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Wisdom Wednesdays: The Real Deal of Longevity Genes - And How To Increase The Expression of Yours · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Today,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about something that I find pretty
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: bloody fascinating and I reckon you've never heard of it,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: are the vast majority of you. It is a type
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  Speaker 1: of protein called clotho. Now you may not have heard
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  Speaker 1: much about this protein and the associated gene, but it
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  Speaker 1: turns out that recent research has shown that it plays
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  Speaker 1: a major role in how we age and how well
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: are brain functions, and much more. Some people have got
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  Speaker 1: genetic variants that give them more CLOTHO naturally, which research
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  Speaker 1: is showing may well enhance their longevity and certainly seems
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  Speaker 1: to protect against neurodegenerative diseases, which is why CLOTHO is
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  Speaker 1: now being called the longevity gene. But it turns out,
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  Speaker 1: and you got to wait till the end for this one,
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  Speaker 1: that everybody can boost their cloth O levels naturally. Now,
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  Speaker 1: before we get into all of that, let's talk about
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  Speaker 1: what it is. So. Clotho was first discovered in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety seven. Unlike many great scientific discoveries, it was kind
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  Speaker 1: of an accident. So a researcher called Makoto kore Kuroo.
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  Speaker 1: Hopefully I got that right. He's a professor at the
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  Speaker 1: Center of Molecular Medicine in gch Medical University in Japan.
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  Speaker 1: Him and his team were studying hypertension or high blood
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  Speaker 1: pressure in mice, and they were tweaking their genes to
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  Speaker 1: try to understand how altering specific amino acids affected sodium
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  Speaker 1: transport that could then impact on their blood pressure. But
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  Speaker 1: one group of mice, after just a few small genetic changes,
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  Speaker 1: started to age at a really alarming rate. And these mice,
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  Speaker 1: which should have lived for about two and a half years,
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  Speaker 1: were barely surviving for three months. So the researchers then
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  Speaker 1: trace this rapid aging back to a single gene, which
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  Speaker 1: he named Clotho, after the Greek goddess who spins the
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  Speaker 1: threat of life. That's pretty cool, isn't it. Now. From there,
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  Speaker 1: the scientists wanted to see what would happen if the
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  Speaker 1: opposite occurred, As you obviously word if you were him,
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  Speaker 1: what happens if you overexpress the CLOTHO gene? And sure enough,
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  Speaker 1: when they did this in mice, their lifespans increased by
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  Speaker 1: a whopping thirty percent. That's clearly a massive jump, and
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  Speaker 1: it showed that CLOTHO is essential for longevity. Now, CLOTHO
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  Speaker 1: is a protein that's produced mostly by our kidneys, and
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  Speaker 1: there's a bit of it produced in the brain, and
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  Speaker 1: it's pretty large protein compared to other proteins, and its
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  Speaker 1: active form gets clipped off and circular. It's throughout the body,
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  Speaker 1: just like a whole. And think of it the way
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  Speaker 1: that insulin acts. So insulin starts as a larger molecule
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  Speaker 1: that then gets cut off and goes about doing its job.
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  Speaker 1: And in this case, the job of CLOTHO is to
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  Speaker 1: protect sales from damage, especially in the brain and the
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  Speaker 1: cardiovascular system. However, scientists have discovered that CLOTHO doesn't actually
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  Speaker 1: cross the blood brain barrier, which raises the obvious question,
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  Speaker 1: how can it have all of these beneficial effects in
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  Speaker 1: the brain if it never actually reaches there. Well, this
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  Speaker 1: is why the science starts to get really interesting. And
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  Speaker 1: it turns out from subsequent research that CLOTHO actually increases
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  Speaker 1: a molecule called platelet factor four or PF four in
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  Speaker 1: the body, and PF four does actually cross the blood
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  Speaker 1: brain barrier, and once it's in the brain, PF four
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  Speaker 1: interacts with certain receptors that help to improve brain plasticity.
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  Speaker 1: So you may have heard me talk about and plasticity before.
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  Speaker 1: In simple terms, it helps to keep your brain flexible,
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  Speaker 1: which is essential for learning, memory and protecting against cognitive decline.
