Green tea and green tea extracts

Green tea benefits (and how to get them). 

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    • Larry
    • Larry.1
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I'm not sure why this study isn't getting more attention but I think it's very important. It's from the Conboys at UC Berkley: 

    Recalibrating old blood to be young again 

    The new study suggests that the majority of aging is driven by changes to a limited number of regulatory signals present in blood. This is a reasonable hypothesis given that the bloodstream is the uniting communication network in the body and that the signals traveling through it do indeed have the potential to influence every cell within the body.

    The study focuses on two of the key molecules that influence the ability of stem cells to function and regenerate tissues: TGF-β1, which increases during aging, and oxytocin, which falls during aging. Using a pharmacological approach, they were able to reduce TGF-β1 levels and increase oxytocin, spurring rejuvenation and leading to significantly increased neurogenesis, a reduction of neuro-inflammation, increased cognitive performance, and rejuvenation of the liver and muscle in aged mice.

    https://www.leafscience.org/brain-liver-and-muscle-rejuvenated-by-calibrating-aged-blood/

    How do you reduce TGF-b1 levels? How about EGCG and myricetin? See this study:

    http://ejbio.imedpub.com/natural-compounds-targeting-transforming-growth-factorin-silico-and-in-vitro-study.php?aid=17673

    I'm not sure how you would increase oxytocin. Nasal spray? 

    Like 2
      • Larry
      • Larry.1
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Staffan Olsson I saw that. Maybe we will human data in a year and a treatment in the next few years! I like that the FDA would not be an obstacle. 

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    • BobM
    • BobM
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    The concept of combinations is powerful. As in basic chemistry. 

    Also as powerful are cycles in the body. Like wash THEN dry. Not at the same time.

    I think we need to test some of these combinations in cycles. Like D for two days followed by Q for two. Or D+Q, followed in some time ( 3 days?) by large doses of Fisetin or equivalent.

    ETC....

    Thoughts by all on cycles?

    Like 1
      • Danmoderator
      • skipping my funeral
      • dantheman
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      BobM Completely agree that cycling, or Hormesis as it's biologically known, is an important approach to intervention. The present theory of aging prevention centers around biological stress as it turns out that we find our build in repair mechanisms are triggered by environmental stress. Caloric restriction, fasting, exercise, heat/cold stress, Resveratrol, Metformin ... these and more are all ways of temporarily stressing our systems and initiating repair. David Sinclair just released a book on this subject, and also Voltor Longo's book on fasting and longevity. In engineering we use this concept as Pareto. 

      So the name of the game is finding a balance to hit the sweep spot of that hormesis curve, or equivalently the crossover point of a Pareto chart. Where is that? Great questions, figure it out for us! Nobody knows and it's different for every circumstance, so we have to use common sense to find the balance. 

      Note: pet peeve of mine, this is not the same as the "everything in moderation" canard. Instead the mantra is "Everything in balance". Feast and famine. 

      Like 1
    • Dan Larry BobM

       

      Yes I agree with both of you. There are questions that we don’t yet have answers to and other questions that we are getting better and better answers to.

       

      Like which supplement should be taken permanently to occupy a receptor or to acting on a target enzyme? And which supplement or medications should be taken intermittently, this to avoid overstimulation/oversuppressing our systems (like mTor might be), or to avoid downsides like upregulation of compensatory systems in our bodies that in the long run pose a risk for nullifying the aimed for benefits.

       

      And sometimes we have to rely on  our fabulous organism to normalize and simply just rebuild itself after having faced a stressor/stimuli.  Exercise is a great example of this approach. 

       

      When taking medicines and supplements There are often unintended consequences So, a good strategy is to try and restrain oneself and not use to many supplements (which can be hard) at least not take a lot of supplements all of the time.   

       

      A big question is to find synergies and substances that function as agonists and avoid antagonists. As when pharmaceutical industry analyze negative and positive interactions. What to take, when to take it and with what frequency should we take it? How to combine them?

