Speaker 1: Everyone, Welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays, and this
Speaker 1: is the fifth podcast in our series on the hallmarks
Speaker 1: of aging and more importantly, what we can do about it. So, Terry,
Speaker 1: the loss of proteostasis, which basically refers to high well
Speaker 1: we manage our cells proteins, or the proteins within our cells,
Speaker 1: whether we can keep them correctly folded and functional and
Speaker 1: free from damage. So we know that and amino acids
Speaker 1: are really the workhorses of our cells. So the proteins
Speaker 1: are obviously made up of amino acids. But what proteins
Speaker 1: do inside the cell is they build and repair our tissues,
Speaker 1: and they transport molecules, they catalyze essential biochemical reactions and
Speaker 1: do so. But as we age, our ability to maintain protostasis,
Speaker 1: which basically means protein homeostasis or protein balance, that actually declines,
Speaker 1: and this leads to the accumulation of what we call
Speaker 1: misfolded and damage proteins, which contributes to Timer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cancer,
Speaker 1: and general tissue degeneration. Now, the good news is that
Speaker 1: there is lifestyle choices that we can make that can
Speaker 1: slow this process down. And this loss of proteo stasis
Speaker 1: and can actually enhance our protein maintenance and support. So
Speaker 1: first of all, let's do a bit of a dive
Speaker 1: into proteostasis and why it's important. So it is really
Speaker 1: the delicate balance of protein production, folding, maintenance, and degradation
Speaker 1: within our cells. And this system involves a number of
Speaker 1: different things. So the first one is protein synthesis, so
Speaker 1: this is about proteins from the building blocks of proteins,
Speaker 1: which are amino acids. And then we have protein folding,
Speaker 1: so this ensures that proteins take on the correct shape
Speaker 1: to function properly, and the shape of the protein actually
Speaker 1: determines its function. And then we have these protein quality
Speaker 1: control mechanism mechanisms that detect and repair our misfolded proteins,
Speaker 1: and we're going to talk about how we can upregulate
Speaker 1: some of those. And then the last thing is about
Speaker 1: protein degradation, So this is about removing damaged or dysfunctional
Speaker 1: proteins through cellular cleanup mechanisms like autophogy, which you'll talk
Speaker 1: about before, or are Another way to do this is
Speaker 1: something called the ubiquitin proteosome system right bit complex, but
Speaker 1: it's basically cellular cleanup. Now, when all these systems are
Speaker 1: working well, our cells functioning optimally, they remain resilient to
Speaker 1: stress and they can quick environmental changes. But when protostasis
Speaker 1: breaks down, that's when we get these damage proteins accumulating,
Speaker 1: leading to cellular dysfunction, inflammation, and chronic disease. Now, as
Speaker 1: we aige, there's a number of things that interfere with
Speaker 1: this protein balance. So the first of all, first is
Speaker 1: decline in what we call molecular chaperones. So chaperones are
Speaker 1: proteins that actually help other proteins fold correctly. They're like
Speaker 1: the janitors of the cell. So aging reduces the activity
Speaker 1: of these chaperones, increasing the risk of protein misfolding and aggregation.
Speaker 1: And then the second is imperatophogy and proteosome function. So
Speaker 1: autophogy is the process by which cells break down and
Speaker 1: recycle damage proteins, and they actually it's very clever. They
Speaker 1: recycle this stuff and actually use the energy for other
Speaker 1: functions in the cell. And as we age, g starts
Speaker 1: their system starts to slow down, which causes a buildup
Speaker 1: of toxic protein aggregates as we see in Alzheimer's disease.
Speaker 2: And then the proteosome.
Speaker 1: That's another cleanup system that tags and removes faulty proteins,
Speaker 1: and that also loses its efficiency over time. Then it
Speaker 1: interferes with protein balances oxided of stress and inflammation, and
Speaker 1: we talked about inflammating last week, and you see all
Speaker 1: of these things are interrelated, right. So free radicals, which
Speaker 1: you'll probably know, are unstable molecules, they actually damage proteins,
Speaker 1: increasing our cellular cleanup systems. So what we're going to
Speaker 1: do is try and improve the cellular cleanup system and
Speaker 1: make sure it doesn't degrade too much, but then also
Speaker 1: minimize the damage that's coming into the sale. And then
Speaker 1: chronic inflammation then further disrupts this proteo stasis. After we
Speaker 1: have these free radicals, the last thing is the accumulation
Speaker 1: of these protein aggregates. So neurodegeneric diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's,
Speaker 1: we see these abnormal proteins. In an Alzheimer's disease, they're
Speaker 1: called beta amyloid and tauel proteins, and in Parkinson's disease,
Speaker 1: it's alphasin nuclear that accumulates, leading to neural damage. So
Speaker 1: let's talk about the stuff that we can do. First,
Speaker 1: cab off the rank. You'll not be surprised to hear
Speaker 1: is exercise, and it is actually one of the most
Speaker 1: powerful ways to enhance proteostasis and prevent the buildup of
Speaker 1: damage proteins. So here's how it works. We know that
Speaker 1: exercise boosts autophogy. There's a heap of research that shows
Speaker 1: that it boosts autoplogy the cellular cleaner, particularly in muscle cells,
Speaker 1: and it helps to clear out these misfolded or damage
Speaker 1: proteins before they accumulate to onhealthy levels. And we know
Speaker 1: that both high intents and endurance exercise are particularly effective
Speaker 1: in stimulating utopogy, and some research suggests that exercising in
Speaker 1: a fasted ste it can actually enhance that autophogy within
Speaker 1: the muscle cells. The next way that exercise actually helps
Speaker 1: is that it in what we call heat shop proteins.
