TA-65 FAQs
Because TA-65® is a nutritional supplement and not an FDA approved drug, TA Sciences may not make any claims for disease treatment, diagnosis, or mitigation via its mechanism on telomere length or any other mechanism.
However the science supports that there is broad potential for tissue system regeneration. Below is a partial list of tissues that are expected to benefit from telomerase activation:
- Immune cells – memory and naïve
- Hematopoietic stem cells
- Lung alveolar cells
- Skin – dermis, epidermis, vasculature
- Vascular intima (endothelium)
- Osteoblasts, MSCs
- GI track epithelial cells
- Liver – hepatocytes
- Retinal pigmented tissue of eye
- Chondrocytes
- Skeletal muscle
- Kidney – cortex
- *Cardiomyocytes
- *Neural cells
Here are some of the more common reports, but not everyone sees all these benefits:
1) Improved energy and stamina
2) Need for less sleep but without fatigue-getting more done in a day
3) Improved joint flexibility
4) Improved skin health and appearance
5) Improved visual acuity
6) Improved sexual performance
TA-65® is a natural molecule found in the astragalus plant. What about other astragalus derived products?
The internet, in particular, is rife with various products that claim to boost longevity. In the case of telomerase activation, there is no product besides TA-65® that has been independently proven to activate telomerase. Beware of half truths, hyperbole, and outright misinformation. There are several companies that make and sell “astragalus” type products and associate them with longevity. One site even uses TA-65® as the benchmark and states outright that their own product may do nothing. But “at least it’s cheaper”!
Some unscrupulous companies try to claim they are selling a cheaper version of TA-65, but they don’t even know what TA-65® is! The actual chemical composition of TA-65 is a trade secret and is not public knowledge.
But what about legitimate astragalus extracts sold by reputable companies?
There are over two thousand different molecules in the astragalus plant. TA-65 is one of them, a very rare one. We bought four popular astragalus extracts in health food stores and tested them. None contained any TA-65® and the lab that did the testing for us has an accuracy of one part per million. But we did not test every product and it is possible that some have trace amounts of TA-65®. In such a case, you would need to take bushel baskets of it a day to get the amount of purified TA-65® that is in a single capsule of TA-65®. The bottom line here is there is no legitimate competition from other astragalus products. None are nearly as purified and none contain enough active ingredients to be an effective telomerase activator. The process to make TA-65® is laborious, intensive, very expensive, and yields a 97% + purity level.
1. TA-65® is the only commercially available, “safe for human consumption” product on the market that has been independently proven to activate telomerase. Other products claiming to activate telomerase have no verified human testing to back up their claims and in fact most are nothing more than snake oil.
2. An important article showing the benefits experienced by people taking TA-65 was published in 2010 in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Rejuvenation Research. This study concluded that in live humans TA-65 lengthens critically short telomeres and improves the immune system. It also reported that there were no adverse events among the subjects.
3. TA-65 is a patented product: US patent number 7,846,904 issued on Dec. 7, 2010 and patents have issued or are pending all over the world. These patents cover all the astragalus products being marketed over the net that claim to activate telomerase. Note that T.A. Sciences is Geron’s exclusive worldwide licensee for all their telomerase activation technology for non FDA drug applications.
Have these products been tested?
T.A. Sciences follows stringent scientific procedures to assure the safety and efficacy of TA-65. Over the last nine years the company has conducted a series of studies. The key ones are:
1) The Pivotal 2005 Anti-Aging Trial designed to directly measure the effect of TA-65 when taken internally. The results showed a clear reduction in the signs of aging from the introduction of TA-65 into the bloodstream. This double blind, placebo controlled study demonstrated the efficacy of TA-65 and reported improvements in the immune system, vision, skin and sexual function in humans who took TA-65 over a 3 month period compared those who did not.
2) The 2010 human study in Rejuvenation Research showing that TA-65 lengthened short telomeres and rejuvenated the aging immune system.
3) The 2011 study titled “Mounting Evidence Supports Increased Healthspan and Organ System Renewal through Telomerase Activation through TA-65” published in Aging Cell. Done by eminent telomere biologist Maria Blasco at the National Cancer Center in Madrid this important study showed that TA-65, a naturally occurring molecule derived from Astragalus, activates the telomerase enzyme, lengthens critically short telomeres, rescues cells in various organ systems, and improves healthspan; none of which was seen in the control group.
The study states “TA-65 dietary supplementation in female mice leads to an improvement of certain health-span indicators including glucose tolerance, osteoporosis and skin fitness, without significantly increasing global cancer incidence”.
Is there real science behind these products?
The presence of telomerase and the effects of telomere shortening are so basic to human aging and the maladies of old age that an entirely new branch of biology (Telomere Biology) has sprung up in the last two decades. The science of telomeres and telomerase activation is a new frontier, attracting some of the brightest scientific minds in both the academic and pharmaceutical worlds. To maintain its leadership role in Telomerase Activation, T.A. SciencesTM maintains a unique relationship with leading edge California Biotech firm Geron, the unquestioned leader in the field of Telomere Biology. Dr. Calvin Harley who was Geron’s Chief Scientific Officer, (the man who first discovered the link between Telomeres and aging) is now the chief scientific advisor to T.A. Sciences. Geron, Dr. Harley and a number of other leading scientists work closely with T.A. Sciences to integrate the latest scientific discoveries into T.A. Sciences’ products.
