I want you to disabuse your mind of the idea peddled by ignorant doctors, that your food supplies all the nutrients you need. (My teacher Theron Randolph, bless him, used to believe that). Well it WAS sort of true until the 1960s. From then on food has gone down and down and down as a source of nutrition.
As I have explained elsewhere—and confirmed recently by Brian Halweil in special report for the Worldwatch Institute—modern farmers no longer produce a natural crop.1 They force it with pesticides and "fertilizers", which in practice means just PKN (phosphorous, potassium and nitrogen). The plants grow large, sell for more, but are ridiculously deficient in many other essential nutrients, such as zinc, iron, magnesium and chromium.
Even a good-hearted, honest farmer would have trouble doing a decent job… THE SOIL IS NUTRITIONALLY EXHAUSTED! It is not being replenished with proper compost or manure. Food just doesn't feed us any more. Fact.
That really is the end of the official stance that all you need is a "balanced diet". But add to that the fact that in times of stress and overload we need more than the recommended amounts of each nutrient (RDAs) to remain healthy and it is easy to see there is a problem with commercial sources of vitamins and minerals.
Without making too fine a point of it, we need nutritional supplements like never before. But most of what's available, and officially sanctioned, is worthless.
Commercial formulas, pushed by relentless TV advertizing, but with inadequate quantities, like "Centrum" and "Boost"—or "added vitamins" to popular energy drinks—are a complete waste of time and money. They are the maximum rip off, selling you the absolute minimum that science claims is needed (the so-called RDA), for the maximum profit.
Look at some of what's in Boost, apart from the meagre quantities of a few vitamins and minerals: Water, Glucose Syrup, Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Canola, High Oleic Sunflower, Corn), Milk Protein Concentrate, Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Soy Protein Isolate, Calcium Caseinate, Sodium Caseinate, Gum Acacia, Fructooligosaccharides, Inulin (from Chicory), Soy Lecithin, Salt, Carrageenan, Natural and Artificial Flavors.
And while I'm at it, forget the concept of "vitamin enriched". Most commercial foodstuffs have most of the nutrients removed (vitiated or weakened is the word). They then add a smidge back and call that "vitamin enriched". If someone robbed you of $100 and then gave you back $5, you wouldn't feel "enriched" would you?
But that's where most commercial food sits. We need to do better, to support a long and healthy life.
Real Multivitamins!
Long-term subscribers to my writing will know that I highly favor Passion4Life Multivitamins and Minerals, developed by my dear friend Charles van Kessler in southern California. It's a liquid product, contains over 130 ingredients, and just about the best you can get. Over 98% absorbed.
There are just a couple of problems: liquids (in this case mainly water) are costly to ship. They weigh a lot and you wouldn't carry them around with you, I doubt. Plus, as the bottle goes down, more oxygen gets to the liquid and this formula soon gets oxidized and spoiled, even if you keep it chilled.
So in my search for something handier, lighter to carry around and longer-lasting, I came across a brilliant formula, to which I have grabbed the rights! It's called TeloVite™. That's about protecting your telomers which, as you probably know, is one of the key cellular elements that need maintaining, in order to live long and avoid cancer. Telomere health is crucial!
A study from the famous medical journal The Lancet evaluating telomere length on a group of individuals age 60 and over [that's us Boomers!] found that those with shorter telomeres had over a 3-fold higher mortality rate from heart disease and over an 8-fold higher mortality rate from infectious disease.2
The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase. It was one of the great discoveries of our age!
Telomeres, remember, protect the ends of chromosomes – Dr. Blackburn (PhD) has likened them to caps protecting the ends of shoelaces from fraying, ensuring that all the important DNA instructions get copied as cells divide.
The Multivitamin
National Institute of Health researchers were the first to report, in a study published in the March 2009 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, epidemiological evidence that regular multivitamin use was associated with longer telomeres among women.