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  Speaker 1: So let's talk a bit more about clotho's impact on
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  Speaker 1: brain health because this is where stuff really does start
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  Speaker 1: to get interesting. So researchers have since been experimenting with
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  Speaker 1: CLOTHO in animal models to better understand its potential benefits,
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  Speaker 1: especially for cognition and memory. And in one of the
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  Speaker 1: most interesting studies for me, researchers looking at macaques, which
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  Speaker 1: are a type of monkey, and give them a single
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  Speaker 1: injection of CLOTHO. Now, they weren't sick monkeys, although it
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  Speaker 1: didn't even have a cognitive decline. They were healthy, middle
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  Speaker 1: aged monkeys, and this makes the results more interesting. Within
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  Speaker 1: just four hours of receiving the CLOTHO injection, these monkeys
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  Speaker 1: showed significant improvement in a range of cognitive tasks and
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  Speaker 1: particularly in spatial memory. Basically that's the ability to ren
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  Speaker 1: member and navigate spaces, which are really important for lots
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  Speaker 1: of species. And get this, the cognitive boost that they
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  Speaker 1: got lasted for three to four weeks after a single injection,
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  Speaker 1: and it was if their brain had been dialed back
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  Speaker 1: to a younger, more flexible state. Now, this experiment is
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  Speaker 1: a pretty big deal in particular because lots of mice
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  Speaker 1: experiments showed similar things. But as you've often heard me say,
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  Speaker 1: mice are pretty distant to humans, and lots of things
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  Speaker 1: that work in mice actually don't work in primates. But
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  Speaker 1: here the results are pretty clear. Now, if this could
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  Speaker 1: work in humans, and studies are ongoing, it could be
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  Speaker 1: a game changer for those facing cognitive decline, people with
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  Speaker 1: Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive imperment or other forms of dementia.
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  Speaker 1: And actually animal studies is currently ongoing in those areas
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  Speaker 1: as well as als in animal studies, and it's showing
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  Speaker 1: a fur bit of promise. So if we go back
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  Speaker 1: to Alzheimer's disease, there's more evidence pointing to clotho's protective
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  Speaker 1: effects in mice that are genetically predisposed to develop Alzheimer's disease.
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  Speaker 1: So what they do is they edit their genes over
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  Speaker 1: express the APOEE four genes and maybe some other ones.
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  Speaker 1: What they did, scientists increased the CLOTHO expression to levels
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  Speaker 1: that mirrored what these mice would have when they were
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  Speaker 1: born or when they were young. Because our CLOTHO tends
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  Speaker 1: to decline over the years, and what they found was
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  Speaker 1: pretty remarkable. Despite the fact that these mice still developed
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  Speaker 1: the classic amyloid plaques that are associated with Alzheimer's disease,
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  Speaker 1: they did not experience the same level of cognitive decline,
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  Speaker 1: and actually, over expressing CLOTHO completely nullified the increased risk
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  Speaker 1: of Alzheimer's disease for having the bad genes, if you like,
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  Speaker 1: for Alzheimer's. So essentially what happened was CLOTHO made their
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  Speaker 1: brains more rezs to the damage caused by amyloid built up,
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  Speaker 1: and this is maybe why millions upon millions upon millions
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  Speaker 1: of research strugs to try and clear amyloid from the
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  Speaker 1: brain have actually not impacted on Alzheimer's disease and certainly
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  Speaker 1: on the symptoms of it. So it may be and
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  Speaker 1: a lot of researchers think this that amoloid isn't the cause.
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  Speaker 1: It's the brain brand to protect, whether it's against inflammation
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  Speaker 1: or something else. But this research suggests that clotho may
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  Speaker 1: not be able to undo the damage that's already occurred,
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  Speaker 1: but it may be protective and make the brain less
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  Speaker 1: susceptible to harm. And the implications for treatment of humans
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  Speaker 1: are enormous, especially as we look for ways to not
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  Speaker 1: treat Alzheimer's but prevent it all together. And a lot
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  Speaker 1: of the researchers focused on prevention because once you got it,
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  Speaker 1: it's so hard to do anything about Now. Inhuman CLOTHO
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  Speaker 1: levels vary and some people are born, some lucky people
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  Speaker 1: with a genetic variant called KLVS. And actually, if you've
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  Speaker 1: had a genetic test such as twenty three and meters,
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  Speaker 1: you can actually look up this snip. You can pop
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  Speaker 1: it into the testing of the snips and it will
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  Speaker 1: actually pop up about what variant you have. Unfortunately I
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  Speaker 1: don't have the one that overexpresses it. But if you
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  Speaker 1: have one copy of the KLVS variant, you naturally produce
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  Speaker 1: about fifteen percent more CLOTHO than those without it. And
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  Speaker 1: this extra CLOTHO is linked to longer lifespans, better brain function,
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  Speaker 1: and even reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, especially in people
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  Speaker 1: with that apoe four gene that I say is normally
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  Speaker 1: associated with the higher risk. But here's the flip side.
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  Speaker 1: If you had two copies of the VS variant, you
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  Speaker 1: actually end up with less clothough, about thirty percent less,
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  Speaker 1: and that's associated with much worse cognitive outcomes and a
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  Speaker 1: shorter lifespan. So it's clear that not everybody starts at
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  Speaker 1: the same baseline when it comes to CLOTHO. Some people
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  Speaker 1: win the genetic lottery, some people are middling, and some
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  Speaker 1: people lose the genetic lottery. Now this is why some
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  Speaker 1: very wealthy people are now actually getting their genes edited.
