It is worthwhile to explore the active substances used in traditional medicine and alchemy with the methods of today’s science. Again and again substances are found which have a high regenerative potential from which we can benefit, especially in the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine).
In old China rejuvenation and life extension were central objectives, especially of the ruling class. Those who could afford it recruited alchemists, who should give a hand to them to realize this goal. Often attempts have failed, and as you know as a reader of my blog the founder of China, emperor Huang Di, is said to have died from an overdose of cinnabar about 200 BC. This poisonous mercury compound was highly popular as rejuvenation agent at that time. Because Huang Di was a realist and didn’t believe in his immortality, he charged building of a huge pyramid grave and an army to guard his mortal remains. His grave is by the way still unopened; according to the legend he was buried on an island in a sea of mercury. There seems to be a truth to this, because drillings have shown that the mercury content in the pyramid grave is very high.
But not all of the doctors and alchemists were using mercury. Many of them made use of herbs, roots, and animal organs to regenerate. The plant Astragalus for example is a proven regeneration remedy of TCM.
Western scientists examined a concentrate of Astragalus in the laboratory and noticed that it extends the so-called telomeres and hence the lifetime of the investigated cells as well. In every cell division telomeres in the chromosomes are getting shorter by a tiny bit, this is why the number of cell divisions is limited. Once the telomeres are used up, the cell dies. Due to this matter of fact the regenerative capacity of our body is fading away with increasing age, as does the skin’s ability to regenerate itself.
Thus it makes sense to reverse the shortening of telomeres to prolong the cells’ lifespan. This requires an enzyme for telomere extension, the so-called telomerase. At present no approved drugs with such an effect are available, however, the substance TA-65 has already been experimentally tested as activator of the telomerase. And TA-65 is essentially a concentrate out of Astragalus.
Our experience has shown improving skin quality when taken over a longer period, whereby, for instance, sun damages have formed back. The skin gets more radiant and fresher, even the general well-being is bettering. At the moment TA-65 is still very expensive and does scarcely operate only satisfactory when dosing very high. Perhaps it will carry out as combination treatment with hormonal or stem cell therapies in future.
Currently we especially make use of the therapy with bioidentical hormones (Bioidentical Hormonal Regeneration Therapy, BHRT) and the treatment with autologous stem cells for regeneration and general increase in vitality.
If you want you can already have the treatment with TA-65 in our clinic, preferably in combination with bioidentical hormones and stem cells. It is certainly the case that Huang Di would have done better and lived longer when taking in Astragalus instead of poisonous cinnabar in those days, says
DDr. Heinrich, MD