Our lifespan has more than doubled and continues to rise in the past century due to medical advancements, better hygiene, and improved healthcare. However, healthspan, the length of time you’re functional and healthy, is declining <1>.

Humans may be living longer, but many of those additional years are spent with a low quality of life. According to the American Heart Association, the current average healthspan is 66 years <2>. This means most people spend their last 13 years ridden with chronic diseases like diabetes, pain, cardiovascular conditions, and perhaps reduced mobility and function.

Most bio hacks nowadays deliver Healthspan-boosting benefits. In this article, we’ll cover how algae tablets can boost Healthspan, starting from the cellular level.

What does Healthspan mean?

There are two different ways to age. As time goes on, you’re aging chronologically. This is called chronological age, which defines the period from birth to today. However, your biology can age faster or more slowly than your chronological age. Biological age, also known as physiological or functional age, takes into account accrued damages and your body’s ability to self-renew at the cellular level <3>.

Two people with the same chronological age can have very different biological ages due to their environment. If one person leads a stressful life, eats the Standard American Diet, and is a smoker, he/she will be much older in biological age than someone who eats healthily, is a non-smoker, and is stress-free.

With modern medicine, lifespan could be longer for both people. However, the former person may be surviving with many chronic diseases and medications to manage them. Whereas, the latter may be thriving with more healthspan where they’re fully functional and free of health issues.

Blue Zones are regions of the world where people tend to live longer and are healthier compared to the global average. These zones have a high concentration of people who live to be 100 years old or older without many chronic diseases. Studies have shown that people in these Blue Zones eat a mainly plant-based diet, exercise regularly, and get adequate sleep.

In contrast, most people outside of Blue Zones struggle with accelerated biological aging and shorter HealthSpan’s due to lifestyle factors, such as <4>:

• modern-day exposure to toxic chemicals and pollutants
• nutrient deficiencies
• stress
• poor mitochondrial function

While both genetics and environment affect lifespan and HealthSpan, there is a lot we can do to improve your Healthspan or reverse biological age. One of the ways to measure biological age is through the hallmarks of aging. In fact, many bio hacks nowadays either measure or reverse these hallmarks. Now that you understand the key differences between Healthspan and lifespan, in the next section, we’ll share with you how ENERGYbits® can address these hallmarks.

Caption: Hallmarks of aging <5>

How do algae tablets boost your Healthspan at the cellular level?

1) By preserving telomere length

Telomeres are protective end caps of your DNA, which become shorter every time your cells divide. This shortening of the telomeres is a hallmark of aging. Having shorter telomeres means you have less regenerative capacity in your body <6>.

Some animals like turtles and whales can better preserve their telomere length than humans, which explains their long lifespan. Although humans cannot protect telomeres like turtles can, we can modify our diet and environment to better protect our telomeres.
Telomerase is an enzyme that helps extend telomeres when a cell divides. In healthy cells, supporting telomerase function can allow the cells to divide and self-renew for longer. However, in cancer cells, you want telomerase blocked to stop the excessive cell growth. This is why drugs that either boost or block telomerase in all cells tend to be a bad idea, whereas many healthy foods will boost and block telomerases in the right places <7>.

A cell-based study found that spirulina can protect our telomeres. Spirulina can activate telomerase in healthy cells, while inhibiting telomerase in cancer cells <8>. By increasing telomerase activity in healthy cells, spirulina keeps your cells younger and prevents DNA from damage for a longer time. In other words, our spirulina tablets like ENERGYbits® can help to decrease your biological age and Healthspan by protecting your telomeres.

2) By supporting metabolic health and may increase NAD+

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is our fountain of youth molecule in all of your cells. It supports enzymes in many crucial anti-aging cellular processes, including:

• Mitochondrial function, including energy production and preventing cell deaths
• Cellular and DNA repair
• Sirtuin (an anti-aging pathway) activation
• Metabolic health, such as blood sugar and lipids control
• Brain health and cognition

Having more NAD+ in your cell and mitochondria typically means your cells are healthy and metabolic processes are going well. Your NAD+ naturally goes down with cellular senescence. However, many lifestyle and nutrition factors such as fasting, caloric restriction, having a healthy circadian rhythm, and exercise, can increase NAD+.

Research indicates that some microalgae contain NAD+ precursors, while some synthesize NAD+ on their own <9>. Nicotinic acid (NA) is found in most plants and algae, including our algae tablets <10>. This precursor can then be used by the body to synthesize NAD+.

Studies show that boosting cellular NAD+ may improve blood sugar control and heart health. This may explain why spirulina can improve metabolic health in many ways that an NAD+ treatment would, without the same cost and side effects. A meta-analysis of 20 studies confirmed that spirulina supplementation in menopausal women can deliver the following benefits <11>:

• Supporting healthy blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity
• Supporting healthy blood lipids
• May promote healthy blood pressure
• Supporting weight loss efforts in combination with diet and exercise

Although there is no consensus on an optimal dose, a minimum daily dose of 8 ENERGYbits® tablets for a minimum of two months led to favorable results.

3) By stimulating the anti-aging pathway called sirtuins

Sirtuins are a class of enzymes that use NAD+. Researchers first discovered it in yeast, where yeasts with low sirtuins lived 20 – 50% shorter than normal yeasts <12>. Boosting sirtuin levels increases lifespan in yeasts and all types of experimental animals <13>. In humans, activating sirtuins <14>:

• Slows down biological aging
• Supports metabolic and heart health
• Increases cellular antioxidants
• Protects brain health
• Makes cells more resistant to stress and less likely to die

In research, polyphenol extract of many types of algae activated sirtuins <15>. In obese rats fed with a high-fat diet (equivalent to a human junk food diet), the administration of spirulina for four weeks activated sirtuins <16>. By activating sirtuins, spirulina seemed to mitigate the weight gain and worsening of metabolic parameters, including blood sugar and lipids.

4) By stimulating autophagy

Autophagy is your cell’s self-cleanup where your cells break down old parts in order to reuse the building blocks for rebuilding new parts.

Low autophagy can cause premature aging <17>, whereas increasing autophagy can extend the lifespan of various species such as flies and mice <18>. In humans, low autophagy as you age may also explain the age-related increase in inflammation that may manifest in physical discomfort and increased health risk <19>.
In sheep eating a high-energy diet, spirulina supplementation increased autophagy <20>. As a result, it seems to protect the liver and also improve fatty acid profiles for the animals.

In addition to these cellular mechanisms mentioned above, algae tablets also deliver many other anti-aging benefits, including:

• Providing a nutrient-dense source of proteins, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients
• Supporting your mitochondria with chlorophyll and powerful antioxidants like Superoxide Dismutase
• Providing a source of antioxidants that protect your cells and DNA
• Supporting healthy detoxification from regular exposures to toxins and heavy metals

Overall, these make algae tablets like ENERGYbits® a potent Healthspan-enhancer that is more convenient and accessible than most bio hacks.

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