Protandim

The foods that give you an anti-aging boost
Katie Gilbert  (Psyched for Success)

Next time you’re ambling down the produce aisle, keep an eye out for some of the smallest and little—known food superheroes—dark berries.

A study finds that adding boysenberries and black currants to your diet can give you an anti-aging boost that can protect all parts of your body and even postpone the development of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Berries and other colorful fruits and veggies are chock full of polyphenols, a type of antioxidant that buffers against disease by protecting even the tiniest of bodily cells from the natural stresses of the environment and aging. These helpful chemicals—also found in green tea, olive oil, dark chocolate and pomegranates—keep your cells (and you) vibrant and active.

How can you reap the benefits of these mighty little age-fighters? One author of the study, which will appear in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, offers some refreshingly simple advice: Eat your colors.

Since polyphenols are largely responsible for providing plants their hues, choosing a varied color palate translates into treating your body to a vast array of the antioxidants. Include blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, purple grape juice, pomegranates on your plate. The more closely your diet resembles a rainbow, the better.

People may not realize a colorful diet is actually a heart-healthy diet, says James Joseph, a neuroscientist and director of the Neuroscience Lab at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Antioxidants protect arteries by keeping them supple and strong. Healthy arteries not only mean a healthy cardiovascular system but healthy gray matter as well. Says Joseph: “What’s good for your heart is also good for your brain.”

It’s possible that someday we’ll use berry extracts in supplements or processed foods, says Joseph, but he believes that the eating fresh berries provides the most bang for your buck. Important compounds can easily be lost in processing berries, he says. Indeed, there may be chemicals in fruits and veggies that we haven’t even been identified.

Still, adding color to your diet isn’t a quick fix. If you’re serious about heart and brain health, “you want to make this a lifestyle,” Joseph says. Healthy living means the triad of behavior: diet, physical and mental exercise.

Exercise affects brain in a way that’s similar to polyphenols. Researchers from the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida find that rats with exercise wheels in their cages show fewer signs of aging in their brains than their sedentary peers, and the same conclusions have been drawn by comparing elderly humans who exercise with those who do not.

That leaves mental exercise as the last leg in the triad. Reading books, tackling crossword puzzles and other kinds of brain workouts may be as powerful in Alzheimer’s prevention as black currants and boysenberries.

Knowing is half the battle. Now that we know food and exercise are potent weapons in the battle against disease, we have one less excuse not to put up a superhero-worthy fight

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Immune System

• The immune systems begin to attack itself. When this happens, it also loses the ability to cleanse the body of defective and normal dead cells, building up cellular garbage, which facilitates the aging of other organs.
• Most health conditions occur only after our immune system begins to lose potency.
• The secret to looking younger and living a longer life lies in keeping the immune system operating efficiently and effectively.

Neurological System

• Brain cells start dying by the thousands per day around the age of 30.
• Messages take slightly longer to pass from the nerves to the muscles, and the muscles take slightly longer to respond
• Possible decrease in the perception of pain and increase in the time it takes to react to it (can make it hard to gauge whether something is really wrong or not)
• Change in wake-sleep cycle (you may find yourself not sleeping as much at night).

Muscles

• Muscles shrink and lose mass. This is accelerated by a sedentary lifestyle.
• The numbers of size of muscle fibers also decrease (that’s why it takes an older muscle longer to respond when we are older).
• The water content of tendons decreases, making us feel more stiffness and less able to tolerate stress well, physically.
• Handgrip strength decreases.
• The heart muscle becomes less able to move large quantities of blood quickly to the body (we tire more easily and take longer to recover).
• Elasticity of blood vessels and heart valves
• Restricted blood flow due to the thickening of the vessel walls and because of fatty deposits lining the vessels

Bones

• Loss of bone tissue
• The mineral content of bones decreases, making them more fragile and making us more susceptible to osteoporosis, which can lead to crush fracture of the vertebrae (giving some the ‘hump’ in their back). Osteoporosis is also responsible for almost all hip fractures in older men and women.
• Cartilage degenerates and arthritis can develop.
• Ligaments become less elastic, reducing flexibility.

