There is a bad substance which progresses the aging of all over the body. If you can decrease the bad substance, it can be expected that you can control your aging such as wrinkles, spots, hardening of blood vessels, cancer, dementia, osteoporosis.
 
But the research about the bad substance has just started and there are a lot of unknown things.
 
The following information is based on the latest research.
 
The bad substance progressing aging is Osteopontin.
 
Osteopontin is a type of protein that is required to produce bones and kill bacteria from outside. But if osteopontin is secreted too much, inflammation of the whole body is caused.
 
In general, inflammation is like swelling of gams caused by toothache or sore throat caused by a common cold.
 
But the inflammation caused by osteopontin is as small as we can’t see, happens all the time in our body and progresses the aging of our body without cure.
 
In the body of centenarian, inflammation is not happening very much. That means the more there is inflammation in the body, the faster the aging can progress.
 
There are a lot of substances that cause inflammation, but it has turned out that osteopontin is something like a general manager of those substances.
 
What is the difference between people who have a lot of osteopontin and people who have less osteopontin?
 
People who have a lot of osteopontin have abnormality of Immune cells that kill external pathogen. The abnormality of immune cells causes the secretion of osteopontin, causing the inflammation everywhere in the body and progressing aging.
 
What makes immune cells abnormal?
 
That is visceral fat that is body fat that is stored around internal organs. The detailed mechanism is unknown yet, but the more visceral fat is, the more abnormal immune cells are.
 
Even if you lose weight and decrease visceral fat, osteopontin doesn’t decrease.
 
How can we prevent aging by decreasing osteopontin?
 
This is still under research but there are 3 things we need to pay attention to decrease osteopontin.
 
1. Oil: change oils from animal oil to oil rich in unsaturated fatty acid such as olive oil.
 
2. Stress: Try not to build up stress.
 
3. Intestinal bacteria: harmonize the balance of intestinal bacteria by eating fermented food or others.
 
If you carry out the above 3 things, there is a possibility that osteopontin decreases by the improvement of immune cells.

The major cause of dementia (Alzheimer’s disease) is considered as “Waste” in the brain. Accumulation of the “Waste” in the brain kills the nerve cells, causing dementia.
 
According to the latest research, it has turned out that dementia can be prevented by removing the “Waste” in the brain.
 
“Waste” in the brain exists even in the brain of young people such as 20s or 30s. The important thing is whether the power to remove the “Waste” in the brain is strong or not.
 
What is “Waste” in the brain?
 
“Waste“ in the brain is protein deposit called amyloid beta-protein ​(Fig. 1). It is unknown why the accumulation of the “Waste” occurs.
 
According the latest research, it is okay if Amyloid beta-protein can be removed even if they are created in the brain.
 
Amyloid beta is produced in everybody’s brain. The important thing is whether the strength to remove amyloid beta becomes weak or not.
 
The amount of “Waste” in the brain (amyloid beta) of the person who have dementia due to the weakness of the removal strength is 25 times more than the one of a normal person with the same age.
 
What makes the difference of the power to remove the “Waste”?
 
One of the major causes that makes the power to remove amyloid beta worse is related to the movement of a part of the body.
 
Experiment:
 
18 and 20 years old women attended an experiment.
 
Amyloid beta is produced in everybody’s brain regardless of the age.
 
If the power to remove amyloid beta is strong, amyloid beta is excreted into the blood, so it doesn’t affect the brain function. If the power to remove amyloid beta becomes weak, the amount of amyloid beta in the blood decreases.
 
The amounts of their amyloid beta in the blood are 6.82 and 5.87 (pmol/L) before the experiment.
 
After they spent 10 hours in a comfortable room watching movies, taking a nap, eating anything they liked to eat, the amounts of their amyloid beta in the blood decreased from 6.82 to 1.05 and from 5.87 to 0.74 (pmol/L). That means that their brain became unable to remove amyloid beta.
 
The movement of what part of the body became worse?
 
That is the pulsation of the blood vessel.
 
What is the relationship between the pulsation of the blood vessel and the power to remove amyloid beta?
 
Amyloid beta is produced in the cell and accumulated in the brain. If the blood vessel is pulsated properly, amyloid beta produced in the brain is pushed out of the brain through the blood vessel and excreted from the body.
 
But if the pulsation of the blood vessel becomes weak, amyloid beta stays in the brain and can’t be flowed out of the brain.
 
The cause of lowering the pulsation of the blood vessel is progression of hardening of blood vessels due to bad life habits.
 
How to strengthen the power to remove amyloid beta by heightening the pulsation of the blood vessel
 
Taking a nutrition heightens the pulsation of the blood vessel, strengthening the power to remove amyloid beta.
 
The nutrition is Resveratrol.
 
Resveratrol is a type of polyphenol contained in the skin of grapes and peanuts. But at this time it is unknown how much is needed and how effective taking resveratrol is.
 
