Genome protection is possible. You are not helpless in the face of aging and decrepitude. The inevitability of aging is a myth. You have choices. This article is about preserving the integrity of your genome.

I just finished an article on genomic instability, one of the twelve hallmarks of aging. You can read them now or later. The point is that genomic instability comes from several sources, and most of them are controllable.

That’s good news – you can do something about this hallmark of aging. In some cases, you can stop this erosion, and in other cases, you can slow it down. I will discuss these options and get you started on a path to protecting your genome.

First of all, though, here’s a recap of the three contributors to genomic instability:

First: Cellular death and senescence. As cells age, in a healthy situation, they die and are replaced. Sometimes, however, they linger on and spread bad DNA.

Second: DNA gets damaged in many ways and from many sources. X-rays and chemical toxins are examples. There is a repair process for damaged DNA, and in a healthy environment, if the DNA strand cannot be repaired, the cell is destroyed.

Third: DNA replication in new cells is not always exact, and defective DNA might result. In this case, the DNA might be repairable, or the cell (think cancer cell) is taken out by the immune system.

All three of these mechanisms are present in a healthy environment.

We will look at each separately and see what strategies we can employ to keep them working.

Genome protection slows down aging and limits disabilities stemming from weakened organs.

Genome protection you can do:

You are not helpless in the face of genomic instability. You have choices, and the sooner you get started, the better.

I. Cellular death and fasting:

Most cells eventually die, and when they do, they have either destroyed themselves or our immune system does it for them. This is a complex process, but the net result of it is dead cellular debris.

What I just described is healthy. Sometimes, though, cells linger on and become renegades with faulty DNA. This causes dysfunction at best, and cancer at its worst.

As we age, dead cellular debris builds up and can be a problem as well. It needs to be cleaned up and that’s another subject, but here’s a quick look at autophagy, the clean-up process.

What you can do about senescence:
  1. Maintain a medium to low weight via the BMI scale. Low caloric intake minimizes inflammation from fat buildup. Also, there is some indication that high carbohydrate diets add to the inflammatory process, although this last claim is “iffy.”
  2. Fasting, particularly intermittent fasting, helps control the senescence rate and debris cleanup after cell death.
  3. Supplements, most notably spermidine, and quercetin, are considered effective against senescence. There are others, but these two get the most attention.

II. DNA Damage:

This comes from many sources, some internally (endogenous) and some externally (exogenous). This is a fairly long list.

Endogenous DNA damage includes hydrolysis, oxidation, alkylation, and mismatch of DNA bases. The most common of these is oxidation. Exogenous DNA damage includes ionizing radiation (IR), ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and various chemical agents. 

Reactive Oxygen Species ROS are almost always involved in DNA damage. (This does not include physical damage, which is a small part of DNA damage.) ROSs are oxygen ions usually carrying positive charges, and are highly reactive.

Some of this damage is a part of, or a result of, our natural metabolism, and this damage is usually repairable. Other types are not, and the best way to deal with them is to isolate the damaged cell or destroy it.

This goes on millions of times each day and is automatic.

ROS and free radical damage:

Free oxygen radicals are very vicious and destructive. They are not the only ones, but the primary ones. Although there is not really a percentage here, for argument’s sake, let’s say that of damaging free radicals, oxygen is 80%.

So, with this assumption, beating back oxygen free radicals is our best method to minimize DNA damage.

OK, we need oxygen to survive, but it’s dangerous at the same time. So, how do we live with our enemy?

Minimizing DNA damage:

First, the digestion of food is a culprit here. Overeating and being overweight creates a bee’s nest of free radicals. Poor eating habits cause the same thing. The suggestions here are eating within a weight range, and eating a clean-green diet.

Why? Because Fat is inherently inflammatory, which is another word for the results of high levels of ROS behavior, Lousy food (junk food and fast food in general) is inflammatory as well, with the added problem of lacking high antioxidant levels.

The lesson here is to get within the mid to lower range of the BMI scale and eat a variety of fruits and vegetables to get the anti-oxidants. I do suggest that you get help with this by joining Chronometer, which is meal-planning software that is free – it will help guide you into healthy eating. (I use his myself, and it has been a great help.)

So managing your weight and eating well are two things anyone can do to reduce the effects of ROS damage. Here’s a short list of other things:

  1. Avoid direct sunshine during the day, and use sunscreens when you’re outside. Sunshine destroys DNA in skin cells and even areas below the skin’s surface. Most skin melanomas are a result of skin damage from sunlight.
  2. Avoid radiation in the form of X-rays and other sources. X-rays are sometimes necessary, but don’t accept them as “routine.” Same with other types of scanning. Here is an article on radiation sources that is well worth reading.
  3. If you are working around or with chemicals, read the MSDS materials and follow the directions. Some chemicals can easily cause DNA damage. Benzene, for example, is a heavily used industrial chemical known to cause cancer. Be careful with chemicals.

III. DNA replication mistakes:

Here, we have a broad category that is difficult to deal with because replication of complex systems is always incomplete. This is a mathematical argument, but it says there will always be mistakes in the replication process, and the more complex the process, the higher the level of mistakes. This is certainly true of cells.

One of the problems with this is that the mistakes are usually small and escape the natural weeding-out process of the immune system. Because of this, the mistakes carry forward into future replications, and this happens with each minor mistake.

Eventually, these mistakes add up to physiological systems that function poorly. In fact, this is one theory of aging itself.

So other than healthy living, there’s not much that can be done about this. In the future, anti-aging technology might provide for the growth of fresh organs from stem cells to replace decrepit organs. This is being worked on now, and progress is inevitable.

Summary:

Preventing genomic instability is primarily one of lifestyle modification and avoidance of causes. There is a growing catalog of supplements that help defray the degradation process, especially supplements addressing senescence, autophagy, and DNA repair.

I am not dismissing these. It’s just that they deserve their own article. Progress here is extensive to the point that the day one writes an article, it is obsolete. I thus prefer to focus on individual supplements, or maybe a small group of related supplements.

I will address these in future articles, especially the more promising ones.

OMY1

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