'Simple Ways to Support and Celebrate Healthy Aging', by Terry Naturally

If healthy aging is a category that seems especially personal, you are definitely not alone. No doubt you’ve heard the slogans, “50 is the new 30” and “you’re only as old as you feel” plenty of times. Maybe you’ve even repeated them yourself in a moment when the world seemed to be catching up to you a little too much.

And while it would be great if just thinking or saying those phrases made them true, you know better. It takes a conscious effort to avoid the trap of settling down in ways that aren’t healthy. Of course, getting older in years doesn’t have to mean surrendering to outdated stereotypes of being sedentary or slowed down. There are always ways you can keep a youthful sensibility coupled with well-earned wisdom for the long run. Here are just a few:

Play often: Enjoyable physical activity like a stroll through your favourite park, biking around the countryside, or just shooting a few hoops in the driveway helps keep your heart young, your blood pumping, and your brain engaged. Aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise three times a week.

Stay connected: Even though we live in a hyper-connected world, we need to foster and cultivate lasting human relationships. If you feel a little short in that category, consider volunteering with groups that share your interests. Or, if you’ve thought about joining a club, a parish, or other organization, check it out. At the moment, getting together in person may be difficult, but it’s worth investigating so that when we can get together more frequently face to face without complications you’ve already done the groundwork.

Boggle your mind: Chess, crossword puzzles, Sudoku, and other brain-teasing activities are often cited as ways to keep mental plasticity and cultivate better neural connections. But stretching out a bit and exploring new interests is a good idea, too. Consider developing your inner artist by picking up a book about basic drawing, a few pencils, and a sketch pad. Or, if you’ve ever wondered if you could play a musical instrument, why not try it out? Used guitars, clarinets, or violins are not terribly expensive, quite portable, and provide a great challenge. Plus, you’re likely to find online tutorials to help you learn the basics.

Eat heartily, but healthily: Avoiding fried foods, sugar, and refined grains, and instead emphasizing fresh fruits, vegetables, healthy fats (like olive oil), and lean proteins, as the Mediterranean diet does, may reduce risks of DNA damage and make a big difference for your mind and body alike. (1) 

To start with, you’ll simply feel healthier. But on a deeper level, wholesome foods provide healthy polyphenols, amino acids, and cell-protecting compounds that may promote telomere length. Telomeres are the caps on the end of your chromosomes that help keep the DNA strand from unraveling. (2) 

So the foods you eat really do matter in terms of supporting optimal health and longevity.

Supplement wisely: Smart eating and regular exercise can’t be beat. But they can be assisted. For healthy aging, there are herbal medicines and natural health products from the Terry Naturally® CANADA brand to consider that can help you for years to come:

Curcumin from CuraPro®: Historically, turmeric has been used as a botanical medicine in Ayurvedic practice. Curcumin, one of the most studied compounds in turmeric, is considered responsible for much of the herb’s benefits. (3,4) 

And because the bioavailability of curcumin has been a challenging obstacle in the past, this supplement delivers curcumin combined with turmeric essential oil to enhance absorption, helping the nutrient reach its fullest potential. (5,6)

The BCM-95® curcumin in CuraPro has been the subject of over 70 published studies, including over 30 human clinical trials. If you’re looking to stay active, adding CuraPro to your daily regimen can help relieve pain and inflammation, and can act an anti-inflammatory for the relief of joint pain.(7) 

Boswellia from BosMed™ 500: Boswellia serrata, also known as frankincense, has been a highly valued herb since ancient times. Developed from trees that thrive in hot, dry climates boswellia is collected by first scraping the bark, then gathering the secreted resin after it dries in a kind of tear-shaped clump. The oil content is removed, but it also contains its own unique compounds, and it is what is most often called frankincense. (8) The remaining dry powder is graded according to its colour and flavour. Some is later standardized for key compounds that can help you thrive, including acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid or “AKBA”. (8,9)

The BOS-10™ boswellia featured in BosMed 500 Advanced Boswellia has been used in clinical research alongside BCM-95 curcumin. (10, 11)

It provides up to 10 times more AKBA than unstandardized forms of boswellia, which may contain only as little as one percent of this beneficial compound. That means that, like curcumin, this boswellia is an excellent addition to your regimen as an anti-inflammatory to help relieve joint pain and swelling.(12,13,14)

Glutathione from Clinical Glutathione™: Glutathione is so important to good health that the body actually creates its own. It is an essential for protecting cells from the risk of oxidative damage.(15, 16)

