By Peter Lazarnick, DC

A life expectancy of more than 100 years is not uncommon in some remote areas of the world. Even more interesting is the fact that these centenarians live long lives that are filled with health and vitality.

There is a region on the West Elbow Plateau of the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia where people have lived to be more than 120 years old. And the people of West Elbow are not the only ones to enjoy an extremely long life. In a remote region of southwestern China, in the tiny hamlet of Pinghan, which is located deep within a stand of limestone hills, the people there also experience extremely long lives. There are more than 74 centenarians and 237 residents who have reached their 90s in Pinghan and the surrounding area. That’s one of the highest concentrations of elderly people per capita in the world, according to Chen Jinchao, a surgeon who has run the Guangxi Bama Long Life Research Institute for the past 10 years.

Living longer and healthier lives is not exclusive to these two small tribal villages. A small handful of cultures where people live well into their 90s and beyond exist and are scattered across the mountains of Asia. Although the inhabitants of these areas where longevity exists and thrives might not know of the existence of the others, they all have some very important things in common: They live in isolated and sometimes inaccessible places. This isolation keeps them away from the more harmful influences of modern Western civilization. They don’t know what it means to eat processed or fast foods. Their diet consists mainly of fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains; and it is low in animal fats. Most importantly, many of these people that live long and healthy lives consume regular daily helpings of a tiny red fruit that just happens to be the world’s most powerful anti-aging food, the goji berry.

The goji berry may be the most nutritionally dense food ever discovered on the planet. Goji contains the following:

• 19 amino acids, the building blocks of protein, including all eight essential for life;
• 21 trace minerals, including germanium, an anti-cancer mineral rarely found in foods;
• more protein than whole wheat– 13 percent;
• a complete spectrum of antioxidant carotenoids, including beta carotene (a better source than even carrots) and zeaxanthin (protects the eyes); goji berries are the richest source of carotenoids of all known foods;
• vitamin C at higher levels than those found in oranges by 500 percent per ounce;
• B-complex vitamins, necessary for converting food into energy;
• vitamin E, which is rarely found in fruits, only in grains and seeds;
• beta sitosterol, an anti-inflammatory agent; beta sitosterol also lowers cholesterol, and has been used to treat sexual impotence and prostate enlargement;
• essential fatty acids, which are required for the body’s production of hormones and the smooth functioning of the brain and nervous system;
• cyperone, a sesquiterpene that benefits the heart and blood pressure, alleviates menstrual discomfort and has been used in treating cervical cancer;
• solavetivone, a powerful anti-fungal and anti-bacterial compound;
• physalin, a natural compound that is active against all major types of leukemia; it has been shown to increase splenic, natural killer-cell activity in normal and tumor-bearing mice, with broad spectrum, anti-cancer effect; it has been used as a treatment for hepatitis B;
• betaine, which is used by the liver to produce choline, a compound that calms nervousness, enhances memory, promotes muscle growth and protects against fatty liver disease; Betaine also provides methyl groups in the body’s energy reactions and can help reduce levels of homocysteine, a prime risk factor in heart disease; it also protects DNA; and
• most importantly, it contains 23 bioactive polysaccharides and four unique bioactive polysaccharides called lyceum barbarum 1, lyceum barbarum 2, lyceum barbarum 3 and lyceum barbarum 4; these four unique bioactive polysaccharides are found only in the goji berry.

You may already know about vitamins, minerals and antioxidants when it comes to nutrition, but have you heard about bioactive polysaccharides, glyconutrients and glycobiology?

This new healing science is changing the way doctors view health, nutrition and longevity. Glyconutrition is the science of saccharides, or sugars, that maintain cellular communication in the body, and is extremely important for good health and longevity. In fact, four of the last eight Nobel Prizes for medicine have been awarded for work in glycobiology and cellular communication and their importance to wellness.

Gylconutrients, also known as bioactive polysaccharides, are a family of complex carbohydrates bound to proteins. They are produced by some plants as an extremely effective defense mechanism against attacks by viruses, bacteria, fungi, soil-borne parasites, cell mutations, toxic pollutants and environmental free radicals. This defense mechanism is passed on to us when we consume the plant or fruit. These glyconutrients help prevent some illnesses and promote recovery from others, including cancer, heart disease, auto-immune disease and recurring infections.

The words glyconutrients and bioactive polysaccharides are often used interchangeably. They are special sugars that help the body distinguish what belongs in it from what does not. So it is clear just how important these special sugars are when it comes to how our cells react to foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses. The body does not produce these special sugars. We get them through our diet.

