Other Medications Slow Aging and Delay Chronic Disease
In the last six posts, I showed how high insulin levels cause us to develop chronic illness sooner and die earlier. I discussed easy ways to lower insulin levels with diet, exercise, and specific medications, but there is more to the story. Insulin is a growth factor. Other growth factors also switch on mTOR and switch off AMPK to make us sick and old.
Compare the signaling diagram with the colored boxes with the insulin signaling diagram just above. As you can easily see insulin and EGFR occupy the same position. Everything from the EGFR/insulin box down in the same. Any growth factor can go in that box—vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) etc. VEGF is critical in diabetic eye damage. EGFR2 (HER2) is persistently activated in a common type of breast cancer. All growth factors switch on mTOR and switch off AMPK.
Eating carbs and sugar and increasing waist size does not just increase insulin levels. It also increases aldosterone and angiotensin II activity that increases reactive oxygen species (oxidant) formation which switches on the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Like mTOR and AMPK, EGFR is a master genetic metabolic switch. Increased aldosterone and angiotensin II make it more likely we will become diabetic, have high blood pressure, and develop arterial disease. They cause us to age faster and die sooner. Losartan, lisinopril, spironolactone, and eplerenone all block this signaling very precisely—like a laser.
Excess oxidants from tobacco smoke, overeating, angiotensin II, and aldosterone switch on growth factor signaling. Growth factors do the same thing. They all switch on mTOR and switch off AMPK. Eating directly switches on mTOR and switches off AMPK. This is the core metabolism that makes us age and get sick faster. You can easily live a longer, healthier life.
That is why stopping smoking and eating right are so beneficial. That is why the medications in the green boxes protect our cells and organs while they lower the blood pressure. They slow aging and they delay chronic illness. Getting the blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol down are important. The way we get them down is at least as important. Optimal medical therapy protocols are more effective.