There is so much shame in our culture around aging,” said Koshin Paley Ellison, Buddhist monk and co-founder of the New York Zen Center of Contemplative Care in New York City. Whereas Asian, European and African cultures have for millenniums revered their elders’ as harbingers of insight, knowledge and deserving of respect, North America is where the pursuit of youth is tantamount to a cultural obsession and physical signs of aging are regarded with distaste.
Ageism is symptomatic of a nation that is in the throes of its own historical adolescence, a transient society where the ties that bind no longer do and sage wisdom is best conveyed with 140 characters or less.
Youth, at any age, appears to be a desirable social currency.
“On the flip side, juvenilization, characterized by the loss of cultural memory and losing our place in a historical context, should not be misconstrued with those positive attributes associated with youth,” said Stanford Professor and author, Robert Harrison. “ that is flexibility, optimism, humor and a zest for living. These characteristics do not come with an expiration date.”
At the extreme, societies’ popular obsession and over-praising and privileging today’s youth is a slippery slope. Tweens are modeling $8,900 Hermes Clemence Birkin handbags and pop stars are billionaires before they can even legally have a drink. On the other end of the spectrum, seniors in their 80’s are seeking breast implants and Juvederm®.
By 2030, the number of people ages 65 and older is expected to exceed 73 million. This is 33 million more mature adults than today, comprising a third of the nation’s population overall.
Public opinion on whether ‘the growing number of older people is a problem or a blessing varies dramatically around the world,’ according to a Pew Research Center survey. It is hard to say whether society is on the cusp of a wholesale rejuvenation of human culture or whether it is tumbling into dangerous and irresponsible juvenility.
Not only is the aging population growing larger, it is also living longer. A short century ago, life expectancy peaked at 50. Today, 50 years of age is considered a half way mark where many individuals begin to hit their stride. Time Magazine recently postulated, “ The person that will live to a 150 has already been born.”
“Even if humankind will never live indefinitely, the attainable goal is to be healthy and productive until life’s inevitable end,” commented surgeon, age management expert, Nobel Prize nominee and leading cellular aging expert, Dr. Vincent Giampapa, MD FACS. Giampapa is at the forefront of dispelling the notion that aging need be synonymous with the body’s deterioration.
Another that is vocal about the tyranny of ageism is legendary television producer Norman “All in the Family” Lear, who celebrated his 93rd birthday as a keynote speaker at the National Association of TV Program Executives (NATPE.org).
He was joined by seven- time Oscar nominee Quincy Jones. Along with Madonna, this triad may be in front of the most defining moments of their careers—that is, championing the end of ageism.
While LGBT (Glee, Modern Family), sexual liberation among women (Amy Schumer) and racial diversity (Key & Peele and the Jerrod Carmichael Show) has entered the popular mainstream, age bias continues to get a pass in our society.
Madonna notes that discrimination, derision and mockery of the mature are the last taboo to overcome, insisting that female artists over the age of 40 having to justify their careers is nothing new, but still infuriating.
The dissonance between women today and how they were portrayed in the Golden Age of cinema is a testament to how times have changed, and at warp speed. Scripts then open categorized actresses as either pubescent ingénues or fussy pudgy matrons with muffin tops and swollen ankles.
Conscientious women and men of a certain age today strive to be their personal best for as long as humanly possible. Cankles and mom’s jeans have made way for fashion forward stilettos and skinny Capri’s. Mature men are more apt to be cross training and sporting a six-pack, than guzzling it.
Cultural influencers embrace the mantra, “If you can’t beat them join them’. Virtually every public figure from politicians to TV talking heads has had “work”. As more succumb to the nip and tuck as desirable and affordable, the cosmetic procedure may be likened more to maintenance like a gym membership or a growing professional imperative.
Erasing marionette lines or lifting a crepey neck is a survival tactic in an oversaturated job market driven by Millennials who have invested heavily in their education and deserve the same opportunities afforded to their elders.
According to Vincent Giampapa, Discovery Science Channel Expert and author of The Gene Makeover: The 21st Century Anti-Aging Breakthrough and Younger Today: The Cell Solution of Youthful Aging and Improved Health, “People have historically defined aging by its symptoms, such as wrinkles, sagging skin, age spots, energy loss and diminished mental clarity.”
With decades of groundbreaking research, Giampapa indicates the aging process is more accurately defined as an “unavoidable and chronic condition that consists of declining cellular health, which we all experience over time.”
However, aging is not all gloom and doom.
The most fundamental unit of life is the cell: Every organ, every tissue of every being is made up of cells. As our cells sustain damage throughout a lifetime, the speed at which this damage accumulates contributes to the difference between our chronologic age and our biological age.
Research in DNA sequencing, stem cells and molecular biology suggest we can improve health on a cellular level in spite of multiple deterrents. The onslaught of aging is exacerbated by unbalanced diets of processed food, sedentary mind- numbing work compounded by stress and anxiety.
As science discovers how to improve the health and rejuvenation of one cell; we are able to extrapolate these findings to improve health in the trillions of cells that make up a human being.”
