Living to 100 and feeling fantastic while you do seems like the ultimate “cheat.” You’ve not only beat the system and surpassed all expectations. You’ve done it in style.
But the best part of healthy super-aging is this: No one will know exactly how you did it. Not really.
Scientists have spent decades trying to figure out why only some special people pass the age of 100. And most of those studies have come up empty.
But one report reveals what could be the key to living longer… at least in some cases. And it starts in a spot you’d never guess.
It’s not in your heart or blood vessels, as you might expect. And it’s not in your brain either. Believe it or not, it’s in your liver.
Longer life may begin in the liver
OK, first, a little “gross-out alert.” I’m going to talk briefly about gut stuff. And let’s be honest, it’s a little icky in there.
But bear with me. It’ll all be worth it.
If you’re lucky, you’ve never had an up-close and personal encounter with your own bile. However, if you’ve battled severe stomach flu or been knocked for a loop by a case of food poisoning, you might have regrettably come face to face with the stuff.
When you vomit and your stomach is empty, you sometimes throw up a greenish-yellow liquid called bile. Otherwise, you might not even know the stuff exists. But trust me, you’re lucky it does.
Bile is made in your liver and stored in your gallbladder. It helps with digestion by breaking down fats into vital fatty acids. And it aids in waste removal and cholesterol control.
Plus, bile is also a critical line of defense against toxins and pathogens.
Bile acids help protect you from all kinds of things that can harm you and make you sick throughout your lifetime. But as you age, they become even more critical. Because with each passing year, your risk rises for a “run of the mill” infection or illness suddenly turning serious.
And that could be the key. In fact, some breakthrough research hints that maintaining a “younger” bile acid profile may be the ticket to passing the age of 100 in some cases.
It appears that bile acids may provide you with significant protection against the infections and potentially deadly illnesses that threaten to take us out as we age.
Seize control over aging with the bile trick
The study published in the journal Nature confirmed that bile acids are vital to healthy aging. In fact, the researchers even nicknamed them the “elixir of youth.”
They believe altering the acids could hold the key to becoming one of those lucky people who’ve passed the century mark.
It starts with probiotics or the good bacteria that hang out in your digestive tract helping with digestion, immune function, inflammation, and more.
The bacteria Odoribacteraceae is a good example. This good bug was found in the gut contents of centenarians. And this probiotic helps produce bile acids that target specific harmful bacteria such as Clostridioides difficile and Enterococcus faecium.
But as is often the case with probiotics, it’s not about a specific strain. Gut bug diversity is the real goal. Because a wide variety of healthy belly bacteria can help ensure you have the right balance of life-extending bile acids.
There are two ways you can try to do that. First, eat more foods rich in probiotic bacteria, especially fermented foods.
Some excellent choices include…
- plain Greek yogurt
- tempeh (fermented soybean you can find in the grocery store)
- kombucha (a fermented fizzy tea found in many food stores)
- unpasteurized sauerkraut
Second, start taking a high-quality probiotic from a manufacturer you trust. For help picking out a supplement, see my earlier report, “How to pick the best probiotic for YOU.”
Plus, check out this list of natural ways to encourage your body to bump up its production of bile acids.
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