However, aging, environmental conditions, and many other factors can affect our own ability to create this powerful antioxidant. But supplementation can be challenging, too, because glutathione can oxidize easily before it gets a chance to do much good.  Clinical Glutathione is different. Formulated with a patented process, it delivers this antioxidant in a slow melt tablet that has been shown to increase blood/plasma levels of healthy, active glutathione (GSH).(17)

Angelica archangelica from SagaPro®: The name of this Icelandic herb may not seem familiar, but Angelica archangelica has a long history in its island home. In fact, it was cultivated as a medicinal herb in the Middle Ages and traded with other European nations. Even now, harvests of this amazing herb are community events. (18)

SagaPro features an extract made from sustainably harvested angelica leaves and has been shown in a clinical study to help reduce urinary frequency at night in a subset of men with decreased bladder capacity.

Grape seed extract from Clinical OPC VXI™: You’ve probably heard of grape seed, but this supplement features an extract like no other: French grape seed extract VX1. It is a source of antioxidants that helps fight against oxidative damage caused by free radicals and has been the subject of leading-edge laboratory studies regarding cellular function and healthy DNA replication.

Clinical OPC VX1 delivers 99% polyphenols and 80% oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs), compounds considered to be prime movers behind the botanical ingredient’s benefits. (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)

Aside from fighting oxidative damage, oligomeric proanthocyanidins have also been found to help to relieve symptoms related to non-complicated chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), such as sensation of swelling, heaviness and tingling of the legs.

This makes it an especially valuable nutrient for many aspects of healthy aging. (24)

Small changes can make a big difference

Making a commitment to a healthy, satisfying, and long life requires some discipline, but even with small changes, the benefits are definitely worth it. You’ll very likely notice a difference in energy, outlook, and overall well-being in a very short time and for years to come.


References:

1. Trichopoulou A. Traditional Mediterranean diet and longevity in the elderly: a review. Public Health Nutr. 2004 Oct;7(7):943-7. doi: 10.1079/phn2004558. PMID: 15482622. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15482622/ 

2. Ekmekcioglu C. Nutrition and longevity - From mechanisms to uncertainties. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2020;60(18):3063-3082. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2019.1676698. Epub 2019 Oct 21. PMID: 31631676. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31631676/ 

3. Goel A, Kunnumakkara AB, Aggarwal BB. Curcumin as "Curecumin": from kitchen to clinic. Biochem Pharmacol. 2008 Feb 15;75(4):787-809. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17900536/ 

4. Hatcher H, Planalp R, Cho J, et al. Curcumin: from ancient medicine to current clinical trials. Cell Mol Life Sci 2008;65:1631-1652. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4686230/ 

5. Antony B, Merina B, Iyer VS, Judy N, Lennertz K, Joyal S. A pilot cross-over study to evaluate human oral bioavailability of BCM-95 CG (Biocurcumax™) a novel bioenhanced preparation of curcumin. Ind J Pharm Sci. 2008:445-449. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792534/ 

6. Benny B, Antony B. Bioavailability of Biocurcumax (BCM-95). Spice India. September, 2006:11-15. 014 Jun 18;11:31. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-11-31. eCollection 2014. https://geronova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Spice_Board.pdf 

7. Chandran B, Goel A. A Randomized, Pilot Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Curcumin in Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis. Phytother Res. 2012 Mar 9. doi: 10.1002/ptr.4639. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22407780/ 

8. Siddiqui MZ. Boswellia serrata, a potential antiinflammatory agent: an overview. Indian J Pharm Sci. 2011 May;73(3):255-61. doi: 10.4103/0250-474X.93507. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3309643/ 

9. Ammon HP, Safayhi H, Mack T, Sabieraj J. Mechanism of antiinflammatory actions of curcumine and boswellic acids. J Ethnopharmacol. 1993 Mar;38(2-3):113-9. doi: 10.1016/0378-8741(93)90005-p. PMID: 8510458. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8510458/ 

10. Antony B, Kizhakedath R, Benny M, Kuruvilla BT. Clinical Evaluation of a herbal product (Rhulief™) in the management of knee osteoarthritis. Abstract 316. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2011;19(S1):S145-S146.