The study found that when compared to non-users of multivitamins, the women who used multivitamins had an average of 5.1 percent longer telomeres, which can translate to a difference of a potential 9.8 years of age-related telomere loss.
The micronutrients most likely to have an important role in preserving telomeres, wrote the scientists, were vitamins C, D, E and certain B vitamins. Based on previous cell culture and animal studies, the authors stated that the higher dietary intake of vitamins C and E is thought to have made an impact on slowing telomere loss due to protection against free radicals, which cause oxidative stress.
The B vitamins, such as folate and B12, are thought to act on slowing telomere loss by reducing amounts of the unhealthy amino acid homocysteine in plasma.
TeloVite™ is a multivitamin formula which contains an array of telomere protecting nutraceuticals. All of them are backed by peer-reviewed human studies, published in prestigious medical journals. There are 14 telomere lengthening evidence-based vitamins, antioxidants and phytonutrients found in TeloVite™:
In July 2009, the USDA Research Center on Aging looked at telomere length in humans, and one of the ingredients in TeloVite™ called folate. The study looked at 195 men, and they found that Folate matched with vitamin B12 creates an additional pathway to longer telomeres.
Studies show that older people with higher plasma levels of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin have significantly longer telomeres than those with lower levels.3
There was an exciting 2010 human study published in the British Journal of Nutrition. The researchers found that the cells of regular tea drinkers may have a younger biological age than cells from non-drinkers. They looked at the ‘telomere’ length of 976 Chinese men aged 65 and over. Here’s what they found:
An intake of 3 cups per day of green or oolong tea, both derived from the same plant (Camellia sinensis), was associated with significantly longer telomere lengths, which corresponds to, now get this, “approximately a difference of 5 years of life.” That’s 5 added years!
That’s why TeloVite™ contains the amount of antioxidants found in at least three cups of green tea, the amount seen in this human study to promote healthy telomere length.
Bottomline: green tea supports your DNA and telomere function, promoting stable and healthy cells.
Higher plasma vitamin D levels have been associated with longer telomeres. Vitamin D promotes activity of telomerase, the repair enzyme that steadily adds to telomere length.4
Vitamin D is one of the hottest vitamins out there today, and here’s a good reason. A 2007 study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, looked at 2,160 women: those with higher vitamin D levels had fewer aging-related changes in their DNA. But guess what? They were also more likely to have longer telomeres. In fact, a positive 5 years difference in telomere aging, the same result as the green tea study. TeloVite™ combines these ingredients for maximum telomere lengthening.
There’s also a double blind, randomized and placebo-controlled clinical trial, the gold standard for research, published in the International Journal of Obesity in June 2012. They looked at whether vitamin D would positively impact the telomeres of overweight adults.
Here’s what the researchers found, “our data suggest that vitamin D may improve telomere maintenance and prevent cell senescence and counteract acceleration of cellular aging.” Translation: vitamin D kept their cells from decaying and it shut down the cellular damage. In fact, their telomerase activity shot up by nearly 20%!
Remember, telomerase is sometimes called your “fountain of youth” enzyme. That’s why we have the clinically relevant amount of Vitamin D in TeloVite™, the amount of Vitamin D associated with healthy telomere outcomes.
Resveratrol was introduced into the dietary supplement market years ago and became the rage, because it was thought that resveratrol, and other polyphenol compounds from red wine, may contribute to the “French Paradox,” the unexpectedly longer lifespans found in the Mediterranean population, despite a diet that is relatively high in saturated fat.
In-vitro (test tube) studies suggest that resveratrol is capable of promoting telomerase activity, thereby helping to maintain telomere length. Likewise, resveratrol has also demonstrated an ability to delay cell senescence (cell aging) by its action on telomerase, that healthy lifespan enzyme.
In addition, research has shown that resveratrol significantly extends the lifespan of lower organisms such as the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the worm Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Other research demonstrated that resveratrol had similar positive lifespan effects on the short-lived fish, Nothobranchius furzeri, also increasing swimming performance, and cognitive performance.