Experiment:
 
2 women whose ages were 78 and 69 and who were worrying about their cognitive function attended an experiment.
The amounts of their amyloid beta were 1.06 and 1.89 (pmol/L) before the experiment.
They ate 10-15 peanuts with the skin a day and 10 minutes walking a day.
78 years old woman: amyloid beta in the blood became 6.89 (pmol/L) in 5 days and brain age became 50s from 80s.
69 years old woman: amyloid beta in the blood became 8.47 (pmol/L) in 2 days.
The numbers were improved in a very short time and were better than the young women who attended earlier experiment.
 
Based on this experiment, combination of peanuts with the skin and 10 minutes walking can be expected to improve the power to remove “Waste” in the brain and prevent dementia.
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​Fig. 1 shows MRI images of thighs. The left image belongs to 20s female and the right image belongs to 60s female. In the image of 60s female, the muscle decreases and fat increases.
 
There are a lot of older people who exercise, but if they don’t take “a nutrition” that increases and strengthens the muscle, the exercises go down the drain.
 
A 90 years old person who had to use a wheel chair took the nutrition for 2 months. The weight of his muscles gained by 2 kg (4.4 lbs.) and he became able to walk with a cane.
 
How much exercise goes down the drain if the nutrition is not taken?
 
Experiment
 
3 people whose age is more than 65 and who always do some exercises attended the experiment to check the amount of the nutrition and their muscle ages.
 
1. 69 years old male who didn’t take the nutrition sufficiently: his muscle age was 97 years old
2. 73 years old female who took the nutrition sufficiently: his muscle age was 29 years old
3. 79 years old male who took the nutrition sufficiently: his muscle age was 77 years old.
 
The 69 years old male was doing more intensive exercise than other 2 people, but he was not taking the nutrition sufficiently and his muscles was declining.
 
The nutrition that strengthens and increases the muscle is Leucine.
 
Leucine is a type of amino acid contained in protein. However, there are proteins containing a lot of leucine and not containing a lot.
 
Various ingredients such as meat, fish, soy products, cheese, milk contain Leucine, but meats are especially rich in Leucine.
 
But there is a problem about taking Leucine. Elderly people’s bodies are difficult to produce muscles even if they take proteins.
 
According to the research in Toronto University in Canada, to produce the same amount of muscles, people with average age of 71 needed 2 times as much protein as people with average age of 22.
 
The important thing is the timing to take Leucine. The muscle is not strengthened and doesn’t increase unless Leucine is taken at a proper timing.
 
A lot of people tend to take proteins in the evening, but Leucine should be taken for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our muscles repeat synthesis and decomposition. When you take Leucine in the evening, the synthesis of the muscle is progressed during the night and the decomposition of the muscle starts early in the morning. If you don’t take enough Leucine for breakfast, synthesis of the muscle is not progressed and the decomposition starts again.
 
To strengthen and increase muscles, 2 grams of Leucine should be taken for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
 
The 69 years old male whose muscle age is much older than his age had enough Leucine (more than 2 grams) for lunch and dinner, but Leucine for breakfast was not enough. His muscle declined because he had continued dietary life that Leucine was not taken enough in the morning for years.
 
How to supplement the shortage of Leucine
 
Add a glass of milk for your meal!
 
A glass of milk contains 0.6 grams of Leucine.
 
If you think your breakfast doesn’t have enough Leucine, add a glass of milk.
 
To strengthen your legs, take enough Leucine for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and do moderate amount of exercises.
 

 
Epigallocatechin gallate has a function to lower LDL cholesterol. LDL cholesterol is oxidized and accumulated in the blood vessel. Epigallocatechin gallate prevents the oxidization of LDL cholesterol.
 
Epigallocatechin gallate breaks down the causative agent of arteriosclerosis.
Epigallocatechin gallate is rich in green tea. Among green teas, Sencha green tea contains 17 times more epigallocatechin gallate than Hojicha (Roasted green tea).
 
Epigallocatechin gallate is a kind of astringency. Astringency of green tea increases by being grown under the sun. Matcha and Gyokuro which are grown under the sunshade don’t contain as much epigallocatechin gallate as Sencha grown under the sun.
 
Hojicha (Roasted green tea) doesn’t contain as much epigallocatechin gallate as Sencha green tea because Hojicha is roasted with high temperature and high temperature roasting breaks down epigallocatechin gallate.
 
The person who invented Sencha which could prevent arteriosclerosis lived to the age of 97.
 
Black tea and oolong tea (55 mg/litter) don’t contain as much epigallocatechin gallate as Sencha green tea (340 mg/litter).
 
How to get Epigallocatechin gallate efficiently from Sencha green tea
 
There are 2 key points.
 
1. The temperature of water
 
The amount of epigallocatechin gallates dissolved in water depends on the temperature of the water. The higher the temperature of the water is, the more epigallocatechin gallate is dissolved. Astringency is the taste of catechin. So the more astringent the tea is, the more you can get epigallocatechin gallates.
 
Green tea also contains caffeine so you need to be aware of too much drinking.
 
2. Only 30 % of epigallocatechin gallate can be extracted
 
If you drink normal way, you can only get 30 % of epigallocatechin gallate because 70 % stays in the leaves. So Sencha powder (Not Matcha powder) is the way to take epigallocatechin gallates efficiently.