11. Haroyan A, Mukuchyan V, Mkrtchyan N, Minasyan N, Gasparyan S, Sargsyan A, Narimanyan M, Hovhannisyan A. Efficacy and safety of curcumin and its combination with boswellic acid in osteoarthritis: a comparative, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2018 Jan 9;18(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s12906-017-2062-z. PMID: 29316908; PMCID: PMC5761198. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5761198/ 

12. Prabhavathi K, Chandra US, Soanker R, Rani PU. A randomized, double blind, placebo controlled, cross over study to evaluate the analgesic activity of Boswellia serrata in healthy volunteers using mechanical pain model. Indian J Pharmacol. 2014 Sep-Oct;46(5):475-9. doi: 10.4103/0253-7613.140570. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4175880/ 

13. Dragos D, Gilca M, Gaman L, et al. Phytomedicine in Joint Disorders. Nutrients. 2017 Jan 16;9(1). pii: E70. doi: 10.3390/nu9010070. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295114/ 

14. Abdel-Tawab M, Werz O, Schubert-Zsilavecz M. Boswellia serrata: an overall assessment of in vitro, preclinical, pharmacokinetic and clinical data. Clin Pharmacokinet. 2011 Jun;50(6):349-69. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21553931/ 

15. Townsend DM, Tew KD, Tapiero H. The importance of glutathione in human disease. Biomed Pharmacother. 2003 May-Jun;57(3-4):145-55. doi: 10.1016/s0753-3322(03)00043-x. PMID: 12818476; PMCID: PMC6522248. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6522248/ 

16. Forman HJ, Zhang H, Rinna A. Glutathione: overview of its protective roles, measurement, and biosynthesis. Mol Aspects Med. 2009 Feb-Apr;30(1-2):1-12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2696075/ 

17. Clinical study to evaluate oral form of glutathione for blood glutathione ratio improvement. Centre d'Enseignement et de Recherche en Nutrition (CERNh). Conducted at Centre Hospitalier de Bretagne Sud, Lorient, France. Unpublished research. 2009.

18. Sigurdsson S, Geirsson G, Gudmundsdottir H, Egilsdottir PB, Gudbjarnason S. A parallel, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to investigate the effect of SagaPro on nocturia in men. Scand J Urol. 2013;47(1):26-32. doi:10.3109/00365599.2012.695390 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3549610/#CIT0013 

19. Toden S, Goel, A. Oligomeric proanthocyanidins inhibit Hippo-YAP pathway and prevent colorectal cancer stem cell formation. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4311. https://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/76/14_Supplement/4311 

20. Toden S, Ravindranathan P, Gu J, Cardenas J, Yuchang M, Goel A. Oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs) target cancer stem-like cells and suppress tumor organoid formation in colorectal cancer. Sci Rep. 2018 Feb 20;8(1):3335. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5820273/ 

21. Ravindranathan P, Pasham D, Goel A. Oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs) from grape seed extract suppress the activity of ABC transporters in overcoming chemoresistance in colorectal cancer cells. Carcinogenesis. 2018 Dec 29.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6514448/ 

22. Ravindranathan P, Pasham D, Balaji U, Cardenas J, Gu J, Toden S, Goel A. Mechanistic insights into anticancer properties of oligomeric proanthocyanidins from grape seeds in colorectal cancer. Carcinogenesis. 2018 May 28;39(6):767-777. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5972632/ 

23. Ravindranathan P, Pasham D, Balaji U, Cardenas J, Gu J, Toden S, Goel A. A combination of curcumin and oligomeric proanthocyanidins offer superior anti-tumorigenic properties in colorectal cancer. Sci Rep. 2018 Sep 14;8(1):13869. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6138725/ 

24. Costantini A, De Bernardi T, Gotti A. [Clinical and capillaroscopic evaluation of chronic uncomplicated venous insufficiency with procyanidins extracted from vitis vinifera]. Minerva Cardioangiol. 1999 Jan-Feb;47(1-2):39-46. Italian. PMID: 10356940. [link to abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10356940/ 


†Used in Herbal Medicine as an anti-inflammatory to help relieve joint pain. 

†Used in Herbal Medicine as an anti-inflammatory to help relieve joint pain and swelling

†Provides antioxidants that help protect cells against the oxidative damage caused by free radicals. †Increases blood levels of active glutathione (GSH), an antioxidant that helps protect cells against the oxidative damage caused by free radicals.

†In men, could help reduce urinary frequency at night in those with decreased bladder capacity.

†Source of antioxidants that help fight against the oxidative damage caused by free radicals.

†Helps to relieve symptoms related to non-complicated chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), such as sensation of swelling, heaviness and tingling of the legs.

 

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