We do not yet know how the effect on these creatures translates to human health but it usually pays to be optimistic!
Scientific research has demonstrated that L-Carnosine can maintain and actually lengthen telomeres. Due to the potent antioxidant action of L-Carnosine, the naturally derived nutrient is shown to play a protective role for telomeres while decreasing the rate of telomere shortening during cell division, effectively slowing down the aging process of your cells.
L-Carnosine is found in high concentrations in the muscle and in the brain. It’s believed to possess a significant number of powerful antioxidant properties and has been proposed to be a potential anti-aging compound for aging skin, brain functioning, and conditions of the eyes.
Oxidative agents, like free radicals, can cause damage to your cellular DNA, including telomere length. In one study, cells exposed to the oxidative effects of hydrogen peroxide, telomere length decreased significantly, coupled with a decline of telomerase activity. Telomerase is our enzyme responsible for lengthening telomeres.
However, these decreases were prevented with prior and post treatment with the algae Chlorella vulgaris to those cells. Chlorella, a powerful biochemical detoxifier, has been found to be an effective preventive against telomerase-shortening due to oxidative damage.
Grape Seed Polyphenols contain oligomeric proanthocyanadins, OPCs, a group of powerful bioflavonoids. They have documented effectiveness as free radical scavengers. There is evidence that OPC’s may play a role in inhibiting enzymes that are involved in the degrading of skin and blood vessels.
Additionally, polyphenols from grape seed provide additional protection for your DNA and telomeres from oxidative stress, free radicals. Mice fed grape seed polyphenols had longer telomeres compared to controls.
Magnesium is necessary for many enzymes involved with your DNA replication and repair. Dietary magnesium has also been shown to positively correlate with increased telomere length in women.
One animal study shows that magnesium deficiency is associated with increased free radical damage and shorter telomeres. A human cell study shows that magnesium deprivation causes rapid loss of telomeres and inhibits cell replication, the most important genetic role of telomeres.
It appears the lack of magnesium ions has a negative influence on genome integrity. Insufficient amounts of magnesium also reduce your body's ability to repair damaged DNA, and can induce chromosomal abnormalities. According to the authors of a recent study, they stated, “it's reasonable to hypothesize that magnesium influences telomere length by affecting DNA integrity and repair, in addition to its potential role in oxidative stress and inflammation."
Magnesium deficiency is common in the Western world, especially the United States and likely contributes to rapid aging. Ensuring magnesium adequacy supports many aspects of your health, including the length of telomeres.
Homocysteine is a molecule associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk. It has long been known that B vitamin supplementation reduces homocysteine levels, and it was recently shown that people whose B vitamin levels are low have shorter telomeres.5
Taken together, these findings suggest that keeping B vitamins at adequate levels is an effective means of both lowering toxic homocysteine levels and supporting longer telomeres. It is good therefore that TeloVite™ has generous levels of B complex vitamins.
It’s important to note, that you’re getting many additional health benefits from all these powerful nutritional ingredients to support your heart, brain, liver, and other key organs and systems. TeloVite™ is a game changer, because taken as an entire formula, it provides two tiers of benefits:
TeloVite™ ingredients empower your energy, immunity, vitality, skin quality, and a general feeling of well-being – starting right away. That in itself is great, but you get long term longevity support, because over your life time, these ingredients are strengthening and lengthening your telomeres - those parts of your cells’ DNA responsible for lifespan.
TeloVite™, the leading Cellular Longevity Multi, with ingredients backed by 291 peer-reviewed scientific studies.
With the introduction of TeloVite™, we have entered a new era of dietary supplementation, Nutrigenomics*. Welcome to the future, and welcome aboard.
* Nutrigenomics is a branch of nutritional genomics and is the study of the effects of foods and food constituents on gene expression. This means that nutrigenomics is research focusing on identifying and understanding molecular-level interaction between nutrients and other dietary bioactives with the genome.
