OM-X and Anti-aging

OM-X and Anti-aging
By Frontline Magazine

Dr Goh Seng Heng from Singapore
MBBS (Singapore), M.Sc. (Medical Science in Dermatology Glasgow, U.K.)
Fellow of American Academy of Dermatology,
Fellow of The Int. Soc. Of Dermatological Surgery,
Member, American Academy of anti-aging Internationai Skin Centre Pte. Ltd.

In today's level of advancement in life sciences, aging should now be considered a "disease" like many others. What is aging? Is aging just a natural process of our life cycle from birth to death? What changes take place during the aging process? Many of such questions can now be answered with some degree of scientific credibility rather than conjectural propositions.

Aging is a definite process. Everyone must age. From the simple living thing such as the plant in our garden to the high and mighty president of the country. Aging takes place in 2 simple stages. First there is growth, a process of anabolism, followed by degradation, a process of catabolism. The human body is no different from the garden plant. We have to age and die. The process of growth or anabolism forms the first phase of our lifespan. The foetus in the uterine cavity grows from the fertilised egg, to the little baby form after nine months. The baby exits from the womb and continues to grow towards adulthood. We measure this generally as age 0 to 40. During this phase, many physiological changes take place. The bones elongate, muscles bulk increase, brain enlarges, skin thickens, lungs and heart size increase. Along with physical and structural changes, the function of each organ from the thyroid glands, pancreas to the anterior pituitary glands also evolve greatly. These functional changes are necessary to parallel and complement the structural growth of the body. The body is now able to tackle different tasks in life. From a child's ability to do simple jobs, the adult is now able to do meaningful and productive things such as procreation and multitasking in his pyscho social environment.

What is the relevance of OM-X to this first phase of "aging"? OM-X capsules contain a natural fermented mixture of 7 wild fruits, 2 herbs and 2 seaweeds in which 60 million lactic acid bacterias of 12 different strains are found. Biochemically, it also contains 18 types of amino acids, 9 types of vitamins, 5 types of minerals and quality calcium salts. During our first phase of growth, the period of anabolism, the body requires all these essential nutrients found in OM-X. Our daily diets normally should contain all these essential factors for our growth phase. However, in today's standard of living, we live such a busy life and we do not really have time for a balance diet. Most of us eat out and in hawker centers. Very few people are obsessed with calculating the quantity of their dietary requirements for each and every one of the vitamins, cofactors and nutrients that we need for us to maintain optimal life functions. OM-X fulfill this function adequately in about 2-4 capsules daily.

During the growth phase of our life, our body is buffeted by many exogenous and endogenous changes. Most are damaging and impair our functions and rate of growth. Infections by viruses, bacterias, fungi and parasites will cause our body to response physiologically by mounting all kinds of defences and fight back mechanisms. Not only will these microorganisms attack and bulldoze us all over, by destroying our cells and tissues, through their virulence and their overpopulation, our body damage is accentuated by changes in our under or over response mechanisms to the micro organisms as well as the by products of the pathological battle. This will result in a state of disease and disequilibrium. Micro organism is just only one facet of the environmental resistant against our physical survival. What about radiation, impurities in our water supply, excessive consumption of unsaturated fats containing cholesterol and triglycerides? Also, the wear and tear of weather changes, road traffic accident, and physical traumas are no less detrimental. OM-X nutrients not only supply us with our daily requirements to fight and protect, but it also assist us to heal and regenerate the negative changes occurring within our body. The ability of the quality and numerous lactobacilli helps the GI tract to regulate its activities and help the absorption and metabolism of our food intake.

The second phase of our aging is the biological degradation process or what anti-aging physician would call, the catabolic phase. Assuming an average lifespan of 80, this phase will occur from 40 to 80. Along with chronological age, we will age functionally. Genetic programmes inherent in us will signal us when to expire according to the genetic codes inherited from our parents and forefathers. This DNA coding cannot be altered in each individual except through accidental mutation. The oxidative changes occurring daily in our lives through our own metabolic processes will create lots of free radicals such as peroxides, superoxides and hydroxyl radicals. This will damage our intracellular activities especially those found in our mitochondria's. Diseases usually set in during this phase of aging. High cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, cancers, strokes and such will confront us inevitably. They will come to us in all shapes and sizes. The excesses of our lives will take its toll during this phase. Over activity, stress, hyper functioning lifestyle, wear and tear changes, will reduce our immunological resistance. Our gastrointestinal tract, the infrastructural centre of our nutritional input would be impaired and damaged by the accumulation of years of abnormal amounts of bacteria's, yeasts and unknown microbiological organisms.

