What We Believe
ProHealth Founder Rich Carson
At ProHealth Longevity we believe that your healthspan - those years you are healthy - is largely within your control.
We believe in order to live a long and healthy life, you must build the right lifestyle habits. And we believe that science-backed supplementation is an important part of that longevity lifestyle.
The products we create and sell at Prohealth Longevity are guided by science. What I mean by that is that we explore the scientific research to discover what the body needs to better function as we age, and that's what we offer you.
Science tells us that aging occurs when our body's repair mechanisms don't keep up with the damage that accumulates over time. You don't need to be a scientist to know that this is true. And as you've also undoubtedly noticed, some of us age more slowly, live longer and have more vitality than others.
We know from the Blue Zone studies conducted by longevity expert and National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner that the longest lived, healthiest people in the world (living in the "Blue Zones") share a specific type of lifestyle built on a plant-dominant diet, strong interpersonal bonds and a sense of purpose. (1)
These life-enhancing qualities exhibited in the Blue Zone can be adopted by us, and magnified by supplementation, as you'll see in some examples I’ll share below.
We Believe NMN Boosts NAD+ to Youthful Levels
One of the most exciting examples of a supplement that can magnify the benefits of your positive lifestyle habits and virtually turn back the clock on aging is NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide).
NMN acts as a precursor to boost the body's NAD+ levels. Why is that important? Because NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), a coenzyme found in all living cells, is essential for the fundamental biological processes that make life possible.
Unfortunately, NAD+ levels decline as we get older. By the age of 50, our NAD+ levels have already dropped by 50% and will continue a steady decline throughout the rest of our lives. Fortunately, though, that's not the end of the story.
Thanks to the research of Dr. David Sinclair, a Professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging, we now know that NAD+ can be boosted to youthful levels by administering its precursor - NMN.
Dr. Sinclair is best known for his work on understanding why we age and how to slow its effects. In fact, his longevity research is so highly respected that in 2014, TIME magazine listed him as one of the "100 most influential people in the world."
So what does one of the world's most knowledgeable researchers in the science of aging do? He takes NMN - and he gives it to his family as well. Their results have been nothing short of remarkable. (2)
- Before beginning NMN, 47-year-old Sinclair had his blood tested and was told his body had a biological age of 58. After consuming 500 mg of NMN every day for three months, he was tested again and his biological age was 32.
- When Sinclair’s mother had her left lung removed, he was told by her doctors that her remaining life expectancy was about a year. Sinclair was not accepting that. He prescribed his mother NMN, and she lived for 20 more years.
- Taking NMN has reduced Sinclair’s 77-year-old father's apparent age by about two or three decades, and he has successfully taken up mountaineering.
- Sinclair's younger brother was so affected by being outpaced by his 77-year-old father that he, too, is now taking NMN.
Ongoing research continues to reveal the numerous anti-aging benefits of NMN. For example, a 2016 study showed that: (3)
- NMN suppresses age-associated body weight gain and enhances energy metabolism.
- NMN improves insulin sensitivity, eye function, and other features with no toxicity.
- NMN prevents age-associated gene expression changes in a tissue-specific manner.
- NMN is well-tolerated without any obvious harmful effects.
If you'd like to know more, we have extensive information in our NAD+ and NMN sections of ProHealth Longevity that explains how NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide ) is crucial in fueling the seven different genes in our body that govern aging, but rapidly decline as we age.
We Believe Chronic Stress Shortens Telomeres and Makes You Prematurely Old
Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn won a Nobel Prize for her co-discovery of telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes telomeres, the part of chromosomes related to the process of aging. (4)
As we get older, our telomeres shorten. Telomere length is representative of biological age - the age your body thinks it is - as opposed to what the calendar suggests. The shorter your telomeres, the older is your body.
Dr. Blackburn’s research shows that chronic stress disrupts the ability of the enzyme telomerase to help keep telomeres long. If you’re stressed too much for too long, you become older, quicker.
The telomere example underscores the value of choosing the right lifestyle habits, because if you take the time to become mindful of the events that stress you and take actions to mitigate them, then you’re taking an active and positive step to improve your healthspan. In this case, you could meditate and take stress-reducing adaptogens, such as as Ashwagandha and GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), the number one inhibitory (calming) neurotransmitter in the brain.
So, yes, we believe supplements make a difference if they’re backed by scientific research. If properly selected, some supplements can help improve our repair mechanisms and/or reduce the damage that accumulates as we age. Take cardiovascular disease, for example, the number one killer worldwide.
We Believe the Risk of Heart Disease Can Be Reduced with Supplements
The risk of dying from cardiovascular disease plummets by more than three-quarters (76%) if you combine healthy eating habits with at least five of six strategies recommended by the American Heart Association. They are: don’t smoke, stay physically fit, maintain a healthy weight, keep blood pressure at 120/80 or lower, be sure total cholesterol is less than 200 and make sure your fasting blood sugar level remains below 100. (5)
Along with these lifestyle factors, certain supplements can help to reduce the risk of heart disease. A 2019 study showed that the probiotic Bifidobacterium longum, CoQ10 and Red Yeast Rice Extract reduced total cholesterol and LDL (the so-called "bad cholesterol") in people with high cholesterol. (6)
We Believe Polyphenols Can Help Prevent Many Chronic Diseases
A 2015 study showed that certain natural compounds contain the healing properties that may play a preventative role in many of the diseases plaguing us, particularly as we get older.
The compounds that have beneficial biological effects are called polyphenols - including apigenin, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein and epicatechin - and "can be used to treat acute and chronic conditions such as ischemia/reperfusion injury, neurodegeneration, diabetes, and cancer," the researchers said. (7)
These natural compounds are plentiful in our Green Tea EGCG Extreme™, Pterostilbene Supreme and Natural Resveratrol.
These are all examples taken from scientific studies that show certain supplements can amplify the benefits of lifestyle habits we adopt to extend our healthspan, and perhaps our lifespan as well.
We just need to cross the bridge.
You're Facing Bridge #1 - Cross It
Ray Kurzweil, American inventor, author and futurist, came up with a metaphor that we think is useful for understanding how the human race will be able to extend its longevity. He calls it the "Three Bridges," each referring to progressive strides science will make in the future to enable us to live longer and healthier than what is currently possible. (8)
The second and third bridges have not yet been built. They are waiting for the necessary longevity biotechnology that can actually repair DNA and reverse chronic disease to be invented and tested.
But the first bridge is right in front of you. You can cross it now.
Bridge #1 is constructed of the lifestyle habits you make to reduce your chances of getting a chronic disease that will eventually kill you. Because, remember, you don’t die because of old age, but because of disease - the deterioration of some biosystem that can no longer support life.
I hope you now have a better understanding of how and why we believe that the right supplements, supported by scientific research, and coupled with healthy lifestyle choices can help you cross that first bridge to greater health, vitality and longevity.
Our aim at ProHealth Longevity is to help you do just that.
To your long, robust life,
Rich Carson, Founder
References:
1. Joe Garma: Want 10 Extra Years? It’s Easier Than You Think In The Blue Zones.
2. George Tait Edwards: How To Live A Healthy Long Life.
3. Kathryn F. Mills, et al: Long-Term Administration of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Mitigates Age-Associated Physiological Decline in Mice.
4. The Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging: The Habits That Can Help You Live Longer.
5. Maureen Callahan: Fifty-something Diet: Boosting Your Longevity Odds.
7. Joseph Shay, et al: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Effects of (−)-Epicatechin and Other Polyphenols in Cancer, Inflammation, Diabetes, and Neurodegeneration.
8. Joe Garma: Ray Kurzweil's March To Extend Life.
