Is this what happens when you take too much human growth hormone?

World's oceans will soon be ruled by IMMORTAL SELF-CLONING JELLYFISH SHOCK

When I see stories like this I so wish I was editor of Fortean Times!

Apparently most jellyfish die after having sex, but this jellyfish, known as Turritopsis Nutricula manages to cleverly revert back to a juvenile state after mating - effectively becoming a baby again and living forever. It must be a man!

Scientists say the 5mm long jellyfish can do this iforever , which explains the huge rise in the population that wash up on our beaches.

Soon, the sea will be a white mass of pure jellyfish, although when jellyfish-infused beauty products start hitting the shelves from 2012 the poor little Turritopsis Nutricula will get hunted to extinction. That will teach them for being so clever!!

ORGANIC REJUVENATION FROM NEW ZEALAND

Eating lots of Vitamin C is one of the best ways to boost your immunity naturally, especially in winter. Newly launched in the UK is JASON Natural Cosmetics which are packed full of the powerful antioxidant Ester-C which is the main active ingredient in their new anti-ageing collection.

This comprehensive range consists of nine hard-working products which by the way are great value for money. The unique formulation of pure active ingredients penetrates deep into the skin to minimize the signs of ageing and fight free radical damage revealing softer, smoother, more radiant, youthful skin. Regular use of these skin-smart products will intensely hydrate the skin, restore suppleness, improve skin elasticity and leave skin healthier and younger looking.

Our favourite is the Max Instant Facial which exfoliates and hydrates the skin with the oils and Ester C and gives you an instant glow! Every product has the aroma natural orange oils is orange.(unfortunately our blog turns them blue!).JASON is available in Whole Foods, selected Waitrose Supermarkets, John Bell & Croyden, Fresh & Wild, Planet Organic and selected Health Food Stores nation-wide.

Super-C Cleanser 6oz. RRP £9.95
Combines the antioxidant Ester-C with natural surfactants to gently cleanse your face. In convenient and travel-friendly pump packaging, this citrus-scented cleanser is divine solution for wiping away the day’s dirt.

Super-C Toner 6oz. RRP £9.95
The Ester-C complex combines with natural botanicals for a fresh antioxidant-rich toner, ideal for minimising pores and balancing the skin’s Ph.

Ester-C Lotion 4oz. RRP £14.95
Synergistic blend of Ester-C, Alpha Lipoic Acid and Vitamin E help stimulate collagen production, giving you a youthful glow. This light formula gives the perfect amount of daily hydration.

Ester-C Crème 2oz. RRP £14.95
This rich formula drenches the skin in moisture; helping to diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Ingredients include antioxidants Ester-C, Vitamin E and Alpha Lipoic Acid.


Ester-C Hydrating Masque 2.5oz. RRP £14.95
A treatment masque that erases dry spots and leaves your skin feeling silky soft and dewy fresh. A perfect pick me up for skin in need of a moisture surge.


Ultra-C Eye Lift 0.5oz. RRP £16.95
Brightens and lifts tired eyes with natural antioxidants, healing Aloe Vera Gel and soothing Rosehips. No need for the scalpel with this clever eye lift!


C-Lite Skin Toner Balancer 1oz. RRP £16.95
This product naturally minimises the appearance of age spots and other skin discolourations while balancing skin tone.

Hyper-C Serum 1oz. RRP £24.95
Ester-C, Sodium Hyaluronate and Alpha Lipoic Acid blend together in this fruity, fast-absorbing serum to boost collagen production and combat signs of ageing.


Vita-C Max Instant Facial 4oz. RRP £24.95
This luxurious natural facial treatment maximises the antioxidant benefits from the rest of the Ester-C range. The light creamy texture absorbs quickly into skin to help fight signs of ageing.

More about the Jason range

JASON is committed to creating distinctive, pampering products that delight the senses, soothe the soul, respect the planet and animals and promote health and well-being in our daily lives.
Providing safe, effective, natural and affordable personal care products since 1959,

JASON is a pioneer of the eco movement committed to caring for you and your family from head to toe. JASON products are free from any synthetic ingredients that harm the environment or irritate the skin and have not been tested on animals. JASON products do not contain Parabens, Sodium Lauryl / Laureth Sulfates, mineral oil, lanolin or petrolatum.

Get a Glow with Glōtherapeutics - new anti-ageing skincare from the US

We love mineral makeup - it really does turn back the clock because of the way it sits on the skin and the beneficial effects of the minerals. One of the best on the market is from the US - glōMinerals - which has a beautiful array of colours.