       

      Which supplement to take in the morning on empty stomach? Which supplements to take with food? And which to take at evenings or before bedtime? Which can be taken together without not interfering negatively with each other and which should be taken together to receive hoped for synergies?

       

      Therefore, I take green tea capsules with real green tea in the morning and quercetin at the same time. Aiming for synergies. I might add myricetin and curcumin BCM 95. (Well knowing that this is not the optimal timing for curcumin which should be taken with food).  This morning I tried out LEF’s new bioavailable green tea extract together with a cup of real Japanese green tea and with one capsule quercetin from Thorne and one Capsule Curcumin BCM 95 from LEF.  This was the first time I tried out this combo. Theoretically the synergies are there. Even though I know that curcumin should be taken with a fatty meal.

       

      This is a shot at finding synergies not a focus at optmizing every individual supplement. Trying to see the whole picture or at least a picture that is larger than every single supplement that is said to be beneficial. . 

       

      One member here has a name "are we there yet" and that name makes me think of the wright brothers.  The Wright brothers – Orville and Wilbur - are credited for creating the first flying airplane. They did so in competition with financial big corporations and against people with scientific status. But the Wright brother managed to pull it off (the ground). Now, referring back to those entrepreneurs it makes me ask “Are we flying yet”. “We” that aim for prolonging human life and it’s healthspan? Well, I think we at least are off the ground. We might not be very high up, But we are off the ground.

      Like 4
      • Danmoderator
      • skipping my funeral
      • dantheman
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Staffan Olsson FWIW I think keeping it simple is a good approach, one because we don't know what those synergies are and two, it's important to have an approach that is easy to follow. There's one other thing which comes from the old days when we thought that 'protein combining' was important. Later we found you don't have to combine, your body will do it for you. I partially suspect that with supplements it doesn't matter, transit time through your body is such that trying to micromanage it won't help. 

      Otherwise I do a few things with timing

      • ALA/ALC & Taurine I take on an empty stomach before breakfast and it anecdotally appears to work better that way and is recommend
      • 5-HTP & Melatonin I take before sleep (+ Glycine sometimes) 
      • Repair based supplements I take at dinner since repair occurs with overnight fasting (catabolism)
      • Building/support supplements I take with breakfast, and ones that go well with fat, because that's when building up occurs (anabolism)
      • Breakfast is most caloric dense
      • Dinner is light with lunch in between the two, to support the anabolic/catabolic process. 
      • I drink my tea in the morning before breakfast
      • I exercise in the morning before breakfast, to maximize glucose burn off and measurements have shown that doing so at that point keeps glucose low and controlled throughout the day, almost no matter what I eat.
        • Exercise is 30 minutes high intensity stationary cycle
        • 15 minutes pilates
        • 15 minutes free weights alternate days

      On a larger scale I do twice yearly one week water only fasts, middle of summer and between Christmas and New Years. During this period I go off all supplements and medications, exercise and of course food. The rest of the year I eat as much as I wish within my diet (whole foods high nutrient vegan). This also is a larger anabolic/catabolic cycle, with the two fasts being major catabolic modalities. 

      So putting all this together my estimation is that this cycles the catabolic/anabolic on a daily and yearly basis, and also gives me a twice yearly rest from everything including the health promoting regime. The fasts are a chance for my system to just do it all on it's own. 

      Finally! I'll point out that this system is also very convenient. I exercise and shower once, and get it out of the way. Waking up slowly and drinking tea is the most enjoyable way to do it, and the best for ECCG absorption. A water only fast is a mental journey as much a physical, and twice a year I'm ready for one anyhow. Starting the new year after a fast is a wonderful way to begin, as I get that time to reflect and take stock. Eating light in the evening helps me sleep (oh I make sure to have some good carbohydrates like sweet potato which also helps.) And so on, there are many synergies here for physical and mental health. 

      Reference: 

      I'm cycling on the following axis 

      • Anabolic/catabolic cycle as the primary repair/rebuild mechanism of aging
      • Circadian cycle (daily)
      • Seasonal cycle (yearly)
      Like 2
    • Dan Thank you for sharing your thoughts, principles for health and sharing your regim. I post my own thinking and regim here.  I just need some time to write it down. 

