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feeds the heart through the receptor sites on the heart itself? And do I need to mention the other necessary reason men should want to maintain testosterone? How many men are impotent due to low testosterone or on Viagra because they are taking a statin, which is eliminating their ability to get an erection? The lack of understanding of mainstream medicine in wanting to eliminate the body’s ability to manufacture cholesterol is mind-boggling. The body makes cholesterol and testosterone for a reason. The inability of Western medicine to “connect the dots” is taking its toll on our men and women. It is robbing our brains for starters. (Dr. Abraham Morgentaler’s interview on testosterone will enlighten you about this very fact.) Now many doctors are urging younger men to start on Lipitor for cautionary reasons; imagine forty-year-old brains being depleted, plus men being robbed of their very man-giving substance, and then both men and women wonder why they are out of energy, not interested in sex, and having difficulty concentrating. It’s truly tragic. But I digress, back to cross-linkage …
    The most obvious damage is when this cross-linkage creates gobs of gunk called
advanced glycation end products
(AGEs) that build up (like plaque in the arteries), accelerating aging and eventually causing death. AGEs cause the blood vessels to narrow, contributing to high blood pressure, vascular disease, and heart attacks. AGEs are also linked to insulin resistance, poor blood sugar control, and the accumulation of damaging amyloid substances in the brain and in the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Plus, AGEs are implicated in rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease, inflammatory bowel disorders like colitis, and inflammatory skin conditions like eczema.
    If you cut back on sugars; limit carbohydrates; avoid processed foods, prepackaged foods, and fast foods; avoid microwaving food; and avoid darkly browning your food by high temperatures or overcooking, you can reduce your number of AGEs considerably.
    METHYLATION
    Methylation imbalances are another aging factor. The DNA within every cell of your body requires constant enzymatic reactions, called
methylation
, for maintenance and repair. Aging cripples youthful methylation metabolism. The resulting DNA damage can manifest as cancer, liver damage, and brain degeneration.
    Healthy methylation patterns have been shown to repair damaged DNA, breaking down potentially life-threatening cancer-causing chemicals and keeping blood levels of homocysteine in check. High homocysteine levels caused in part by methylation defects have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease.
    The problem facing all maturing individuals is that methylation gradually diminishes over time, accelerating the onset of numerous age-related diseases from cancer and heart disease to cognitive impairment.
    OTHER AGE PROMOTERS
    In this section I briefly describe other controllable “age promoters.” The good news is that chapter 18 of this book describes scientifically validated methods to circumvent every one of these age-accelerating factors.
    M ITOCHONDRIAL D YSFUNCTION
    The little energy factories in the center of each and every one of our approximately fifty trillion cells are the mitochondria, which require a complex series of reactions in order to maintain important functions such as carrying nutrients through the cell membrane and allowing the purging of toxic debris. Mitochondrial energy depletion can result in congestive heart failure, muscle weakness, fatigue, and neurological disease.
    L OSS OF M ITOCHONDRIA
    Not only do mitochondria lose their ability to function by putting out energy as we grow older but our existing mitochondria also become severely depleted. For instance, a ninety-year-old man may have 95 percent damaged mitochondria compared to almostnone in a healthy five-year-old. This reduction of cell energy can lead to many