Now glō has introduced a new range of skincare products for home and insalon treatments.

There are seventeen ‘at home’ products that work to improve the health of skin, and also to prepare skin for their range of professional insalon glōChemical Exfoliation treatments.

The magic ingredients throughout the range, are the glōComplex which contains Spin Trap, Carmosine, Alma and Niacinamide.

The glōSerums are the hero’s of the skin care collection that are designed to create a real change in the appearance of the skin. Their effects include brightening, soothing, enhancing and helping to impede the ageing process. All of these products are "cruelty free", dye free and paraben free.

Our favourites include three of the basic products from the glōConditioning Collection including the:

Ø glōConditioning Milk Cleanser £13.50 – Wash away impurities and sooth skin with this creamy cleanser containing Grape Seed Extract, Jojoba and Safflower Oil.

Ø glōConditioning Tonic £13.50 – This balancing tonic contains Rose Hip Seed Oil, Camomilla and Hyaluronic Acid.

The glōSerums are potent concentrates including anti-ageing star ingredient, hyaluronic acid. Try the following:

Ø glōSuper Serum £67 – the real star of the collection, this amazing serum contain the ultimate in anti-ageing formulations leaving skin radiant, healthy and youthful. Brimming with a high concentration of Peptides and Growth Factors it works hard in the fight against ageing, whilst Retinol enhances the skin’s clarity.


glōSpecialty is a collection of products to complement skincare systems and chemical exfoliation treatments by adding healing and protective benefits to reach optimal results. There are products for all skin types.

In Salon Treatments:

glōChemical Exfoliation – Provide customized programs for each individual to help achieve subtle, gradual or astonishing transformations. Designed to stimulate a fresh appearance and improve the appearance of fine lines, imperfections and discolouration.

glōAdvanced Systems – Advanced professional treatments that will cultivate high intensity results carried out under the supervision of a doctor. These products are for achieving advanced performance.

Visit www.gloprofessional.com for more information or call 0800 121 8116 for stockists details.

PHOTONOVA SKIN REJUVENATION - the latest hot anti-ageing treatment in Harley Street

Two weeks ago I was invited to take part in a patient trial of Photonova, a non-invasive skin rejuvenation using infra-red light. So I go to the Harley Street Medical Skin Clinic in London for the treatment.

The clinic is the first in the UK to have this Swedish technology. First of all I have another Salt-a-Peel dermabrasion to prepare my skin for the treatment. After a thorough cleanse salt particles are blasted across my skin to remove a surface layer of dead cells. Then I have a rejuvenating mask with alpha hydroxy acid which is helped into my skin with ultrasound. My skin feels wonderful. This is my second treatment so I know how great my skin will look afterwards. This treatment costs £90 and a course is recommended with top-ups every so often.

The treatment is carried out by the clinic's head aesthetician, Liz Hood, who is also going to carry out a Photonova treatment on my face.

First of all my face is covered in a thick clear gel - this allows the infra red to reach my skin without burning it. The infra red comes from the head of the device which is passed over my face a total of five times.

Each pass delivers a known quantity of infra-red heat energy into the tissue which heats the water inside the dermis and this stimulates the fibroblasts (the collagen-producing cells) responsible for keeping the skin young and supple. It also kick starts them into producing new collagen over the next few days and weeks.

Since the treatment I have had comments from a number of people on how young my skin looks. "You haven't got any wrinkles" they say! Liz, tells me I can expect further improvement over the coming weeks. I can see that my slightly sagging chin has lifted which always takes a few years off any ageing face!

This is a great treatment because you can do it over the lunchtime. It does hurt a little and there is some redness but in my case this went in the next hour. Well worth £500 if it lasts a year or so.

Liz loves treating her patients and is full of tips and advice. She wouldn't let me leave without a touch of mineral makeup - so I left glowing..

THYROID HORMONE DEFICIENCY, WEIGHTGAIN AND HIGH CHOLESTEROL

Recently I visited one of the leading hormone specialists in London. It is clear from the consultation that I need to make some changes to my lifestyle - mainly diet and exercise. But the best way to discover what is going on with your body is to take various tests - usually a combination of blood, urine and saliva.

So I start with a blood test to find out levels of various hormones in my body. Today I am going to focus on one of them - the thyroid hormone - this is the hormone responsible for regulating the body's metabolism amongst other things.

