Cellular Rejuvenation

Dr. Perricone's 7 Secrets to Beauty, Health, and Longevity: The Miracle of Cellular Rejuvenation
by Nicholas Perricone, M.D.

He has shown us how to smooth our wrinkles, and helped us slim down without feeling deprived. Now #1 New York Times bestselling author Dr. Nicholas Perricone gives us an anti-aging program that unveils the miracle of cellular rejuvenation. These seven powerful strategies are not only easy to follow but present a plan for total health designed to help us look and feel great by age-proofing us from the inside out.

Taking a holistic approach that taps into cutting-edge science, Dr. Nicholas Perricone reveals how to rev up our cellular metabolism so that we can stay healthy, strong, and energetic, while keeping our skin soft, smooth, and supple. These strategies will help us reverse osteoporosis, restore bone structure and muscle mass, revitalize brain cells, reduce the chances of heart disease and cancer, elevate mood, manage blood sugar, and slim down and stay trim. Inside Dr. Perricone's 7 Secrets to Beauty, Health, and Longevity you will discover

• the six kinds of food you need to eat every day, as well as healthy and delicious snacks-including a vegetable that both suppresses appetite and builds muscle
• new findings about the best nutritional supplements to win the fight against aging
• revolutionary skin rejuvenating secrets for radiant, toned, and youthful-looking skin
• the role of pheromones in curbing depression, boosting self-confidence, triggering weight loss, and improving libido
• the essential oil that is more powerful than antibiotics
• an exercise plan that will shape your silhouette and strengthen your bones in as little as ten minutes a day
• delicious recipes, easy shopping lists, and a guide to safe cookware so that you can create your own anti-aging kitchen
• Dr. Perricone's trademark tips about new products that really work-and where to find them

Whether your aim is to look younger, improve your health, or just feel great, you'll see fast results by following Dr. Perricone's simple program. These seven indispensable secrets will keep you beautiful, healthy, and young all through life.

Chapter 1

This book is the culmination of a lifetime of work and research into why and how we age. In my previous books, I laid the blame on chronic, subclinical inflammation for everything from wrinkles and obesity to chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease, Alzheimer's, certain cancers, arthritis, and more. Although the concept is not universally accepted by physicians and scientists-in fact, it was often ridiculed-inflammation has now made it into the accepted list of causative factors in aging and disease. A quick look at the National Library of Medicine Web site reveals hundreds of studies verifying this, including a recent study reported by the University of Texas Department of Physiology stating that "the activation of inflammatory genes acts as a bridge linking normal aging to pathological processes." Another recent study, this one out of Columbia University, found that "with most age-associated diseases, individuals manifest an underlying chronic inflammatory state. . . ."

In each of my books I have set forth strategies to combat this inflammation. As inflammation and its destructive effects have become widely recognized and accepted, many leading scientists are making it the focus of their research.

Now my goal, in addition to learning how to prevent and reverse inflammation in our daily lives, is to build on my previous work and go even deeper than I have before. Exciting new scientific developments are showing us that there is even more we can do-we can actually rebuild our bodies on a cellular level. Brain, bone, muscle, and skin can all benefit in a process known as cellular rejuvenation.

Once the realm of salesmen of questionable supplements and potions, the field of anti-aging has now taken its place at the forefront of legitimate scientific research. Each day new reports on studies are published, studies showing that science is on the brink of learning how to trigger the cellular self-repair mechanisms that appear to be a driving force in life extension.

In this book we will explore multiple disciplines, all of which are accessible to everyone. We will learn how cellular rejuvenation works; it is a new and exciting science that will restore mental and physical health to all areas of the body, both inside and outside. For the first time we have the means and the methods to stop age- related decline of all organ systems. Some of our tools are thousands of years old, long forgotten and ready to be reintroduced in this book, while others are current discoveries. Together they provide us with up-to-the-minute strategies to both delay and reverse the negative effects of aging.

In researching and writing this book, I have found numerous approaches that greatly enhance our ability to delay (and prevent) the onset of the undesirable effects of aging. There are proven foods, botanicals, and nutritional supplements that offer genuine physical and mental restorative benefits. And while we cannot turn back the clock, we can learn to slow it down-to the inestimable benefit of ourselves, our loved ones, our community, and our planet. A sick and aging populace is the greatest threat we have in terms of destabilizing our future. The seven anti-aging secrets you will find here are your tools to circumvent such a disaster and ensure healthy, happy, active years for decades to come.

Which brings us to secret 1: Jump-start your cellular metabolism.

The Mighty Mitochondria

There's a reason I'm starting this book with the mitochondria. They're the part of the cell that creates energy, the very foundation of cellular rejuvenation. A young cell is characterized by optimal energy production. Slow down that production, and you begin the aging process. The goal, therefore, is to rev up your cellular metabolism- the chemical and physiological processes by which the body builds and maintains itself and by which it breaks down food and nutrients to produce energy.

To understand the concepts of cellular metabolism and rejuvenation, we need to understand the inner workings of the cell-in particular, the mitochondria, sometimes called the "cellular power plants" because they metabolize food-derived chemicals to produce energy. Mitochondria are responsible for converting nutrients and oxygen into the energy-yielding molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to fuel the cell's activities. Without energy, the cell can no longer repair itself, resulting in cellular breakdown.

One of the things that makes the mitochondria unique is that they have their own set of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules. We are all familiar with DNA, which is the material inside the nucleus of cells that carries genetic information. But what many people are not aware of is that the mitochondria also contain DNA, above and beyond the DNA found in the nucleus of the cell. Unfortunately, the primary site of damage to the cell is in the DNA found in the mitochondria. The DNA in the mitochondria is at exceptional risk because of the free radicals produced in this tiny furnace during energy production. The cell automatically fixes much of the damage done to nuclear DNA; however, the DNA in the mitochondria cannot be as readily fixed. Therefore, extensive DNA damage accumulates over time and shuts down the mitochondria, causing the cells to die and the organism to age.

There have been many theories of aging; one of the most significant is the free-radical theory proposed by Denham Harman, M.D., Ph.D. A free radical is a molecule that is missing an electron in its outer orbit. Dr. Harman first suggested that free radicals alter the molecular structure of the cell, causing damage to the cell. They do this by stealing their missing electron from other molecules to complete their outer orbit. In other words, free radicals are molecules that want to join with other molecules, and by doing so they cause cellular damage.

As is often the case with pioneering work in the scientific worlds, Dr. Harman's theories were essentially ignored for decades. However, scientists now recognize and acknowledge the importance of free radicals in the aging process. It is also well established that free radicals play an active role in very diverse, age-related diseases. In my first book, The Wrinkle Cure, I introduced Dr. Harman's free- radical theory of aging and proposed that free radicals initiate the inflammatory process that is ultimately responsible for aging and age- related disease.

Copyright © 2006 by Nicholas Perricone, M.D.

About the Author

Dr. Perricone has a private practice in Connecticut. He is the author of numerous scientific papers that report his research on aging skin. He has his own line of acclaimed skin care products, NV Perricone Cosmeceuticals, which are available at Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Sephora.