The 9 Hallmarks of Ageing.
Discover the nine causes of why we age.
The Hallmarks define why we age.
To put it simply, ageing is cell damage. This damage leads to all kinds of symptoms, ranging from the simplest example of wrinkles to more severe diseases. If you can slow down ageing, you can actually stay healthier longer.
López-Otín and others created a framework in 2013 to describe all known researched factors that contribute to ageing. They have called them the “9 hallmarks of ageing”. The hallmarks have been proven to slow down or aggravate ageing in experimental settings.
Many scientists are now building on this framework. Molecules and lifestyle habits have already been identified that target the hallmarks of ageing and can rewind the biological clock. Our products are based on this scientific research.
We realise the Hallmarks of Ageing are a bit hard to understand for everyone that’s not a PhD in cell biology. Look at ageing as cell damage and then let’s try to chop it up. There’s 4 primary causes of cell damage. Three other causes are actually speeding up the primary causes. And then there’s 2 causes that only occur when there already is quite a lot of damage.
Primary
causes.
Genomic instability: errors in your DNA
Telomere shortening: loss of DNA protection
Epigenetic alterations: genes are wrongly turned off or on
Loss of proteostasis: accumulation of proteins inside cells
Accelerating causes.
5. Nutrient sensing: cells absorbing too many nutrients
6. Mitochondrial dysfunction: internal power plants breaking down
7. Cellular senescence: zombie cells
Too much damage.
8. Stem cell exhaustion: lower tissue maintenance and repair
9. Altered cellular communication: a vicious circles of damage
Hallmark #1: Genomic instability.
Errors in your DNA
Errors in your DNA lead to malfunctioning cells
DNA is the blueprint of your body. The masterplan. It defines the make-up and functioning of our body. Just by walking on this planet, your DNA gets exposed to so many factors that damage it. This goes from sunlight to pesticides.
Cells are continuously copied and during cell division, your DNA gets copied too. But - due to this damage - the copying doesn’t always go right and errors might slip in. These errors ultimately lead to malfunctioning cells, resulting in diseases and loss of function.
There are processes in our body that repair damage to DNA. A vital coenzyme responsible for fixing our DNA is NAD+. As we age and damage accumulates, NAD+ levels go down, resulting in even more DNA damage.
This hallmark is targeted by both The Base - NMN and The Grape - Resveratrol.
Hallmark #2: Telomere shortening.
Loss of DNA protection.
Short telemores mean your cells can’t be copied
Telomeres are the ends of your DNA strands. Think of them as these plastic caps at the end of shoelaces. Telomeres protect DNA from damage. Every time DNA is copied, parts of the telomeres get shaved off. When there’s no more telomeres left, your cells can’t be copied anymore. This aggravates the process of ageing.
This hallmark is targeted by The Grape - Resveratrol.
Hallmark #3: Epigenetic alterations.
Genes are wrongly turned off or on.
The epigenome are the on/off buttons of your genes
If your DNA is your blueprint, your epigenome is the management deciding what to build and what not. Under the influence of your epigenome, certain genes are turned off or on. This can lead to errors where cells behave in ways they shouldn’t. A cell in your liver might behave like a skin cell when it shouldn’t.
Epigenetic alterations can therefore lead to all kinds of smaller issues and graver age-related diseases, from a slightly lower level of immunity to cells showing cancerous behaviour.
This hallmark is targeted by both The Base - NMN and The Grape - Resveratrol.
Hallmark #4: Loss of proteostasis.
Accumulation of proteins inside cells.
Build-up of protein leads to malfunctioning cells
The word proteostasis literally means having your proteins in a state of balance. Proteins are the workers in your body. They build and repair tissue, they act as messengers and they help create antibodies - to name a few functions. Proteins are continuously created and broken down in our cells. This process doesn’t work perfectly and heaps of proteins may stack up in older cells. These clumps of proteins are literally taking up too much space in the cell which may lead to cells not functioning as they should, resulting in more age-related issues.
This hallmark is targeted by The Grape - Resveratrol.
Hallmark #5: Deregulated nutrient sensing.
Cells absorbing too many nutrients.
Too many nutrients is bad for your cells
Your cells need nutrients to grow and operate. They get these nutrients from the food you eat and drink. Those nutrients get converted into energy, but this process also creates harmful byproducts that can lead to damage to the cells. Your cells therefore need to balance the amount of nutrients they take in - it needs to be just enough not to cause unnecessary damage.
Due to accumulated cell damage, the sensors that manage the nutrient intake become less sensitive. This leads to cells converting too many nutrients into energy, which again leads to more of these harmful byproducts that cause even more damage.
This hallmark is targeted by The Grape - Resveratrol.
Hallmark #6: Mitochondrial dysfunction.
Internal power plants breaking down.
Your internal power plants are producing less energy
Mitochondria are your internal power plants. They convert the nutrients from what you eat and drink into energy, but they also create harmful byproducts such as free radicals. These byproducts can actually damage the mitochondria and make them less efficient. When your mitochondria get less efficient they create less energy and more of these harmful byproducts, leading to even more damage.
This hallmark is targeted by both The Base - NMN and The Grape - Resveratrol.
Hallmark #7: Cellular senescence.
Zombie cells.
Zombie cells lead to more zombie cells
The word senescence comes from the latin word senex - old. Cells become senescent when they can’t divide anymore. Cell division is stopped when there is too much damage to the DNA or when the telomeres are too short. This mechanism prevents the creation of dysfunctioning or cancerous cells.
Senescent cells are normally cleared by our immune system, but as we age the immune system starts to decline and there is a build-up of these senescent cells. These cells become like zombies: they’re dead, still there and they start to excrete inflammatory substances that damage cells around them. The accumulation of senescent cells in our skin leads to wrinkles and the sagging of skin for example.
This hallmark is targeted by The Grape - Resveratrol.
Hallmark #8: Stem cell exhaustion.
Lower tissue maintenance and repair.
Stem cells can repair your body
Our epigenome - the management of our body - turns certain genes on or off and thus assigns specific roles to cells. Cells become for example skin cells, heart cells or liver cells. Stem cells are cells without a specific function yet and will assign themselves with a specific function in the parts of the body where there’s a shortage of cells.
The pool of stem cells is continuously replenished, but the replenishment is slowed down by, for instance, an increasing amount of senescent cells that are causing inflammation or damaged DNA and shortened telomeres. Less available stem cells leads to a lower grade of maintenance and repair for our tissues and ultimately to dysfunction.
This hallmark is targeted by The Base - NMN.
Hallmark #9: Altered intercellular communication.
A vicious cycle of damage.
Damage leads to more damage
Many of the 9 hallmarks of ageing are leading to an increase of harmful substances in our bodies. An example is the rise in the number of senescent cells that leads to an increase in inflammation, which then again affects otherwise healthy cells. This leads to a vicious circle where healthy cells are ageing faster because of harmful substances excreted by other cells.
This hallmark is targeted by The Base - NMN.
How is NMN different from resveratrol?
The Grape - Resveratrol activates the sirtuins, the so-called longevity genes that protect your cells. The Base - NMN boosts NAD+, which is the fuel to these sirtuins. Resveratrol and NMN therefore complement each other. Together, NMN and resveratrol cover the 9 Hallmarks of Ageing. So, we recommend taking both NMN and resveratrol at the same time.
The science behind ageing is evolving fast.
Read up on the science.
+ The 9 Hallmarks of Ageing
- López-Otín et al., The hallmarks of aging, 2013, Cell 153:1194–1217 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.039