The next time you hear some nay-saying doctor claiming that there is no evidence that vitamins actually do anything, show him this:

A new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that multivitamins can keep you younger, longer. It shows that people who take a daily multivitamin had younger DNA.

The study found that those who took a multivitamin daily had 5.1% longer telomeres than non-users.¹

Telomeres are the key to aging. And it’s not just your life span that’s affected… Short telomeres dramatically boost your risk of serious diseases. One study of 60- to 75-year-olds showed those with short telomeres had a 300% higher death rate from heart disease and an 800% higher death rate from infectious diseases.²

In case you haven’t been following our story on the amazing advances in telomere biology, telomeres are part of your DNA. They can be found in every cell in your body, and are critical to youthful cell function. But as your cells divide, your telomeres get shorter… and the shorter your telomeres, the older your cells behave.  (See my article in the October 14 issue of THB.)

I think of them as a kind of countdown clock for aging. You see, as your cells age, they’re less able to defend against toxins and free radicals that damage your body. So you tend to become more susceptible to a wide variety of age-related diseases.

Worse, when your telomeres completely run down, cell division stops. And that’s bad news. Because when new cells no longer replace damaged ones, you die.

Or looking at the glass half-full — if you can lengthen your telomeres, you’ll be healthier and live better, longer.

And now this new study shows that you can take a significant step toward doing that with vitamin supplements. But you can’t take just any. There are specific vitamins that lengthen telomeres that your formula needs to have.

The study was full of good news. It turns out that vitamin B12 supplements increase telomere length. And vitamins C and E prevent telomere shortening, increasing the life span of cells.³

Here’s where you can get plenty of these important nutrients.

• Vitamin B12: grass-fed beef, beef liver, salmon, tuna, and milk are good sources. You can also supplement with at least 100 mcg of B12 a day. Although, I have recommended as much as 500 mcg per day to patients for improving things like brain function and energy levels.
• Vitamin C: kiwi, strawberries, oranges, mango, red and green bell peppers, and raspberries are good sources. And if you are in good health, I recommend taking up to 3,000 mg per day. If pregnant 6,000 mg, and in sickness up to 20,000 mg.
• Vitamin E: turnip greens, spinach, broccoli, almonds, and olive oil are good sources. For supplementing, you want your vitamin E to me “mixed tocopherols”. And you want them to be the more absorbable, organic “d” form. I recommend 200 to 400 IU of mixed tocopherols a day. Unlike vitamins B12 and C, vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means it needs fat to get absorbed in your body. So be sure to take it with food.

As for your multivitamin, you also want to pay attention to potency and quality. Most brands on drugstore and supermarket shelves fall short of the vitamins and minerals you need most. And they are usually made with synthetic ingredients instead of natural.

A good-quality multivitamin should have at least 500 mg of vitamin C, 200 IU of vitamin E, and 100 mcg of B12. And remember, you want a formula that doesn’t contain iron, because iron keeps telomeres short.

Stay Young with A Nutrient Even More Powerful Than Vitamins While vitamins are vital to include in your arsenal of weapons for fighting disease and aging, there’s also something much more powerful that’s now available. It involves the enzyme telomerase that I told you about earlier, and it just happens to be the most exciting advancement in anti-aging medicine ever.

There’s a gene in your body that activates your telomerase enzyme. It acts like a genetic switch. It can stop the shortening of telomeres and even re-grow them. But this genetic switch turns off when you are born.

Now for the first time, the emerging science of telomere biology has found a way to turn this genetic switch back on. It’s a groundbreaking new therapy called TA-65. It’s a natural extract that comes from the Astragalus plant. It activates your telomerase gene. That means you can actually stop, and even reverse your body’s aging process.

If you want to learn more about how you can turn back your genetic clock and stay younger longer, I’ve made a DVD of an exclusive, $500-a-ticket seminar on TA-65. It features Dr. Bill Andrews, who is one of the leading telomere biology researchers in the world.

Both Dr. Andrews and I explained this scientific breakthrough in detail to everyone. We presented over two hours of captivating information to the group. We discussed the steps leading to the discovery of TA-65, exactly how it works, and even shared our own personal story with it. We left absolutely nothing out. To get your copy of the TA-65 seminar DVD, go here now.

To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD

References

1. Xu et al. Am J Clin Nutr. (March 11, 2009).
2. 2 Cawthon RM, et al. Lancet. 2003, 361(9355):393-395
3. 3 Longer telomeres associated with multivitamin use. Life Extension. 3/17/09. www.lef.org.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears is Chairman of the Board of Total Health Breakthroughs. He has written over 500 articles and 7 books in the fields of alternative medicine, anti-aging, and nutritional supplementation.]

For more great articles like this delivered to your inbox, subscribe to our free natural health newsletter!