Whey Protein

Forget Resveratrol. Forget Acai Berries. No, if you want to turn back the clock on aging you need something new, something exotic, something like…. Whey Protein !?!? Yes this sounds crazy and maybe it is, but we recently read a piece that got us thinking there may actually be something to plain old whey protein helping with aging.

Telomere, DNA, Aging and Whey Protein – What is The Connection?

There are many theories of why we age. One popular theory is that as our cells age, we age. Cells are made up of chromosomes and DNA. At the end of the DNA is something called the Telomere. We start with a telomere that is about 15,000 bases long and by the time we die our telomere is 5,000 bases long. This is an amazing oversimplification, but the concept is – as our telomer shortens (less bases) we age and eventually die. So, if we could decrease the rate of telomere shortening we could slow the aging process.

The Whey Protein Connection

We think whey protein is a great way to increase protein intake and terrific for people looking to put on muscle mass. We never considered whey protein an anti-aging superfood until we read Dr. Mercola’s article (link at the bottom). It turns out that some studies have shown that increasing glutathione levels will actually slow telomere shortening.

As our cells need to produce glutathione, we can not just take a glutahione supplement. However, Whey Protein has the sulfur amino acids that your body needs to synthesis glutathione! The theory is, if you feed your body whey protein – you give your body what it needs to release an enzyme that stops the telomere from shortening.

1 Part Science and 1 Part Science Fiction

We want to be clear that this is just a theory, which while based on some sound science, could still turn out to be science fiction. There are a few to many “ifs” and “maybes” for us – but it is interesting. As whey protein is already considered a very strong supplement for many other health benefits, this would just be an incredible bonus to an already strong supplement.

Additional Resources:

Read the Entire Dr. Mercola Piece and Video Here. We have greatly simplified things here and he even has pretty pictures and a video! The end of the article is basically a commercial for his whey protein, but the rest of the article is very interesting reading.