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  Speaker 1: So there's a process called Crisper where you can go
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  Speaker 1: and edit your genes and they can end up with
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  Speaker 1: a variant that over expresses CLOTHO. So there's one such
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  Speaker 1: example was reported in the Australian newspaper The Financial Review
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  Speaker 1: in May this year, and he's a rich lister called
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  Speaker 1: Nick Bell. He's a health and fitness evangelist who just
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  Speaker 1: spent seven hundred grand on Crisper injections to alter his
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  Speaker 1: genes so that they can improve his brain function and
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  Speaker 1: also improve his muscle mass and strength. So there are
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  Speaker 1: two treatments that he got were tweaks to the CLOTHO
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  Speaker 1: gene and fall of statin. Now, fall of statin actually
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  Speaker 1: inhibits mile statin. We're going off track a little bit here,
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  Speaker 1: but myostatin is the one mile kind that stops you
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  Speaker 1: producing too much muscle and when they actually block that
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  Speaker 1: milestatin and you just look up just Google and mice
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  Speaker 1: without are with myostatin knockout and they look like arnold
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  Speaker 1: Sportznigger versions of mice. So if you can't lazy seven
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  Speaker 1: hundred grand sitting around, you could probably go and do that.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe the cloth the ones half the price, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: really sure, But if you don't have that amount of
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  Speaker 1: money to spend editing your genes, there is some really
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  Speaker 1: good news you can all of us can increase our
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  Speaker 1: CLOTHO levels regardless of your genetic starting point. And this
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  Speaker 1: is the really important part that I want you to remember.
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  Speaker 1: No matter of what your genetic makeup is, exercise increases
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  Speaker 1: your CLOTHO levels pretty dramatically, and not a lot of
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  Speaker 1: you will be surprised that it's exercised, is the one
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  Speaker 1: that I'm focusing in on. We know that regular physical
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  Speaker 1: activity can actually give you a greater boosting CLOTHO than
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  Speaker 1: the lucky people who over express it get from their genetics.
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  Speaker 1: And there's one study that showed that twelve weeks of consistent,
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  Speaker 1: pretty intense exercise participants saw an average thirty percent increase
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  Speaker 1: in their CLOTHO levels. So put out in the perspective.
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  Speaker 1: That's double the cloth O boost that people with one
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  Speaker 1: variant of the KLVS variant actually get. And we're talking
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  Speaker 1: about real measurable health benefits here, and this is another
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  Speaker 1: reason why exercise is the best longevity medicine that there is.
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  Speaker 1: As well as enhancing CLOTHO, there's all of those maya
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  Speaker 1: kinds that have been produced that you'll have heard me
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  Speaker 1: banging on about, but this particularly seems to be why
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  Speaker 1: people who regularly exercise might have better cognitive health because
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  Speaker 1: they are significantly improving their cloth O levels, and so
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  Speaker 1: they'll get lower levels of cognitive decline and probably even
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  Speaker 1: improve longevity, which is what we see particularly for people
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  Speaker 1: who do a reasonable amount of high intensity exercise, and
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  Speaker 1: the benefits don't stop there. Exercise doesn't only increase your
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  Speaker 1: CLOTHO levels, but it also taps into the same pathways
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  Speaker 1: that protect your brain and improve your memory. So it's
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  Speaker 1: like giving your brain a protective shield while also improving
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  Speaker 1: your body's overall health. So here's the big takeaway. Cloth though,
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  Speaker 1: is a very powerful longevity promoting gene that has got
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  Speaker 1: a really good evidence based ny in animal studies and
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  Speaker 1: in primeates, and it appears to protect your brain and
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  Speaker 1: help you live longer. And whilst some people do of
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  Speaker 1: a genetic advantage when it comes to CLOTHO levels, everybody
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  Speaker 1: has the ability to increase their cloth through regular exercise.
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  Speaker 1: So I want you to think of exercise here. This
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  Speaker 1: is the big takeout as your ticket to better brain health,
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  Speaker 1: a longer life, and a body that's more resilient to
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  Speaker 1: the challenges of aging. Well, it's not just about keeping fit,
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  Speaker 1: it's about boosting the expression of one of the most
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  Speaker 1: important genes linked to longevity and good brain health. So
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  Speaker 1: that's it for today. So if you want to live longer,
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  Speaker 1: protect your brain and feel better overall, you just gotta
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  Speaker 1: make exercise the core component of your routine and make
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  Speaker 1: sure you sprinkle in some vigorous stuff. Catch you next time.