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    • Dan Larry BobM

      Like most people my routine is evolving. If I Should mention the basic components it should be as follows.

       

      Exercise:

      The first thing I do when I wake (3-4 times a week) up is physical exercise.  Mostly some kind of running. Sometimes 1 hour for an endurance effect, other mornings I do interval training with 2 – 4 intervals 4- 6 minutes long at max speed and some morning the intervals can be 30 – 90 seconds long maximal bursts and other mornings I might focus on 10 - 30 seconds maximum bursts of sprinting. After running I sometimes do some muscle strengthening. I try to stay away from a fixed routine that my body easily adapt to. This kind of free regime makes it more fun for me and it also put different stress-signals to the body. I usually have a cup of coffee before running and some quick acting creatine. Otherwise exercise is done on an empty stomach.  Sometimes I let my body rest and rebuild for 3-4 days.

       

      Morning supplements:

      On empty stomach (or on empty stomach after my running), I take green tea, green tea capsules, quercetin. Based on nothing but my own experience of personal wellbeing I also take vitamin B6 in the morning. (If I don’t run, then I don’t have coffee). Since a few days I am experimenting with curcumin an hour after the green tea and quercetin. I know that curcumin should be taken with a fatty meal but if not focusing solely on absorption of the curcumin but on creating a greater synergy I might move my daily curcumin from lunch/dinner to mornings. Placebo or not, so far I have had an increased feeling of wellbeing when I take curcumin after my green tea + quercetin. Later I will experiment with myricetin.

       

      I don’t eat breakfast; lunch is my first meal of the day. I try to have at least 14 - 16 hours between the last meal of the evening and the first meal the day. But I don’t do this diet pattern 7 days a week. At least one day a week I indulge myself in proper breakfast and I might also add some whey protein. On those days I feel the anabolic system kick in. Since I have coffee tea and creatine this is not a pure fast.

       

      Lunch:

      With my lunch I take vitamin D + Vitamins K2mk7 + Curcumin in the form of BCM 95 + grapeseed extract and a tocotrienol blend. (As previously said, I might move the curcumin to mornings). On most days during lunch or dinner I have dried Broccoli sprouts.  

       

      Dinner:

      At dinnertime I have cruciferous extracts and LEFs omega 3 with astaxanthin and  olive oil components. And I often add one multivitamin capsule “Two per day from LEF”. And periodically I take extra B12 at dinner. I have made my own reishi extract (double extraction) which I take after dinner. (on intermittent basis).

       

      Before bedtime:

      At night before bedtime I take folic acid and magnesium + (And intermittently I take 1500 mg Taurine aiming at improved sleep and to support neurogenesis).  Note, I know that magnesium threonate is not for me. I have tried that kind of magnesium a few times and I have a suspicion that it might be correlated in giving me an unpleasant irritability. As person I am otherwise relaxed, and I usually don’t loose my temper. During the time(s) I used magnesium threonate I also took Q10 which in some cases also can elicit irritability. So, the “jury is out” when it comes to those two supplements (or the combination of them) and my experience of out of character irritability.

       

      I have tried melatonin a couple of times and in different doses and with different formulas (extended release etc ) but unfortunately it has not worked well for me. In the future I will try to make melatonin work for me, this since it seems to have other beneficial effects besides supporting good nights sleep. The issues I have had with melatonin is that I have slept very deep but woken up after 3-5 hours and then being wide awake and not been able to go back to sleep again. In cases that melatonin did give me a full nights sleep I have been tired the next day.  But right now I have other substances I prioritize to add to my regime.

       

      When it comes AMPK I think that I so far have done well with exercise but now when I age (soon 57) I am considering Berberine, Gynostemma, metformin. Right now I am doing an “AMPK stimulating” test. Two months on life extensions AMPK activator which has worked well with my intermittent fasting. I lost 3 kg from that intervention. Now I am on a 2 months berberine trial.  My other regime is about the same as under my gynostemma period and so far, I’d say gynostemma is the better choice for me. At least I got results as well as a “feeling” that it acted more in synergy with my intermittent fasting. But its to early to say. I probably end up with metformin or gynostemma product ( or the gynostemma tea which I also have tried with similar success). When it comes to gynostemma tea my experience is that it makes me sleepy so I had it in the evenings. Since my wife is fluent in Chinese she has told me that on TCM sites in China they often recommend to drink gynostemma tea in the morning. This I have to explore further.