It has also been shown in clinical trials that bioactive polysaccharides reduce the effects of allergies and diminish symptoms of arthritis or diabetes. They also help heal skin conditions like psoriasis, and increase the body’s resistance to viruses, including those causing the common cold and the flu. They help prevent recurrent bacterial ear infections that plague children. A number of people with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and other autoimmune disorders have reported improvement in their symptoms when they supplemented their diet with these simple sugars. And the “sweet” thing about these sugars is they won’t cause the body to gain weight or increase insulin levels. The opposite is true. These bioactive polysaccharides have been shown to help patients lose weight, can be taken while on a low-carbohydrate diet and have no contraindications for diabetes.

So why should we need to supplement our diets with additional bioactive polysaccharides? If the body’s natural defense mechanisms are compromised by long-term stress, a sequence of debilitating problems can occur. Note that stress is not just the cause of a bad or difficult experience. It could also be the way you handle daily life, time management issues or concerns about the way people view you. When the body is under stress, it may not be able to manufacture bioactive polysaccharides properly or fast enough.

When this happens, your body begins to shut down and won’t work properly. Faulty communication occurs when the body begins manufacturing imperfect glycoproteins, which are protective substances made from bioactive polysaccharides. Glycoproteins combine sugars and proteins, which cover cells. When these glycoproteins are compromised, disease may eventually result, especially if the body is under prolonged physical, emotional or mental stress.

Supplementing with foods and nutrients rich in bioactive polysaccharides can help prevent this potential breakdown and help the body fend off illness. Glycoproteins can act as receptor sites on cell surfaces. Receptor sites are where the cell controls what enters it. These receptor sites can become blocked by environmental toxins and other substances. For cells to benefit fully from medicinal or nutritional therapies, receptors must be unblocked. Special bioactive polysaccharides, called free glyconutrients, literally clean the cells’ receptor sites so the cell can recognize and absorb the proper substances.

Bioactive polysaccharides are an important part of the body’s cell-to-cell communication process. From the moment life begins, cells communicate with each other using the sugars, or glycoproteins, on the cell’s surface.

Bioactive polysaccharides enable cells to send and receive messages. As mentioned before, glycoproteins are created inside our cells from the bioactive polysaccharides we take into our bodies. These glycoproteins are pushed out of the center of the cell to the cell’s surface, where they stick out, creating a peach fuzz effect. Cells brush up against each other touching these glycoproteins, or peach fuzz, which is how all the most important communication in the body takes place. When a foreign invader comes in contact with the glycoproteins of immune cells, the cells recognize it as an enemy and mount an immune-cell offensive to rush in and destroy it.

As we age, our bodies begin to break down. Our immune systems become less effective, our eyesight and hearing diminish, and osteoporosis sets in. Obviously, if we can figure out how to replace the old, sick cells with new, healthy ones, we can look forward to a much healthier life. Glyconutrition research indicates that bioactive polysaccharides help slow the aging process and, in some cases, even reverses it.

How can we use glyconutrition research to extend our health and longevity? Nutritional studies tell us that foods we eat play a crucial role in aging. Scientists tell us, when it comes to longevity, our genetic potential is 120 to 140 years.

Cells communicate with each other in their own language, which is an important aspect to human health and longevity. If our cells are missing the right amount of bioactive polysaccharides for building the receptors, the receptors won’t form adequately. This leads to incomplete and incorrect communication between those cells, because part of the language used by the cells is missing.

This breakdown in cellular communication leaves us more susceptible to disease. By replenishing bioactive polysaccharides, thereby improving the quality of our cell’s receptor sites, we can give our body greater resistance against disease because our cells can communicate more effectively.

Goji contains the richest source of bioactive polysaccharides in the world, including four unique polysaccharides that are more powerful than any others that have ever been found in any plant on the planet. Research strongly suggests that goji’s unique bioactive polysaccharides, again sometimes referred to as glyconutrients, work in the body by serving as directors and carriers of the instructions the cells use to communicate. These master molecules command and control many of the body’s most important biochemical defense systems and balance the body’s chemistry.

Goji also acts to cause the secretion of GH factor, or growth hormone, from the pituitary gland. This is the youth hormone and can decrease body fat, reduce wrinkles, restore hair loss, increase energy, increase sexual function, improve memory, improve sleep, elevate mood, normalize blood pressure and improve blood sugar and insulin levels.

No one has all the answers for a longer and healthier life, but it’s my hope that the information herein will have a profound impact on your health and that of your patients.