The clearest evidence of aging is th a t w h ich can be seen by the nak ed eye. Hair loses its pig m en tatio n and becomes gray, or begins to th in and fall out. Fingernails thicken an d become brittle. Skin toughens and begins to wrinkle, reducing its sensitivity an d m aking us m ore susceptible to injury.
Each of these problems is associated w ith w h a t m ay perhaps be the m ost serious change th a t takes place over time: a reduction in the rate of blood flow th ro u g h o u t the body.
The implications of this are trem endous, no t only w ith respect to this country's perennial leading cause of death, b u t to a huge n u m b e r of other, often subtle, conditions, such as im paired m em ory or lack of sexual arousal. W hen blood flow is restricted, every system
128 Gary Null's Ultimate Anti-Aging Program
in th e body— right d o w n to proper n o u rish m e n t of the tiniest p a rti
cles inside our cells— suffers. As m a n y as 60 million Am ericans c u r
rently suffer some sort of h eart disease.
The m ost prevalent form the disease takes is atherosclerosis. The arteries become clogged by an excessive buildup of fats k n o w n as plaque. Excess free radicals can convert regular, or good, cholesterol, w hich is required for cell m aintenance, into m ore threatening forms of oxidized, or bad, cholesterol— the prim ary com ponent of plaque.
(Hence the strong correlation betw een heart disease and serum cho
lesterol levels.)
Plaque develops over time, adhering to the arterial wall and eventually obstructing blood flow. Thus plaque forces the h eart to w ork h a rd e r as its blood supply is reduced. This can eventually lead to a full-blow n h ea rt attack, as well as stroke, seemingly su dden events th a t m ay actually have been decades in the m aking.
Ju s t as many, if no t more, Americans suffer from a condition that, w hile separate, is intim ately linked to heart disease—
hypertension. There are tw o types of hypertension: essential and secondary. M ore th a n 90 percent of hypertension cases are d iag nosed as essential, m ea n in g the direct cause is no t kno w n . Second
ary h y p ertension occurs w h e n endocrine or kidney dam age causes a rise in blood pressure. H ypertension is m ost dangerous due to its potential dam age to the h eart an d blood vessels.
STROKE
Of the total a m o u n t of blood p u m p ed by the heart, a q u arte r of it goes to the brain. Strokes occur w h e n this flow of blood is restricted either due to clots, the ru p tu rin g of blood vessels, or a m ore global obstruction like th at associated w ith atherosclerosis, and thus brain cells die from a lack of oxygen.
Stroke can result in im m ed iate d e a th or severe physical conse
quences, including limits on the ability to speak, walk, see, talk, and use the hands.
Sym ptom s associated w ith stroke depend to a large exten t on w h a t areas of the brain are affected. In addition to the n u m b e r of deaths they cause each year, estim ates are m ore th a n 2 million
Americans currently suffer from some kind of disability due to strokes.
CANCER
Cancer is a condition w here previously h ealth y cells m u ta te and begin to grow ou t of control. Allowed to continue unchecked, these cancerous cells can rob norm al cells of vital n u trie n ts and develop into tum ors th a t can spread th ro u g h o u t the body and eventually overw helm it.
Almost all cells have the potential to become cancerous. They can function properly one day, tu rn cancerous the next, an d th e n either be repaired by the im m u n e system or simply be destroyed and replaced. The problem occurs w h e n the im m u n e system m a lfu n c tions for w hatever reason and cancer cells are allowed to take root an d divide.
Cancer can strike anyw here, b u t is generally divided into five basic types: carcinomas, sarcomas, myelomas, lym phom as, an d leu- kemias.
M ost com m on are carcinomas, w hich attack the internal or
gans— prostate a n d breast, for exam ple— an d skin.
Sarcomas are the m ost deadly an d also the m ost rare, developing in the connective and m uscle tissues and h itting the m usculoskele
tal an d lym ph systems.
Also rare, m yelomas begin in the plasm a cells an d destroy bone marrow.
Lymphomas are cancers of th e lym phatic system, two com m on examples being H odgkin's and non-H odgkin's lym phom a.
Finally, leukemias, unlike the others, take the form of an over
production of w h ite blood cells ra th e r th a n tum ors, a n d begin in the tissues of the lym ph nodes, spleen, a n d bone marrow.
Ju s t as some cancers are m ore com m on th a n others, some are also more deadly. For exam ple the incidence of pancreatic cancer in A m erican m e n is roughly 13,500 new cases per year. Male p a n c re atic deaths per year are estim ated to be approxim ately 12,000. A similar p attern is seen in w om en. By contrast, the n u m b e r of new prostate cancer cases per year is aro u n d 165,000. The n u m b e r of
130 Gary Null's Ultimate Anti-Aging Program
m e n w h o actually die from prostate cancer is about 35,000. In w om en, the ratio w ith respect to breast cancer is roughly the same.
M uch inform ation will be presented on n a tu ra l approaches con
cerning how to treat an d prevent each of these three diseases, in cluding a h ost of others. Before doing so, however, it is w o rth noting additional ways in w h ic h some im p o rta n t parts of the body change over time.