       

      I do senolytic therapy based on Fisetin in combination with other senolytic agents. I will do D + Q When I can get Dasatinib from India.

       

      Future changes or experiments (hopefully improvements):

      - twice a week I will do more heavy resistance training. Primarily not to build muscles but to build health. When muscles are forced to work at their maximum they elicit an anabolic response that the whole body can benefit from and that kind of strong muscles might might send other rejuvenating signals to the rest of the body. This hypothesis need scientific support. (It might be seen as something similar to what Larry mentioned but of course being a weaker approach to recalibrate your blood).

      - I consider adding a low dose fisetin daily or on most days (150 – 300 mg). Not aiming at a senolytic effects but as a gero-neuroprotecting agent.

      - Myircetin will be tried as a part of my morning regime with green tea and quercetin.

      - Pterostilbene + NAD? I have very little experience. But of course they are interesting for me.  

      - When it comes to piperlongumines and senolytic therapy, I have made my own extract from piper longum frutis and will try this as a part of future senolytic treatment.

       

      Is this all?

      No but this is my basic regime. I am not vegetarian. Most weekdays I have only a sallad for lunch and plenty of vegetables for dinner with fish and meat. I am very curious to see what science will say about C60 and human life extension. 

      Like 2
      • BobM
      • BobM
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Dan 

      Excellent. I’m 68 now, and can’t keep the exercise up to anywhere near your level. 

      You might try going off all the tea things a couple days and see how your sleep does. I have the same issue as you there. 

      I like the way you have your supplements organized...thanks for sharing 

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      • Danmoderator
      • skipping my funeral
      • dantheman
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      BobM Thanks, yeah done bunch of experiments, any sleep issues are independent of the tea. Mainly it's my mental state, if I'm concerned about something then sleep will be disturbed. 

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    • Staffan Olsson Great routine. Do you count calories?

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      • Karl
      • Karl.1
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Dan the term “hormesis “ does not mean “cycling”. But rather is a biphasic response. But you are correct that a stress response may be very important in the prevention of aging. Unfortunately, a generalized stress response may be the only reason some substances show longevity improvement in mice.

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  • John Whitling

     

    If you decide to try Ferulic acid then I am very interested to learn about your experience. I will try Ferulic acid + EGCG myself, but not right now. I have quite a few potentially health promoting and anti-aging interventions that I want to add to my regime before I try Ferulic acid. To find out what works on an individual basis means adding one intervention at the time so Ferulic acid will have to wait for a while.  For me to learn if ferulic acid really can assist EGCG with ameliorating the symptoms of AD would be very relevant knowledge. Even if it is only done by one person that’s how pioneering is done. And that is were we are right now. Whatever you decide to do, Good luck. And yet again thank you for sharing your EGCG dosing.

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      • John W
      • John_Whitling
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Staffan Olsson I just need to write to clarify one thing with our conversations so far about AD, inflammation, and the green tea extract dose I mentioned (3x700mg daily). While this dosage reduced inflammation considerably, taking the patient out of the deadly suicidal depth of depression it alone is not enough in my experience. Much that I guess has to do with the stage AD we're addressing. The inflammatory process of AD happens BEFORE normally regarded symptoms of AD such as memory loss, confusion, poor navigational skills, and reduced walking speed. Once you get a certain amount of damage from inflammation I don't think that you'll find these methods effective.

      The person I mentioned before is now also on minocycline, an antibiotic that is also a powerful anti inflammatory and crosses the BBB. Minocycline is now being used for depression, brain inflammation, etc. While it's quite useful it also comes with numerous side effects with long term use. IMO the side effects are worth it if it makes a meaningful difference to the patient. Adding minocycline took the patient from a non suicidal depressed state to one of normal mood. That's a very happy and rare result.

