associate professor of
medicine at Harvard Medical School. "They probably have shorter
telomeres." While we have long known that the Mediterranean diet—rich in
fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, whole grains, fish, and olive oil,
and a moderate amount of red wine—improves health, researchers at
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston recently discovered that it may
be even more effective than other healthy diets at preventing
accelerated telomere shortening. "Women on the diet had longer
telomeres. Our study showed that it's possible to take a year and a half
off your biological age with modest changes to your diet," says De
Vivo, the study's senior author. Researchers haven't yet isolated which
components of the diet appear to be the most effective, but the women
who adhered to it most closely had the longest telomeres. And swap your
soda for that glass of cabernet: According to another study, sugary
sodas don't just widen your waistline; they also shorten your telomeres.
"Our findings show that someone who drank just eight ounces of sugary
soda a day had shorter telomeres than someone who drank no soda," says
Leung, one of the study's authors. "Drinking 20 ounces was associated
with 4.6 years of additional biological aging, an effect comparable to
that of smoking."
A PILL WITH PROMISE Of course, anytime there's an effective diet, there's sure to be a pill promising the same—or better—results. Enter TA-65,
a nutritional supplement that proponents claim can not only slow
telomere shortening but actually lengthen existing ones. Available
without a prescription, TA-65 is derived from astragalus root extract, a
powerful antioxidant, and is said to work by activating the enzyme
telomerase, which counteracts telomere shortening. Joseph Raffaele, an
internist and cofounder of PhysioAge Medical Group in New York, has
studied TA-65 since 2007 and says his research shows that people who
take TA-65 have "a decrease in blood pressure, cholesterol, and fasting
glucose as well as an increase in bone density." Ron Rothenberg, founder
and medical director of the California HealthSpan Institute in
Encinitas, is also a believer, and says that it's never too late to
start. "It works best when it's used with other healthy lifestyle
choices, not in isolation," explains Rothenberg. All this purported telo
lengthening is not without controversy. Some doctors are concerned
because telomerase activity has been associated with a higher risk of
cancer; they recommend waiting until more studies are completed.
TRICKS TO YOUNGER SKIN One
thing there is no controversy about: the antiaging benefits of
exercise. Research indicates that staying active can preserve everything
from mental acuity to muscle mass. Now, it seems, exercise can also
take years off your complexion. Researchers at McMaster University
Medical Center in Ontario, Canada, found that people who took part in
moderate endurance exercise for 30 to 45 minutes twice a week for three
months developed younger-looking skin. "At the microscopic level, their
skin was about 20 years younger," says neurologist Mark Tarnopolsky, the
study's lead author. "It makes sense to do endurance exercise—biking,
running, the elliptical—at least twice a week." A visit to the
dermatologist can also encourage your skin to act younger. Lasers like Fraxel and PicoSure stimulate collagen and elastin and provoke the skin to essentially age in reverse, says dermatologist Robert Anolik of New York's Laser & Skin Surgery Center. Sometimes going backward truly is the best way forward.