Speaker 1: So these are these molecular chaperones that I talked about,
Speaker 1: and I've talked about heat shop proteins.
Speaker 2: For years and I love them.
Speaker 1: These are these molecular These are molecules or chaperoons that
Speaker 1: assist in protein folding and repair and basically they get
Speaker 1: RELI exercise and then they run around and look for
Speaker 1: damage proteins and they band them into the correct shape
Speaker 1: and then they hang around the cell to actually protect
Speaker 1: against further damage. So every time you're exercising, you're increasing
Speaker 1: the amount of janitors or workhorses within the cell to
Speaker 1: and that and all these heat shock proteins help to
Speaker 1: prevent protein aggregation, which is that major issue we talked
Speaker 1: about in neurodegenera of diseases. Another reason that exercise is
Speaker 1: useful is it reduces oxidative stress and inflammation. So on
Speaker 1: one side of the ledger it's improving the cleanup and
Speaker 1: then the other thing the amount of damage. So we
Speaker 1: know that exercise produces free radicals, but it also stimulates
Speaker 1: our antioxidant defense system and particularly are in dodgenous antioxidant defense,
Speaker 1: so it upregulates glutotherrem parioxidase, catalas and superoxide dismutate the
Speaker 1: special forces of your antioxidant defense system.
Speaker 2: And it's been.
Speaker 1: Shown that strength training, anaerobic exercise or endurance exercise lowers
Speaker 1: levels of pro inframetory side of kinds such as interluting
Speaker 1: six TNF alphon and C reactive protein, and therefore it
Speaker 1: reduces in humleostasis system. And we know that exercise also
Speaker 1: increases the activity of anti inflammatory side accounts such as
Speaker 1: interlooking ten and then exercise. The fourth way that it
Speaker 1: works is it supports our mitochondrial health. So our mitochondria
Speaker 1: they generate atp or energy and aging in personal function,
Speaker 1: and that leads to protein damage from excess free radicals.
Speaker 1: We know that exercise not only enhances our mitochondrial efficiency,
Speaker 1: therefore reducing protein ox oxidation and helping to support proteostasis,
Speaker 1: but high intensity infoltraining actually drives out genesis brands spanking
Speaker 1: new batteries in your sales. So exercise for me is
Speaker 1: an absolute cornerstone for proteo stasis. But there's other things
Speaker 1: that we can do to maintain proteostasis. Now, because this
Speaker 1: is all of our proteins. Eating a high quality protein
Speaker 1: diet is really really key. And I've said this many
Speaker 1: times before, but I'll say it again, especially as we
Speaker 1: get older, and when you're sick, you need more protein,
Speaker 1: so we develop anabolic resistance as we get older. Now,
Speaker 1: the old rdies referenced are the daily intakes that they
Speaker 1: were not point eight grams per kilogram of protein of
Speaker 1: not pointy eight grams of protein per kilogram of body
Speaker 1: weights right now, those referenced nutrient intakes are like fifty
Speaker 1: years old, and they were based on Dodge studies at
Speaker 1: the time, and most researchers now I say that that
Speaker 1: is way suboptimal. That we need between one point four
Speaker 1: and two to two point two grams per kilogram of
Speaker 1: protein of our body weight. So for me at eighty kilos,
Speaker 1: that's about a to one hundred and sixty grams of protein,
Speaker 1: and especially as you get older, you need that upper limit.
Speaker 1: And making sure you're having good quality proteins and meat
Speaker 1: is generally the best source if you're vegan, making sure
Speaker 1: that you are vegetarian, that you're combining just like rice
Speaker 1: and beans, and for a lot of people they also
Speaker 1: need to probably take some sort of protein supplement in
Speaker 1: a good quality, whether it's grass fed, wave protein or
Speaker 1: a pay protein if you're vegetarian or vegan.
Speaker 2: And making sure you're.
Speaker 1: Having enough loucine because lousing that stimulates muscle protein synthesis.
Speaker 1: You find that in eggs and dirty but also in legoons,
Speaker 1: and that will really help. So we've got to have
Speaker 1: that high protein diet and lots of people just do
Speaker 1: not eat enough protein, especially as we age, and this
Speaker 1: is an aging.
Speaker 2: It should really underscore the importance of this.