      Other things that this patient takes daily that also effect inflammation are selegiline, metformin, estrodial, and especially memantine ( a powerful NMDA inhibitor) which was prescribed for daily migraines after a raft of other migraine protocols did nothing.

      We also use high amounts of various magnesiums including neuro mag by LEF, a milder but essential NMDA inhibitor.

      Does all of this have a point? Yep it does .. fighting APOE4 AD before it becomes widely symptomatic requires listening to all relevant disease states the the patient is dealing with and finding commonality among all of the issues. APOE has a lifetime effect on just about everything, all the way down to cellular energy processing.

      BTW the noticed in the green tea comparison posted by BobM has some really crazy (to me) dosages in it. The first product indicates 10,000 mg of green tea???? In one capsule? I don't think so. I would be especially leery of that claim and product.

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    • John Whitling Thank you for the clarification. 

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    • John W  BobM Larry  

       

       I'd like to mention that since I read about John W’s different experiences from Life extension's green tea max and their mega green tea extract. I have changed my experiments regarding finding an synergistic and functional "morning cocktail" for as well short term wellbeing and long term health and disease prevention.

       

      I have now taken both green tea max and 1 Mega green tea capsule in the morning: in other words when I wake up I have taken 1 Green tea max (life extension)+ 1 mega green tea extract (life extension) + 250 mg Quercetin phytosome (thorne Quercetin Phytosome -Sophora japonica concentrate (leaf) / Phosphatidylcholine complex from Sunflower). After 2 hours I have taken life extension's 400mg Curcumin BCM 95. And yes this combo really did work like a "happy pill" for me. I got a profound effect of increased wellbeing. Something?? really penetrates the blood brain barrier.

      - Is it the quercetin anxiolytic effect that is increased?

      - Or is a hypothetical brain inflammation reduced by EGCG or Curcumin? 

       

      The effect is definitely not placebo. I am not sure this effect will remain. I might have noticed weak signs that the effect is fading. This might be the case since the body has a tendency to adapt to new stimuli and fall back to a previous level of homeostasis. Maybe by upregulating some transporters. Curcumin is a BCRP inhibitor and “chronic exposure to some polyphenol efflux pump inhibitors may actually increase transporter expression over time). So, this feeling of being “high on life” might fade away. I had this effect also when I only had green tea in the morning with green tea max and Quercetin. But now, with the increased dose of EGCG (mega green tea  from life extension) the effect is more profound. But the above-mentioned curcumin have, for a long time, had a positive effect on brainfog without being downregulated or experiencing a diminishing effect.

       

      I also like to report that now I have changed (since a few days) changed my experiment. Not because I don't believe in the above mentioned combination but beacause I like to see what ferulic acid can do.

       

      Right now I experiment with a different combination. First thing in the morning I take 1 mega green tea from Life extension and 250 mg Trans-Ferulic Acid, 250 mg, from Source Naturals.

      About an hour later I take the same amount of quercetin as before, 250 mg Quercetin phytosome with 1 green tea max from life extension. And this is followed up with 400mg Curcumin BCM 95. This is a new approach and I will report back after some time. But the immediate effect from Trans-ferulic acid with Mega green tea is very positive.

       

      I like to mention that, at this stage I hold back any experiments with myricetin. Do I have any concern? yes I consider that I might take to much green tea extracts. 

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      • John W
      • John_Whitling
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Staffan Olsson Based on your response you might want to get some genetic testing to see if you have any snips that might create neuroinflammation. There are a few snips that can predispose you to that, included the dreaded APOE4.

       

      Seeing your deep involvement in experimentation though, you may have already done genetic testing.

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    • BobM
    • BobM
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Just FYI, Here is a high level overview of some popular Green Tea supplements: 

    https://bodynutrition.org/green-tea-extract/

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    • Karl
    • Karl.1
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thorne makes a product that combines several of these products.

    https://www.thorne.com/products/dp/polyresveratrol-sr-reg

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