Chapter 3
Reversing the Aging Process with the FACE Program
Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
- Franz Kafka, writer, 1883-1924
One of the popular definitions of aging calls it "the process of changing with time, especially during the later part of life." True enough. But what most of us understand as "aging" really has more to do with wrinkling skin, thinning hair, spreading waistlines, diminishing sex drive, and decreasing energy levels.
This chapter takes a look at some of the causes of aging and the metabolic factors that contribute to the aging process. We'll consider damage control, lifestyle factors, and how to help your skin weather time gracefully with the use of exercise, nutrients, and supplements (more on these topics also appears later in the book). It's important for all of us to understand these factors to help us plan our attack against the aging process-and to look and feel better than ever.
The Metabolic Factors Behind Aging
As touched on earlier in the book, there are four primary metabolic factors that contribute to what most of us understand as "aging," each corresponding to a letter of the FACE acronym. Each of these metabolic processes can lead to accelerated aging when unbalanced (in a negative direction), but can also lead to a dramatic "antiaging" effect when balanced or only temporarily unbalanced (in a positive direction). In addition, each of these four aspects of metabolism is intimately intertwined and interdependent on the others. This situation can be good if you can control all four simultaneously, but it can also be very frustrating if you control one area while another area continues to cause problems.
For example, scientists have known for decades that highly reactive oxygen molecules called free radicals are a primary source of aging because they cause damage (oxidation) to cellular structures such as membranes, mitochondria, and DNA, leading to cellular dysfunction. The most viable antiaging approach would seem to be controlling free-radical metabolism. And it is-up to a point. Unfortunately, another metabolic process, inflammation (caused by eicosanoids), can also accelerate cellular damage and aging. Even worse, oxidation can lead to inflammation, and vice versa. Adding to the confusion is the recent scientific understanding that inflammatory control is tightly linked to glucose levels in the blood-meaning that fluctuations in blood sugar (up or down) can lead to fluctuations in inflammatory balance and thus in free-radical load. Higher levels of glucose in the blood lead to glycation of proteins (attachment of sugar molecules to the protein), including the proteins collagen, keratin, and elastin, which form part of the skin. Glycated molecules tend to be dysfunctional; glycated collagen molecules have reduced strength and break down faster, while glycated elastin fibers lose much of their elasticity. As a result, skin sags, wrinkles, and loses its snap. And if all that weren't bad enough, we also know that stress, and its primary hormone, cortisol, can lead to higher blood-sugar levels (thereby increasing glycation) and higher levels of inflammation (thereby setting off a chain reaction between eicosanoids and free radicals). All this leads to greater levels of oxidative damage to cells throughout the body-including in the skin.
by