I wrote about my acute low back pain in [CASE] Acute Sciatica (Self-treatment). This is about after Day 3. I made a big mistake after that.
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Day 5
 
I felt much better though the left buttock felt a little tight. So I ran 5 miles to check whether my low back got really better or not. I didn’t feel any pain in my low back and buttocks afterwards. So I thought my low back was completely better.
 
Day 6

When I was treating a patient, I had to keep my posture bending forward over the face of the patient for facial treatment. I felt shooting pain on the left SI joint area. After that, I couldn’t bend forward again.
 
Though I always said to my patients to take it easy for a while when they had pain, I made the same mistake and made the low back pain happen again.
 
This time the pain was localized around the left SI joint.
 
I treated myself with the same method that had relieved the pain. I inserted some needles on my occiput where released the pain on the SI joint and kept the needles for a while. But the needles were not so effective this time and the low back pain stayed the same.
 
Day 7
 
I tried to treat my low back pain again. I tried to find good points to relieve the pain on my occiput and inserted some needles but there was not much change in my low back. I was at a loss of how to treat my low back.

Day 8

I couldn't get good results from the treatment a day before, so I decided to use a round-tip needle instead of regular acupuncture needles. Again I tried to find a responsive point with my right index finger touching left SI joint where was tight and painful with my left index finger. I found a point which the energy passed through the both fingers around behind the left ear and placed a round-tip needle on the exact point. I kept the needle touching the point for about 30 seconds. After that, my low back felt much better and I could bend forward.
 
Day 14
 
Not to make the same mistake, I didn’t go running. Instead I repeated the same treatment a few times after Day 8. This day I finally tried to check my low back by running 5 miles again. After the running, there was no abnormality.
 
I ran almost every other day 4 times after Day 14, but the low back pain hasn’t come back again.
 
What I learned
 
1. When there is or was acute type of pain in the body, it is better to rest where you have a problem for a while even if you don’t feel pain very much.

2. When the same problem happens again, it becomes more difficult to treat.

3. Treatment on the head is very convenient and effective to treat myself and others.

4. Treatment using a round-tip needle on the heads can be easier than using regular insertion needles. Insertion needles are usually used for acupuncture treatment on the head, so I have thought that treatment on the head with a round-tip needle is not so effective as with insertion needles. But I felt that a round-tip needle was as effective as insertion needles even for the treatment on the head. In addition, in the case of a round-tip needle, it can be easy to place the tip of the needle on the exact point where the energy flows and change the direction of the needle toward being able to feel more energy.

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​1. Decrease of amount of meals
 
We get water from meals in addition to drinks. If the amount of meals decreases due to summer heat fatigue, even if your water supply from drinks is the same, total supply of water decrease, causing dehydration. So if you can’t eat meals as usual, it is important to pay attention to drinking more water than usual.
 
2. Lack of salt
 
Drinking only water when you sweat causes cramps in the calves. Lack of salt makes calcium which controls the contraction of the muscles not reach the cell of the muscles. That causes malfunction of the muscles and the muscles are contracted too much, leading to cramps.
 
3. Age
 
Aging cause the decreases of the liquid in the body. The amount of meals also decreases with aging, causing lack of water and salt. That easily causes dehydration, leading to heat stroke.
 
2 days after the highest temperature’s day, there are more people having heat stroke.
 
Aging makes the body extremely insensitive to heat. Even if the body temperature goes up, an old person doesn’t feel hot and stores heat in the body. An old person feels okay on the day of highest temperature, so the next day and the day after the next day they go out and store more heat in the body and the heat becomes peak in 2 to 3 days, causing heat stroke.
 
Talking can be a cause of heat stroke.
 
While we are talking, we are losing water from our mouth. People who talk a lot at the time of work need to be careful.
 
4. Stress
 
Stress causes the imbalance of the autonomic nervous system. That leads to the decline of the function to control the body temperature.
 
5. Sudden change in temperature
 
This is caused when you go to hot outdoors from a cool air-conditioned room.
 
6. Hot inside the room
 
Hot inside the room is the place that heat stroke occurs most. The kitchen is the most dangerous place because even if the room is air-conditioned, the kitchen where fire is used is very warm. When you prepare breakfast, you need to be careful because while you are sleeping, you are losing water.
 
7. Lack of sleep
 
Lack of sleep declines the function to control the body temperature as well as stress.
 
Drink good to prevent heat stroke
 
Mix of banana, yogurt and milk
 
Banana is rich in potassium which stores water.
Yogurt and milk contain albumin which is a type of protein and produces blood and controls the body temperature.
 
8. Over exercise
 
It is better to take a rest every 30 minutes under the sunshade.
 
9. Lack of water
 
Lack of water decreases the amount of blood and the function of the organs declines. It is good to supply water from drinks containing more than 40 mg of potassium such as sports drinks or Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS).
 
10. Direct sunlight
 
Exposing your body to direct sunlight stores more heat in the body than not exposing to direct sunlight even in the same temperature. That causes heat stroke more easily. When you go out under the direct sunlight, it is recommended to take 5 minutes rest every hour under the sunshade.