The functions of our various endocrine glands from the ovary and testis to the anterior pituitary would have deteriorated. Its ability to secrete and to secrete the precise amount of hormone is dependent on thermostatic mechanism built along the hypothalamus connection to our outside world. The visual, olfactory and auditory inputs are reduced. This degradation in functions are inevitable. Their fine tuning and feedback looping in controlling the correct amount of hormonal levels in our body will be impaired. Our insulin hormones will go down or the ability to response to a normal insulin level is reduced. Most people will develop impaired glucose tolerance even without overt diabetes. Our human growth hormone level drops from 2000 mcg at the age of 10 to 25 mcg by the age of 80. This represents a drop of 14% for every decade starting from 30 years old. This principal hormone is the master controlling hormone of almost the entire hormone system of the body. When the absolute level goes down, the thermostatic mechanism is turned on. Most of the friendly hormones like thyroid, testosterone, and estrogen will also be down. The "unfriendly " ones like cortisol and prolactin will go up. These are bad for the body as they cause the accumulation of fat and poor metabolism of the intake of food when they enter our body. The motor vehicle and the computer you own are clear examples of wear and tear and limited function and life span. What more the human body! The neuroendocrine changes are far ranging and permeable throughout the whole human biological systems.

What are the physiological changes in this catabolic phase of aging? Our muscle bulk thins down and functionally weakens. We can no longer run as fast as before, nor can we carry the same heavy load of things we used to carry. Accidental fracture of our bones will find us lying in bed and immobilized longer than our children. Our bone density are becoming more porous and incapable of proper calcification. Even, with our adequate input of calcium, we are no longer able to mineralize and harden the integrity our bone. Our lungs can no longer breathe as deep and fast as ever. Our hearts can no longer beat as fast as ever without giving irregular rythms and asynchronisation of the pump cycle. Our arteries are hardened and can no longer deliver the essential oxygen and nutrients to the vital organs in appropriate amount. Our veins dilate and the venular pump no longer brings the blood back to the heart center adequately. Our memory fails. We cannot remember where we put things and whether we have locked our car doors. Our reflexes are slower and react idly to stimuli. Our decision making and timing become tardy and delayed. Our auditory hearing and olfactory sense are no longer acute. We can no longer enjoy the Beethoven music and concerto we used to. We can longer taste the "Ah Yat" abalone and sharkfins like before. Sleep becomes superficial and short. We get tired and irritable when we wake up. The drive to get new projects declines. We no longer want to start a new career. We are happy with the same situation and circumstances. We are no longer ambitious like before. Life becomes dreary and meaningless. Our brain is aging. The grey and white matter cannot be regenerated like the skin. The number of fixed brain cells that nature confers on us when we are born can only reduce and degenerate.

What does OM-X do that can mitigate against this process? First of all, the amino acids present in OM-X are essential for the synthesis of HGH by our pituitary glands. By increasing the intake of arginine, ornithine, lysine, glutamine and tryptophan we can provide more raw materials for the pituitary gland to produce more HGH. It has been found that animals fed with these amino acids, can increase the HGH by 2-3 times their normal levels. OM-X contains most of these amino acids. The lactobacilli facilitate the absorption of these acids into the blood stream making them readily available for the brain to increase its manufacture of HGH.

By repairing the infrastructure of our gastrointestinal tract, the ability to absorb and utilize nutrients is improved. By maintaining homeostatic equilibrium of our body systems, dangerous metabolites and unhealthy free radicals are not absorbed into our body . The immunity of our body system is partly centred in the myxenteric plexus and the lymphoid tissues of our GI tract. The protection from unfriendly bacteria's conferred by the OM-X lactobacilli will serve to allow the body to rebuild these tissues and enhance their ability to take care of the harmful substances and microorganisms injested in our body daily.

OM-X improves the absorption of essential nutrients. OM-X repairs GI integrity and prevent accumulation of toxic wastes by unfriendly bacteria's and yeasts. OM-X helps to maintain a normal bacteriological flora so that the GI mortality can continue to function as normally as possible. All these effects will mitigate the aging processes. By having a healthy GI tract, the rest of the organs are indirectly protected from ongoing harm and degenerative changes. It is possible that the aging process is delayed and the catabolic process of the 2nd phase of aging is reduced.