Melissa Mayer - Jump Start Autophagy: Activate Your Bodys Cellular Healing Process to Reduce Inflammation, Fight Chronic Illness and Live a Longer, Healthier Life

JUMP

START

AUTOPHAGY

ACTIVATE Your Bodys CELLULAR HEALING Process to Reduce Inflammation, Fight Chronic Illness and Live a Longer, Healthier Life

MELISSA MAYER

Text copyright 2019 Melissa Mayer. Design and concept copyright 2019 Ulysses Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication in whole or in part or dissemination of this edition by any means (including but not limited to photocopying, electronic devices, digital versions, and the internet) will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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NOTE TO READERS: This book has been written and published strictly for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to serve as medical advice or to be any form of medical treatment. You should always consult your physician before altering or changing any aspect of your medical treatment and/ or undertaking a diet regimen, including the guidelines as described in this book. Do not stop or change any prescription medications without the guidance and advice of your physician. Any use of the information in this book is made on the readers good judgment after consulting with his or her physician and is the readers sole responsibility. This book is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition and is not a substitute for a physician.

This book is independently authored and published and no sponsorship or endorsement of this book by, and no affiliation with, any trademarked brands or other products mentioned within is claimed or suggested. All trademarks that appear in ingredient lists and elsewhere in this book belong to their respective owners and are used here for informational purposes only. The author and publisher encourage readers to patronize the quality brands mentioned and pictured in this book.

For my family

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Jinkies, Youre Old

Age happens to everyone. Things get harder. Your body starts to look and feel a bit less like yours and a pinch more like your parents (oh, god). Maybe you have a benchmark birthday approaching, or youve reached the point where you have second thoughts before taking risks you once embraced. Perhaps youve been around long enough to see chinks in the armor of your youthful invincibility, or you could almost swear you heard the unnerving shuffle of the Reaper (just getting acquainted with your address, no big deal).

The glib maxim aging is better than the alternative may be technically true, but it certainly doesnt soothe the angst as you leave your relatively health-safe years for those more medically fraught. If you have relatives or friends who have faced health challengesor if you have already stared down the barrel of a health crisis or chronic illnessthose worries might show up even earlier. Even if you feel great right now, the truth is you want to stay that way.

Theres good news: Science is unraveling the intricacies of autophagya cellular renovation and recycling program happening inside your cells right nowthat promises to change the way you age. Thanks to autophagy, your cells and tissues boast an incredible turnover rate. Imagine this: Your cells degrade and replace every single protein in your body about every 60 days, renewing your cellular machinery and protecting against damage that shows up when those proteins build up. Autophagy also targets other threats to your health, like pathogens, old organelles (the subunits within a cell), and abnormal cell contents.

Its an enormously hot field in biology, opines autophagy pioneer Yoshinori Ohsumi, who won the Nobel Prize for his work in 2016 and sparked a flurry of excitement about the disease-fighting cell program among researchers from a wide range of fields. The volume of new research on the topic is so staggering that, between writing the first word of this introduction and typing the last period in the conclusion, thousands of brand-spanking-new peer-reviewed papers hit the scientific journals. At times, writing this book has felt like standing in the middle of an avalanche, nerdily talking about snow mechanics while buried up to the chin.

And all this intensity is for good reason. Understanding the nuts and bolts of autophagy heralds the development of new treatments for some of the most feared diseases that come with agethings like cancer and Alzheimers disease. It means stretching the average human life span without sacrificing good health. Theres no doubt that autophagy is the science to watch right now, but you dont have to observe from the sidelines. There are actionable things you can do today to tip the odds in your favor.

Use this book to gain a deeper understanding of whats going on in your cells and learn to tap into a crucial stress mechanism that has evolved in a wide range speciesautophagythat may help your body age successfully. Living your best life isnt just about surviving as long as you can; its about protecting your health so you can enjoy the life you have built.

Choose Your Own Adventure

To geek out about what autophagy is, how the science unfolded, and what might be on tap in the near future, head to .

To learn about how autophagy protects against specific age-related diseases, flip to .

If you prefer to jump right to autophagy-enhancing techniques you can use right now, consider yourself cordially invited to .

A Quick Note

Its important to remember that while the underlying science is old enough to collect social security, the potential applications of autophagy are still emerging. Researchers are on the knifes edge of monetizing autophagy via drug development and personalized treatment options. Science this new relies first on animal model studies (yeast and worms and rats and monkeys, oh my) and then turns to human clinical trials, which are considerably more complicated.

It makes sense to catch the autophagy bug and DIY it a bit; after all, its exciting! However, Debbie Downer, version Velma here to remind you that oversimplifying or jumping to conclusions is jeepers-level spooky, gang. Just because ideas are connected doesnt mean one causes the other. Or, in science-and-philosophy-speak, correlation does not imply causation. Thats the goal hereto decant the science and the possibilities for your pleasure with the important caveat that you only know what you know when you know it. Which is basically a decent life philosophy.

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Ohsumi, Historical Landmarks of Autophagy Research, 923.

PART I

WHAT IS AUTOPHAGY?

CHAPTER 1

HOW AUTOPHAGY WORKS

Time Machine to Elementary Biology

You probably remember the fallout even decades later. You knew your science fair project was coming up but just couldnt deal, so you ignored it until an adult in charge, horrified by your life choices, discovered the assignment scrap in the bottom of your backpackthe day before it was due. The stress level surged, and your reasonable options were few, thanks to the now-impossible deadline. The only viable choice was the old standby: a cell model.