Telomeres that shorten make us mortal. Lengthening them reduces our biological age. Keeping them long makes us immortal.
Thanks to research by an American inventor and age-reversal expert, we know that human telomeres (DNA caps) can now be safely extended by an average of 8.5 biological years in six months.
There exists no FDA approved means to extend telomeres, although google will tell you that exercise can lengthen telomeres.
To my knowledge, the one product hyped for extending telomeres, TA65, was not FDA approved to lengthen telomeres. One study showed a potentially important telomere lengthening effect: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5178008/
The inability to extend telomeres up to this point in human existence is one reason I am excited about LifeWave/David Schmidt's new technology undergoing FDA review for approval. The LifeWave clinical studies showed an average 8.5 years of telomere lengthening in six months, i.e., the study participants biological age was reduced by an average 8.5 years.
Here are the telomere basics:
Life Cannot Be Extended Without Lenthening Telomeres
Life exists because DNA can make a copy of itself. A new cell forms around the "daughter" or copied DNA strand.
However, not widely known is that DNA can not copy itself end-to-end.
Telomeres are at the ends of the DNA (chromosomes) and they must be of a certain length for DNA duplication to succeed.
Telomeres shorten every time the cell divides. Thus we are mortal.
At some point, the telomeres become too short, cell division becomes impossible. Cells die and we age.
Telomerase is an enzyme that lengthens telomeres. Telomerase can make us immortal.
Telomerase was discovered (and theorized to exist) because we exist as a species, i.e., our reproductive cell's telomeres don't shorten.
There are numerous test tube studies that show human cells with added telomerase in culture can reproduce indefinitely. The cells become immortal.
David Schmidt, CEO of LifeWave, is in his sixties and maintains his own telomeres at the length of people age 30.
His company is about to introduce a product that clinical studies show can lengthen telomeres by an average 8.5 biological years in six months. (One person became 18 years biologically younger in six months). They are awaiting FDA approval.
In the meantime, LifeWave's CEO David Schmidt's passion is age reversal. Most of David's existing Lifewave products attack some cause of aging, i.e. they are in some way connected with lengthening telomeres' rejuvenating the body with stem cells, altering gene expression (like what occurs in calorie restriction), reducing oxidative stress, and other novel means.
Telomeres shorten for at least two reasons.
1) Every cell division, unless the enzyme telomerase is present.
The cells that divide the most, e.g. the immune system cells and skin cells, would be most subject to damage from telomere shortening caused by rapid cell division. When cells can't divide, we essentially lose the ability of that part of our body to function. This is one reason why the elderly have poor immune systems, can't respond to vaccinations, are more likely to die from a flu infection, etc..
2) Later in life telomeres apparently shorten from oxidation.
Both vitamin C and carnosine (and maybe taurine and probably exercise) have been experimentally shown to prevent age-related telomere shortening.
However, even with perfect anti-oxidant defenses, without lengthening one's telomeres, (because of #1, they necessarily shorten from cell division), one can know the year when they will no longer exist on Planet earth.
Today that year is around 114 and one half years from after the year they were born.