Can Proton Pump Inhibitors Accentuate Skin Aging?

Skin aging has long been important to human beings and in recent years this field has received tremendous attention by both researchers and the general population. Cutaneous aging includes two distinct phenomena, intrinsic aging and photoaging, and is characterized mainly by the loss of collagen fibers from dermis.

PPI's (by inhibiting the stomach's hydrochloric acid secretion) raise the pH of the stomach juices and surrounding environs to a markedly more alkaline milieu.... and increase intralysosomal (inside the lysosome) pH. By changing the original acid base balance to a more basic medium TGFB secretion is decreased and lysyl oxidase which needs copper to do its job in cross linking collagen to make new skin can't do it's enzymatic best because it may not get the "copper on demand" it requires even though the supply is there.

With this new information on how proton pump inhibitors can accentuate skin aging, they should no longer be viewed as a safe first line therapy for acid reflux.It has been known for some time that PPI's prevent the absorption of certain vitamins (specifically B12)and minerals (specifically calcium) promoting osteoporosis. What we tend to forget is that they primarily prevent normal digestive processes from occurring leading to a myriad of gastrointestinal problems, physician visits and other prescription drug usage with their attendant side effects.

To your health,

Dr. David Blyweiss

Scientists discover the secret of aging

The UK’s Financial Times reports that scientists have solved the question as to how and why living cells age. Though they have no plans to create a Fountain of Youth, this information may be the harbinger of better drugs for age-related diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, not to mention skin wrinkling, fading eyesight and diminished hearing, all associated with aging.

An international team of scientists in Newcastle, UK worked in conjunction with the University of Ulm in Germany. Through a comprehensive systems biology approach utilizing computer modeling, cell culture experiments and genetically modified mice, they set out to discover why cells age.

What they learned from their research, published in Molecular Systems Biology Journal, is that when a cell detects damage to its DNA (due either to wear and tear or a disease state), it sends a signal that instructs the cell to self-destruct or simply stop dividing. This signal is actually delivered by free radical molecules created by the cell’s energy storehouse, the mitochondria. If this signal is not delivered, aging cells that continue to replicate can result in weaker systems, such as failing hearts, and more fragile bones and skin, and their free radical molecules can cause the cells to become cancerous.

One of the team’s scientists, Thomas von Zglinicki, cautioned about the research’s next stage, which is to explore ways to prevent cellular aging. “It is absolutely essential to tread carefully in trying to alter processes that cause cells to age, because the last thing we want is to help age-damaged cells [sic] to break out to become malignant,” said Mr. von Zglinicki.

We, in the Functional Medicine Department at Sanctuary Medical, will be watching this closely for more updates on the research!

WHAT IS AGE MANAGEMENT?

Age Management is a proactive, preventative health care specialty committed to the creation of optimum human function and quality of life at every age.

Its goals are to slow, reverse and/or moderate the process of aging as it relates to age-related disease and disability. This is accomplished through initial extensive medical history, lifestyle assessment and physical exam as well as initial and ongoing laboratory analyses.

Treatment plans include patient education towards a life-enhancing diet, exercise and stress management techniques and appropriate medical interventions including, but not limited to, nutrition and supplementation, appropriate hormonal balancing, weight management and other medical modalities to establish a personalized youth-enhancing program that allows our patients to live at their maximum potential at every age.