Methylation, silent inflammation, and glycation, are three of the most critical aspects of the aging process. Let’s explore these issues, the problems they cause, and how you can take steps to minimize their effects on your health!
Key Concepts in Aging
The phenomenon of aging can be broken down into a number of key concepts and when you understand these concepts, you will be able to apply them to your daily life and start to turn your health around.
These problems usually do not appear in isolation, which means if you have a problem with one of these health issues, it’s likely you are experiencing others as well. Problems with the same root cause can be addressed with basic and effective strategies.
What is Methylation
This refers to the chemical reactions that go on in every cell in your body by which methyl groups (one atom of carbon and three atoms of hydrogen) are transferred into another molecule.
When this does not happen in a complete manner, (intermediary molecules) are created which create free radicals and damage DNA. One of the best examples of this is the creation of homocysteine, which can damage arteries and cause heart disease. Cancer is another possible outcome of this process.
To address this, you need to ensure that your nutritional supplements contain precursors (substances the body uses to create other substances) for methylated DNA. These are called methyl donors and can help ensure proper methylation reactions necessary for gene expression take place in your body.
Silent Inflammation
Inflammation is one of the most damaging processes that go on in your body, and it is even more dangerous when you are not aware of it. It can damage blood vessels, organs, and even the brain.
It can accelerate the aging process and rob you of your quality of life at the same time. Medical science is just now beginning to fully understand how damaging and dangerous these inflammatory conditions really are!
The good news is that there is a lot that you can do to lessen or prevent the silent inflammation that threatens your health. Inefficient methylation is just part of this picture, thus preventing it will also help prevent damaging inflammatory reactions as well.
The chemical byproducts of these incomplete methyl group transfers can cause inflammatory conditions in your body’s cells, damaging DNA, and creating the conditions for cancer to develop.
You have a potent weapon in the fight against inflammatory conditions in the Blood Type Diet, which is outlined elsewhere on this site.
Visit my page on inflammatory conditions at these links for strategies on controlling silent inflammation.
Dealing with inflammatory conditions
Glycation
This is a chemical process that takes places in the body, which binds sugar and proteins. This binding with sugar makes the structural proteins in your body stiffer and contributes to accelerated aging by reducing flexibility of tissues and organs.
“Glycated” proteins are also involved in increasing silent inflammation in the body. This process cannot be entirely prevented, but you should strive to slow it down as much as possible. Several strategies you can use to fight this process of glycation are:
- Avoid overcooking, glazing, caramelizing, or browning of foods
- Avoid eating sugary foods and refined carbohydrates
- Use carnosine supplements to protect against cross-linking of proteins
Can The Process Be Reversed?
It is not yet clear whether glycation can actually be reversed, however research is currently being conducted on a class of chemicals called AGE breakers. These drugs would theoretically “undo” the damage in glycated tissues, returning them to their normal state.
The interaction between methylation, silent inflammation, and glycation gives you an idea of how complex the aging process really is. However the GOOD news is that in many cases since the factors are all related, we can use strategies that will address multiple factors of aging at once!
My goal is to identify the root causes or CAUSE of aging to allow you to implement grand and all encompassing strategies that will combat all of these aging processes at once!