At the recent Palm Beach Healthycell® & StemBankTM Symposium, Dr. Giampapa elucidated on the source of most diseases to a group of nutritionists, oncologists, chiropractors, and surgeons. With an introduction by Dr. Michael Nobel, grandson to the founder of the Nobel Prize, Giampapa stated, “Health, as well as disease,originates at the cellular level – as cells are the body’s fundamental building blocks.”
Today’s medical professionals are melding medicine as the treatment of symptoms with a more Eastern approach that considers health as a life in balance. The hard sciences are adopting a more integrated approach to treating both an ailing body while staving off the aging process through preventative care.
Topical advances from dermal fillers, stem cell injections and invasive surgeries complement a growing awareness that health on a cellular level is as indispensible as building a house on a sturdy foundation.
To derail or counter the aging process is more of a lifestyle choice than a foregone inevitability. The introduction of the innovative ground breaking nutritional supplement Healthycell® pro, formulated by a consensus of physicians, nutritionists and dietitians under the direction of Dr. Giampapa, is a synergistic blend of 90+ vitamins, minerals, and protective phytonutrients, combined with probiotics and enzymes for advanced cellular nutrition.
Healthycell® pro provides the mechanism by which the smallest living unit is nourished and maintained in optimum condition. Cell regeneration serves to hedge its inevitable deterioration.
The ubiquitous glut of vitamin supplements, many with cheap forms of ingredients, and inadequate formulas rife with false promises “ They are really not adequate to address the multifaceted dynamics of cellular health”, says Dr. Giampapa.
Healthycell® pro is in a category of its own – the only multi nutrient supplement that combined with a conscientious diet, moderate exercise and a modicum of ‘me’ time will give those on the regimen the best chance at a lifetime of youthful vitality. Healthycell® pro advances a whole body approach.
The goal propelling the Life Science Institute, makers of Healthycell® pro, is the quest for sustainable health throughout one’s an entire life span, while advancing a youthful countenance in defiance of one’s chronological age. “Specific cellular processes such as inflammation, oxidation, glycation, and damage to DNA all lead to deterioration of life’s most basic building block – the cell”.
Harvard Graduate and esteemed South Florida plastic surgeon, Dr. Robert Palma says he is not in the business of “selling hope” that is sometimes associated with taking vitamin supplements. He opines that anyone with a balanced diet, plenty of hydration, a moderate lifestyle and exercise does not need vitamin supplements.
Herein, however, lies the paradox. “In North America, 93 percent of the population fails to get 80 percent of the recommended daily value of vitamins and nutrients,” as advocated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “While 99.9 percent do not get the 100% daily recommended nutritional allowance.”
Dr. Michael F. Roizen, Chair at the Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic was quoted in Robb Report’s Health and Wellness Magazine, “Recommending supplements to aid the prevention of mental dysfunction, heart and other debilitating diseases” is part of a normal health care regimen.
Giampapa goes on to explain that where we fall on the biological aging spectrum is determined, in part, by the ratio of healthy to senescent (unhealthy) cells and the ratio of stem cells to somatic (body) cells. As we age, both ratios decrease, leading to degenerative conditions of aging and disease.
A primary goal of any anti-aging or even a general wellness lifestyle should combine healthy choices supplemented by a regimen of high quality nutrients such as those found in Healthycell® pro.
In addition to supplements, extensive medical investigation and trials point to ground breaking advances in cellular and stem cell regeneration as ways to prolong a healthy life. DNA sequencing and cell health on a molecular level are the new frontiers in age defiance.
Findings indicate that the collection and banking of stem cells while they are functioning at their optimal levels is a way to ‘freeze time’, a form of ‘bio-insurance’ to advent the effects of aging, disease or injury later on.
The ‘Me Generation’ and ‘baby boomers’ have grown to believe that life unfettered by disease and disabilities is an inalienable right that was unattainable until now. “ The truth is we all age. The myth is there is nothing we can do about it. Our bodies have built-in repair mechanisms to prevent and even x cell damage.
But in order for these mechanisms to work optimally, the body requires the right co-factors, or phytochemicals that act as a catalyst for these protection and repair processes. Vitamins and minerals are essential, but there is much more required for optimal cell function, such as phytochemicals that support the body’s control of oxidation, inflammation, methylation, glycation, and DNA repair – all key processes that play a large role in cellular health, and therefore in aging,” confirmed Giampapa.
Healthycell® at the World Medial Tourism & Global Healthcare Congress
Approximately forty micronutrients are essential for normal metabolism. According to Dr. Bruce Ames, Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley, “Micronutrient deficiency can mimic radiation (or chemicals) in damaging DNA by causing single- and double-strand breaks, oxidative lesions, or both,” which in turn are the root causes of many diseases.
The role of dietary supplements is more than prevention of vitamin and mineral deficiencies; it is to fill the micronutrient gaps in our diet – specifically the phytonutrients that we know are critical for cell health.
Dr. Rand McClain of PSR Medicine in Los Angeles, CA said, “I prefer the entirely different perspective from which Healthycell® is designed to function in the body to promote cellular health – an ostensibly subtle, but much more logical and effective approach than the now obsolete and simple attempt to supersaturate the body with a random array of vitamins. I did my homework with Healthycell® and use it myself as part of my regimen.
Phytonutrients are organized into the following categories: anti-oxidant support, gene expression support, DNA repair support, mitochondria support, telomere support, stem cell support, and cell regulation support.