Speaker 1: Next is consuming anti inflammatory and antioxidant foods, so polyphenols
Speaker 1: and flavonoids that we find in berries, green tea, dark chocolate,
Speaker 1: but also fruits, lots of fruits and vegetables and gin.
Speaker 1: Seeing all of these things they sort of stress. We
Speaker 1: know the mega three fatty acids really reduce inflammation and
Speaker 1: support brain proteo stasis. And curcumin which you get from
Speaker 1: turmeric and particularly when taken with black pepper or peppering,
Speaker 1: and that enhances autophagy, is anti inflammatory and reduce holding.
Speaker 2: So making sure that.
Speaker 1: We're having a good quality diet with lots of fresh
Speaker 1: fruit and vegetables, things like berries, green tea, dark chocolate, gin,
Speaker 1: sing ginger, those sorts of things will really and turmeric
Speaker 1: our curcumin will really help. And then it's about getting
Speaker 1: an because that is critical for protein repair and maintenance.
Speaker 1: Most of our maintenance and repairer functions happen when we're sleep,
Speaker 1: and when we don't have good sleep, it disrupts utophagy
Speaker 1: and it disrupts this chaperum protein function. Which then accelerates
Speaker 1: our protein damage. But in avoiding or minimizing your toxins right,
Speaker 1: whether that's from smoking, vaping, pollution, and heavy alcohol use,
Speaker 1: and they all increase oxidative stress leading to protein damage.
Speaker 1: And then ultra process foods, they contain lots of additives
Speaker 1: that are known to empower protein. It's another thing to
Speaker 1: really think about. And then some targeted supplements. Nac nacetyl
Speaker 1: systein is an absolute cracking supplement. It supports gluedothion production
Speaker 1: that's the master or antioxidant in the body, and it
Speaker 1: protects proteins from oxidative stress.
Speaker 2: I've talked about that before.
Speaker 1: That's a mix of knack and glycing, the amino acid glycing,
Speaker 1: and research that I've talked about before shows that it's
Speaker 1: anti It improves our antioxidant status. It also enhances lifespan
Speaker 1: in mice. Not only does it improve antioxidant status, but
Speaker 1: so A couple of research papers of note for this
Speaker 1: one and the title of Atophogy and Aging Maintaining the
Speaker 1: Proteum through Exercise that was produced in twenty twelve, and
Speaker 1: it showed that endurance exercise increases arious tissues. And other
Speaker 1: studies have shown that resistance training actually does the same thing.
Speaker 1: And then another one about resistance training, the effect of
Speaker 1: resistance training on heat shop protein response heat shop protein
Speaker 1: seventy oxident of stress, inflammation, body composition, and metabolism in
Speaker 1: Middle Ages, basically showed that a resistance training increases heat
Speaker 1: chok protein, especially heat shop protein seventy, which is very
Speaker 1: very protective, and that actually reminded me of other ways
Speaker 1: to increase heat shok proteins. We know that sauna use,
Speaker 1: regular sauna use, this is heat chok protein activity. And
Speaker 1: it was particularly the research that I've seen was twenty
Speaker 1: minutes at eighty degrees. Now this was in a traditional
Speaker 1: Finish sauna, and I really wrestled over this when I
Speaker 1: was getting a sauna because I wanted an infra red
Speaker 1: barrel and I actually couldn't find any research to see
Speaker 1: whether they actually did it, so I did my own experiment.
Speaker 1: And what we know is that you need to increase
Speaker 1: your core body temperature by one degree in order to
Speaker 1: activate heat shock protein.
Speaker 2: So lots of studies have shown that.
Speaker 1: Being in there at seventy degrees on an infrared sauna
Speaker 1: for twenty minutes increase my core body temperature by more
Speaker 1: than one degree.
Speaker 2: Now, this is an an equals one study.
Speaker 1: If you're a little bit concerned if you've got an
Speaker 1: infrared SONA, certainly exercising beforehand and then getting into your
Speaker 1: infrared ZNA and then whacking up the heat that'll releasing
Speaker 1: those heat shot proteins. Other research has shown that a
Speaker 1: hot bath for about twenty minutes forty degrees centigrade hot bath,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what that is in American money, must
Speaker 1: be around one hundred or so, but that activits heat
Speaker 1: shot proteins as well. Another thing that activits heat shot
Speaker 1: proteins and also cold shot proteins is cold water exposure.
Speaker 1: And it's really it's thinking about these things, right. So
Speaker 1: we know that exercise, heat exposure, and cold exposure in
Speaker 1: various different species all heat chock proteins and then they
Speaker 1: up regulate these protective mechanisms. So there's a number of
Speaker 1: things that we can do in terms of nutrition, in
Speaker 1: terms of supplements, exercise, hate exposure, and cold exposure to
Speaker 1: help to minimize this loss of proteostasis proteins running well.
Speaker 1: So that's it for this week, folks. Catch you next time,
Speaker 1: and just remember a strong body starts at the cellular level,
Speaker 1: See you next time.