ChronoShield™ Science

Protecting cells to slow down aging

During aging, increasing oxidative stress and accumulated damage to the protein synthesis machinery leads to fragile proteins that lose their functionality and start aggregating. The most widely known consequences of this aggregation are age-related diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, but also in inflammation and autoimmune diseases.

Protein damage is also indirectly responsible for other causes of aging such as:

cellular senescence (due to telomere shortening, P53 dysregulation,…)
shortening of telomeres (due to telomerase deficiency)
NAD⁺ depletion (due to decreased activity of NAMPT)

Protecting proteins against damage might be the best anti-agiing strategy because it acts on one of the widest root causes of aging and on almost every aspect of it.

Other organisms such as extremophile bacteria and Archaea have also developed their own carotenoids to become resistant to the most extreme conditions on the planet. They can be found in organisms resistant to extreme UV and even gamma radiation (D. radiodurans), extreme concentration of salt (H. salinarium), extreme temperature (R. marinus).

Chronoshield™ protects proteins from oxidative damage, thanks to its optimized formulation of the most efficient carotenoids.

Why do we get old?

Aging can be defined as the accumulation of damage through time, leading to increasing frailty of cells, organs and organisms. The cause of this accumulation of damage is complex due to the intricacies of biological systems themselves, but can be simplified as follows: all activities in cells are accumulating damage, and all known causes of aging can be understood as a failure of a particular system. To simplify, aging is a set of changes that accumulate over time due to the increasing production of damaged cells.

What causes damage to the cells?

The two main damaging factors are corrosion (oxidation) and cells loss of ability to degrade (senescence). The biological material oxidizes just like any other material, perhaps even more due to the complexity of biological material. The fundamental chemistry of aging is cell damage and accumulation of senescent cells by lack of degradation. Since all the functions in life are performed by cells, this accumulation of damaged cells leads to a toxic environment for the healthy cells nearby. When we are young, there are very few damaged cells and we have fully functional maintenance systems, resulting in small rates of mortality. When the maintenance system is damaged, which happens over time with oxidation, it becomes far less efficient, and there is an increasing accumulation of damaged cells.

So, how do we intervene?

It is necessary to reduce oxidation and protect cells. Oxidation comes from our oxidative metabolism which is to people what petrol is to a car. It occurs in mitochondria, which is where energy is produced by burning down sugar with the help of oxygen. Without it, there is no life. One percent of the oxygen it uses ends up as free radicals, an aggressive form of short-lived molecules of unstable oxygen that bind and damage everything.

Antioxidants play a major role in neutralizing the damage done to the cells and act as magnets to radicals. The key is to find an effective antioxidant cocktail and to use it for prevention, starting as early as possible.

Why can’t antioxidants be enough to slow down aging?

Antioxidants decrease oxidative stress but also decrease our natural ability to defend ourselves against stress. It was shown that antioxidants alone are not enough because of the complexity of biological systems, so scientists have been looking for ways to protect cells directly. Molecules called hydrophobic antioxidants can protect cells against oxidation from free radicals by binding to their membrane, forming a protective shield. These molecules also help cells to keep their optimal activity by maintaining their membrane integrity.

Can anti-age supplements such as Chronoshield have some rejuvenation effects?

For the first time, there is optimism that a targeted cocktail of anti-aging molecules could not only slow down the process of aging but reverse it. Keeping in mind that cell damage is the cause of aging, it leads us to conclude that protecting cells, removing damaged cells, and synthesizing new ones from the healthy one, would not only stop aging but also take the process backwards, practically rejuvenating the body. Although we cannot change our chronological age, we can certainly work on our biological age.

What are the benefits of carotenoids in Chronoshield?

Carotenoids are nature’s answer to one of the strongest sources of energy and stress on Earth: sunlight! To be able to extract energy from sunlight, plants have first evolved carotenoids as a shield against the extra energy and oxidizing effect of sunlight. Other organisms such as extremophile bacteria and Archaea have also developed their own carotenoids to become resistant to the most extreme conditions on the planet. Carotenoids have also been shown through numerous research studies to have positive action on skin, vision, and even on the brain.

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