Joints

• Joint motion is restricted and flexibility decreases because of changes in tendons and ligaments.
• Joints become inflamed and arthritic as cushioning cartilage begins to break down from a lifetime of use.

Skin

• One of the most accurate registers (outwardly) of aging. Skin becomes thin and dry and loses elasticity.
• Patches of darker pigmentation appear.
• Hair grays and thins

Respiratory System

• Decreased elasticity of the lungs (affects your ability to utilize oxygen, as well as your ability to cough and take deep breaths).
• Prone to fatigue and shortness of breath on exertion
• More susceptibility to infections as immune system weakens.

Metabolic System

• Our metabolic rate slows (making us more susceptible to becoming overweight; it also makes us feel like we move more slowly).
• Possible gradual decline in the activity of the thyroid gland as well as decline in the ability of the pancreas to produce insulin (you may notice an increase in weight, an increased blood sugar levels, decreased energy and decreased ability to handle stress. Can also lead to the onset of adult diabetes).

Digestive System

• Gradual slowing of the system
• Decrease in the secretion of saliva and enzymes which are necessary for digestion (you may have problems with indigestion, elimination and adequate absorption of nutrients).

Sensory System

• Gradual decrease in the senses overall.
• Sense of touch is decreased, as is the ability to hear some high-pitched sounds
• Some decrease in the ability to smell and a loss of some of the sweet and salty taste buds
• Lenses of your eyes lose some of the ability to adjust, so you may find yourself having trouble reading
• Possible yellowing of the lens, causing a decrease in color perception.

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Are All Antioxidants Created Equal? A Response to the Controversy.

The Journal of the American Medical Association recently published an article on the benefits, or lack thereof, of conventional antioxidant supplements which has generated enormous interest, and controversy, in the supplement industry.

The analysis of 68 studies from 1977 to 2005 suggests high doses of vitamins A and E as well as beta carotene and “other antioxidant supplements” are actually bad for you and don’t help you live longer.

At LifeVantage Corporation, makers of Protandim, we know that not all supplements are created equal. Some are synthetic, some are natural products, and others, believe it or not, can actually become pro-oxidants if you get too much of them (which increases your oxidative stress, by the way).

Protandim is not an antioxidant, it is an antioxidant therapy, and we’ve always been careful to make that distinction in order to separate our product from the myriad of consumable antioxidants in the marketplace.

Dr. Joe McCord, LifeVantage’s Director of Science, points out that most people don’t realize that their bodies do not rely on antioxidant vitamins to maintain proper balance. Your body relies on powerful antioxidant enzymes. “In fact,” he says, “the peer-reviewed clinical studythat established Protandim’s ability to eliminate the age-related increase in oxidative stress underscores the uniqueness of Protandim’s approach to antioxidant therapy by increasing your own antioxidant enzymes.”

Protandim is effective in the body because it works entirely differently from conventional antioxidants (whether those are consumed in pill form or in foods you eat/drink). When you take Protandim your body’s trillions of cells understand that they are to commence making more antioxidant enzymes – Superoxide dismutase and Catalase – which work in tandem to fight free radical damage to all those cells. The new higher levels of these enzymes do not completely eliminate free radicals (because even free radicals have a place in a well-balanced metabolism), but they reduce free radicals to the low, non-damaging levels your cells experienced decades ago.

We are big on cellular health at LifeVantage because an enormous body of scientific evidence has shown that most health conditions arise at the cellular level. Proactively protect your cells from being damaged and you should reap the benefits in terms of good health and wellness as you age.

LifeVantage’s approach to the science of cellular health and oxidative stress is that we believe today’s consumers of dietary supplements want more scientific data to demonstrate the value of the products they choose. We have that scientific data.

We market Protandim because we believe you should have the means of having quality of life in the years that you do live. Take Protandim daily, and live healthy as you age.