The latest research shows how increasing telomere length and protecting the DNA and genetic material in chromosomes may combat aging.
The term “anti-aging,” in many circles, has become passé—partly because we all know that even though there are many ways to look younger, from healthful eating to retinol to lasers and beyond, there is no way to stop aging.
Or is there?
Michael Roizen, MD, chief wellness officer emeritus of Cleveland Clinic, is known around the world not only for his best-selling books, but because his life’s work has centered on learning, then teaching, how to make one’s biological age younger than one’s chronological age.
Millions and millions of people were—and are— highly interested in the credible medical research behind that and how to apply it to their lives.
In the 1990s, when he was a physician and researcher with the University of Chicago Medical Center, Dr. Roizen’s book Real Age became a phenomenon. It introduced concrete actions that anyone could take to make their “real age” younger than their actual years, including exercise, meditation, walking with your dog, flossing teeth regularly, and cultivating strong friendships.
Not only could a person look younger, but speaking biologically, essentially be younger. This led to the first of many invitations to appear on Oprah, and to international acclaim. The book’s advice remains widely accepted and is now taken for granted.
Then, over the next three decades, science and research went vastly deeper, focusing on cellular processes and how they affect our health and how well—or poorly—we may age, and Roizen’s work deepened right alongside it. Inflammation began to be a focal point, as were the ways to prevent it.
Recently, though, Dr. Roizen has been working as a special advisor to a firm that has created a drug that can potentially allow the body to repair itself, and lessen the effects associated with aging.
Also, stem cells and DNA are the terms most commonly heard today as the discussion now emphasizes that the path to rejuvenation is literally from the inside out, as proactive as it is preventive.
Leading-edge Research on Telomeres
That shift is mostly a result of a groundbreaking event in 2009, when the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine introduced the world to another word that is now widely known: telomeres. The prize was jointly awarded to researchers Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak, “for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.”
Specifically, Blackburn identified a DNA sequence that protects chromosomes from degrading; Greider discovered telomerase, an enzyme that maintains the length and integrity of the chromosome ends; and Szostak helped prove that telomeres’ DNA prevents chromosomes from being broken.
This was all crucial because a telomere, which Blackburn compared to the caps on the ends of shoelaces, protects the ends of chromosomes from becoming frayed or tangled. Every time a cell divides, the telomeres become slightly shorter, and eventually, they become so short that the cell can no longer divide successfully, and the cell dies.
Dr. Roizen explains it another way, referring to a more dramatic situation: “Telomeres are the reason we want to get to the hospital quickly if we have a heart attack or stroke—we need to restore blood flow so that stem cells will come in and become new heart cells. That is what restores function.”
Without blood flow, cells die quickly. So does the patient’s ability to pump blood to the rest of the body as well.
Stem cells—no doubt you’ve heard some controversy about how effective or ineffective they are in treating myriad physical conditions—differ from other cells because they have relatively long telomeres. That means they can keep dividing and replicating without those telomeres significantly getting shorter, and that allows them to regenerate and repair tissues throughout our lives.
Other cells can’t do that. Every time they divide their telomeres get shorter, which leads to, yes, less ability to repair yourself.
Of course, all this cell death occurs much more slowly when there is not an emergency, such as a heart attack. But slow or not, cell death without repair diminishes all our functions.
Knowing what we do about telomeres and preventing cell death does not put us on the road to immortality. But it does mean longer, more healthful lives that are reflected inside and outside our bodies—whether in our vital organs, muscle tissue and bones, our skin and posture, and in the way we move.
“To repair ourselves in the long term we need to create stem cells, or longer telomeres on our cells, so they can keep duplicating.”
– Michael Roizen, MD, chief wellness officer emeritus of Cleveland Clinic
Fifteen Years After the Nobel Prize
Last April, Telomir Pharmaceuticals unveiled the drug, Telomir 1, that showed how, in a culture
of human cells, it could lengthen telomeres and protect the DNA and genetic material in chromosomes to combat aging. Dr. Roizen is working with the company as a special advisor as they advance the research.
The next step is testing how well this drug works in mammals—in this case, dogs—to determine the anti-aging and age-reversal effect. The first experiment will involve Telomir 1 as a method of addressing osteoarthritis.
It’s possible that human trials will begin in mid to late 2025. If those are successful, it still might take a few years for approval by the Food & Drug Administration. Other firms around the country are also performing this type of research.
There’s no need to waste time as we wait, and much that we can do on our own to keep those telomeres from shortening too much, too fast.
“What we’ve learned over time is that as we stress something, we turn on our natural repair system,” Dr. Roizen says. “When you lift a weight to build muscle, you stress it, tear it, and the stem cells in the muscle essentially say, ‘You can tear me today, but tomorrow I’m making something stronger.’” Same with our bones, and with our brains.
“The point is that to repair ourselves in the long term we need to create stem cells, or longer telomeres on our cells, so they can keep duplicating,” he adds.
Is there anything we know for sure that will decrease telomere length? Definitely.
“We know that someone who has a diet full of red meat and sugar will have shorter telomeres than someone who follows a vegan diet,” Dr. Roizen says. “So will someone who doesn’t engage in physical activity, or alternately, someone who participates in extreme physical activities, or a person who is socially isolated.”
Many activities—including those introduced in Dr. Roizen’s first book, Real Age, and greatly elaborated on in his more recent book, The Great Age Re-boot— continue to be the go-tos for increasing telomere length:
• A healthful diet that incorporates fresh fruits and vegetables, fiber, and lean protein, such as the Mediterranean diet
• Regular physical activity that includes cardiac workouts as well as some form of regular strength training
• Having a circle of friends who you can confide in and who can provide help when you need it
• Having an intimate relationship with a partner
• Using stress management methods, whether deep breathing, mindfulness and meditation, to name a few
• Having a dog that you walk.
What is not yet known is whether these activities are able to lengthen short telomeres—or just keep the telomeres you have from getting shorter.
Either way, it’s a win as we wait on the outcomes of today’s research.