I Grabbed The TeloVite™ Formula
Now don't get me wrong: I didn't steal this formula. Rob Martin and his colleagues at West Martin who developed this amazing product are not fools. They realized I can make very good use of it. I'm having the trademark transferred. It's all friendly and above board.
In the meantime, I'm offering it to you all with the original labelling for the time being.
I feel PROUD to be able to represent this product.
olic acid Vitamin B12 (as cyanocobalamin)
Notice there's NO FLUFF!
But it's not just WHAT, it's HOW MUCH. TeloVite™ has some of the most generous levels of ingredients I have ever come across. While miserable rip-off apologies like Centrum include measly amounts: (Thiamine (B1), 1.5 mg: Riboflavine (B2), 1.7 mg; Niacin (B3) 20 mg; Pyridoxine (B6), 3 mg! and vitamin C, a lousy 60 mg (even less than the recommended dietary allowance).
TeloVite™ has the sort of levels I usually look for when judging a product: 50 mg of Thiamine; 50 mg of Riboflavine; 100 mg of Niacin; 50 mg of B6; and 400 mg of vitamin C!
These are bumper doses, compared to other commercial products and compared to the official recommended dietary allowance (B6 alone is 2,941% of the RDA!) It's the same over-delivery throughout, except for things you DON'T WANT too much of, like calcium (220 mg, which is 17% of the RDA).
Calcium is dangerous and over-prescribed by foolish doctors and ignorant nutritionists (read Thomas E. Levy's book: Death By Calcium)!
There's plenty more good stuff: 15 mg zinc (my recommended dose), carotenoids Lutein 250 mg and Zeaxanthin 50 mcg, iodine (from kelp) 150 mcg, and Selenium, a decent 70 mcg.
There's a whole raft of other goodies, including but not confined to:
In fact there is SO MUCH in TeloVite™ that I'm reproducing the label here, below, so you can browse the ingredients at your leisure!
The doses are just about what a skilled and trained nutritionist such as myself would recommend. You can have too much of a good thing, you know. Holland and Barrett, a British firm registered in Amsterdam, have a B-100 complex. It contains 100 mg of B1, B2, B3, B6, etc. And frankly, this is probably too much for daily use. I take them sometimes myself, but only occasionally, when I'm stressed and need a "B-Boost"!
Now I know what you are thinking! This must be a giant "horse pill", it's got so much in it! Not a bit of it. The tablets are surprisingly small (you take three a day; 90 tablets per bottle)
How Well Absorbed?
One thing is for sure about most pills, medicines and capsules: they don't digest easily. In fact it's far from a secret that those who rent out portable toilets for events know something: when they clean the portable loos, the metal grid often has lots of undigested capsules and pills, AFTER people have pooped them out. Sometimes, you can still read the name! The individual never got the benefit. And this problem applies both to drugs (medicines) and supplements (vitamins and minerals).
TeloVite™ does not have that problem. How do I know? I've tested it (no, not like that!) All you need to do to reassure yourself that your multi-formula is being digested properly is pop a pill or capsule and then watch the color of your urine. If it changes color to a bright glaring yellow, it means the pill has broken up. That bright color comes from the vitamin B2 (riboflavin). I've monitored it with TeloVite™ and usually, my urine changes color in less than 2 hours, sometimes in less than an hour. That means the TeloVite™ tablet is soft, digestible and breaks up easily. There's no problem with absorption.
REDUCE CELLULAR AGING: Women and men over 50 witness the effects of aging, as well as the modern-day lifestyle, taking their toll on their health and appearance. TeloVite™ is designed to act both as a preventative and corrective measure towards a stronger, younger you*. Through promoting telomerase activity and lengthening telomeres, TeloVite™ affords targeted protection and telomere support, aiding in boosting your body’s reparative processes and helping in safeguarding DNA integrity*.