Longevity Optimization
Our anti-aging program is a fusion of molecular metabolic and integrative forms of medicine. Our goal is to provide world-class executive level care by optimizing cellular repair functions throughout the body on a system level.
Through the years of research, worldwide scientific and clinical collaborations, Dr. Herskowitz and his team have developed highly individualized testing and treatment programs that translate to optimal health, wellness, and quality of life.
We seek to be one of the best Longevity and Anti-Aging centers in the world. Using proprietary health intelligence that is individualized, personalized, and powerful, we work with senior scientists and clinicians across the world, building protective shields around every client for personalized bio-insurance, repair, and rejuvenation on a system level.
Areas of Expertise
- Proactive approaches
- Early cognitive decline
- Heart disease and stroke
- Diabetes
- Autoimmune diseases
- Prolonged illnesses/surgery
- Joint and musculoskeletal conditions
- Other chronic issues
Key Dimensions of Health
The generation of personal data clouds or maps including key dimensions of individual health such as:
- Advanced biomarkers
- Functional testing for cardiac, vascular and neurological health
- Genomics
- Microbiomics
- Metabolomics
- Nutrigenomics
- Pharmacogenomics
- Proteomics
- Activity, lifestyle and quality of life (QOL) data and validated disease-specific data
- Genetic data is fixed but all other kinds of data are constantly changing with age, stress, and other circumstances.
By using all your personalized data, we will create treatment plans that use the best of all available therapies, including advanced reapairative, anti-inflammatory, and non-invasive strategies. This approach produces an actionable and trackable Longevity road map for you and your quality of life.
Contact Us
Mon: 10am-12pm & 1pm-4pm
Tues-Thurs: 9am-12pm & 1pm-4pm
Friday: closed
1700 California Street, Suite 520
San Francisco, CA 94109
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AGING SYSTEM BIOLOGY
IMMUNE
The immune system is the body’s defense against infectious organisms and other invaders. Through a series of steps called the immune response, the immune system attacks organisms and substances that invade body systems and cause disease.
METABOLIC
Metabolic processes are constantly taking place in the body. Metabolism is the sum of all of the chemical reactions that are involved in catabolism and anabolism. The reactions governing the breakdown of food to obtain energy are called catabolic reactions.
MUSCULAR
The muscular system is an organ system consisting of skeletal, smooth and cardiac muscles. It permits movement of the body, maintains posture and circulates blood throughout the body.
CIRCULATORY
The circulatory system is a network consisting of blood, blood vessels, and the heart. This network supplies tissues in the body with oxygen and other nutrients, transports hormones, and removes unnecessary waste poducts.
NEUROLOGIC
The nervous system is a highly complex part of our communication network, which coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes that impact the body, then works in tandem with the endocrine system to respond to such events.
RESPIRATORY
The human respiratory system is a series of organs responsible for taking in oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide. The primary organs at the respiratory system are lungs, which carry out this exchange of gases as we breathe.
ENDOCRINE
The endocrine system is the collection of glands that produce hormones that regulate metabolism, growth and development, tissue function, sexual function, reproduction, sleep, and mood, among other things.
What Are Telomeres?
Our bodies are made up of systems that are made up of organs that are made up of billions of cells. As we age, our cells age and although we cannot slow, stop or turn back time, it may be possible to slow cellular aging, or slow the shortening of telomeres.
What are Telomeres?
Telomeres are protective proteins located at the ends of chromosomes and serve to promote general chromosomal stability and aid in DNA replication. Telomeres are further protected by the enzyme, Telomerase, which acts to minimize telomere shortening. Since telomere shortening is a normal process during cell division the length and rate of shortening indicates cell age.
Researchers have known for over two decades that telomeres shorten with age, but emerging studies are showing associations among lifestyles, various diseases and cancer.
Lifestyle choices including smoking cigarettes, physical inactivity, poor diet and stress have all been associated with decreased telomere length. It is widely accepted that tobacco has negative health consequences, most notably, lung cancer. Furthermore, smoking one pack per day for 40 years is equivalent to losing to 7.4 years of life due to the impact on telomeres. High body mass index (BMI) can be an indicator of obesity, which significantly correlates with oxidative stress and shortened telomere length. In fact, the loss of telomeres in obese individuals was calculated to be roughly 8.8 years. In 2004, biochemist and Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn became the first to demonstrate that psychological stress can shorten telomeres. Since then many studies have suggested that experiences of traumatic and chronic stress are related to telomere shortening.
Shortening of telomeres has also been linked with numerous diseases. Multiple studies in the last 20 years have shown a link between shortened telomeres with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Coronary artery disease is associated with shortened telomere length and that individuals have shortened telomeres have a three-fold higher risk to develop a heart attack. Telomere shortening has also been associated with chronic kidney disease, psychological stress, high blood pressure and others.
Several studies have shown that shortened telomeres are a significant risk factor for developing various types of cancer. Bladder, head and neck, lung and colon cancer have all been repeatedly correlated with significantly shortened telomeres. Furthermore, degraded telomerase has been documented to exhibit pathophysiological states related to cancer and aging.
As poor lifestyle decisions can shorten telomeres, healthy life style decisions can protect telomeres and decrease cellular aging.
In 2008, Dean Ornish, et al., published a pilot study to assess the effect of a 3 month intensive lifestyle change on telomerase activity in patients with low risk prostate cancer. Their findings suggest that lifestyle changes including nutrition, natural supplements and stress management were significantly associated with increased telomerase activity and decreased psychological stress.
Proper nutrition is imperative for general health as well as for protecting telomeres. A diet containing antioxidants including omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin E, vitamin C and beta-carotene has been associated with longer telomeres due to their protective effects on telomerase.
In 2009, exercise was shown to increase telomerase activity and reduce telomere shortening, presumably by reducing oxidative stress.