It appears that women are more likely to suffer a deficiency - medically known as: hypothyroidism - than men. There are various physicial symptoms - allergies, skin problems, fatigue, nervousness, gaining or losing weight, brittle nails, dry skin, constipation, infertility, mental sluggishness, depression and intolerence to cold. But since these symptoms can be associated with a catalogue of other illnesses the best way to verify this problem is by a blood test.

But there is confusion/controversy amongst medical professionals, particularly outside of anti-ageing medicine about what the exact parameters that constitutes a deficiency and what the drug treatment should be.

The thyroid gland measures just two inches across and is in the neck just below the Adam's apple. It actually secrets two hormones - mostly T4 (known as thyroxine) which converts into the active hormone (that actually used by the body) into T3 (triodothyronine). In healthy people most T4 Is converted into T3.

The regulation of the thyroid is controlled by a number of body functions - the hypothalamus, situated in the brain above the pituitary gland, triggers the pituitary to release a substance known as "thyroid stimulating hormone" (TSH). When levels of thyroid hormone reach optimum the amount of TSH decreases, conversly in people not producing enough there are higher amounts of TSH in the blood.

So when trying to determine thyroid function doctors will test for blood levels of TSH and also T4.

It should also be noted that dieting (lowering of calories) has the same effect of diminishing production of T3, which in turn lowers a person's resting metabolic weight, which can also lead to weight gain in the long term. Experts also tell me that many individuals have problem converting T4 into T3 which also leads to weight gain. This is music to my ears - can I blame my tendency to weight gain on this?

Of course its not as simple as this. A 54-year-old friend with absolutely no symptoms - no weightgain etc - was recently diagnosed by her GP as suffering from sub-clinical hypothryoidism. This simply means that the thyroid is not working 100% and may be a warning sign of further loss of function in the future. She was in disbelief and checked out her diagnosis with a private blood test which confirmed the result from her GP. She has been prescribed Levothyroxine - basically T4 - which is what most UK GPs prescribe - lets hope she doesn't have a conversion problem. This may well be because the UK Government's drug rationing body NICE may only allow doctors to prescribe this one.

Levothyroxine (thyroxine - T4) is a tiny tablet which should be taken on a empty stomach daily. Left untreated - aside from the weight gain issue - hypothyroidism can cause serious health problems including aenemia, low body temperature and heart failure.

I visit my GP and discovered that I too am sub-optimal on the thyroid hormone and get prescribed Levothyroxine, even though I point out the conversion problems. I will have a blood test to check that my body is converting this to the usable form T3.

So what are the other drug alternatives - one is Cytomel which is a synthetic form of T3 which is approved by the FDA in the US. A recent medical study showed that combining this with T4 had better results including for weightloss.

Armour Thyroid is one that contains dessicated thyroid derived from the thryoid gland of the pig but many doctors are reluctant to prescribe this, mainly because of dose inconsistency and contamination problems with its animal origins.

There are a myriad of side effects with drug thryoid hormone replacement, especially if you take other drugs particularly oestrogens, beta-blockers and anticoagulants.

Aborbtion is also impaired by iron sulfate, calcium pills and several other supplements.

So is there anything you can take naturally to help your body? The answer is yes - particularly the minerals magnesium, manganese, selenium and zinc - deficiences of these can prevent the conversion of T4 to T3.

HIGH BAD CHOLESTEROL (LDL)

In my investigations into this subject I have discovered that high levels of LDL are also indicators of poor thyroid function. I wonder if this is my problem with high LDL - despite loads of exercise and eating good fats my levels of LDL were still too high? I will see from blood tests if this is my problem after two months of thyroid replacement So perhaps doctors should try testing for this more often?

THE PROBLEM WITH CURRENT REFERENCE RANGES OF TSH

The standard range used by most labs is 0.2-5.5(mU/L), A greater TSH number than 5.5alerts the doctor to a thyroid gland problem as it is over producing TSH.

Anti-ageing doctors believe that this range is too broad and that anyone with a TSH reading of more than 2.0 should be investigated with a view to possible health problems.

I would greatly appreciate hearing expert views on this..

RUNNING AND THE ELIXIR OF LIFE

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine recently published the results of an extremely lengthy study into the benefits of aerobic exercise, in particular jogging, for older people.

The study lasted for over two decades and tracked 500 runners aged 50 or over at the beginning of the study. 284 of the study participants were regular runners, while the remaining 156 healthy "controls" were non-runners.

At the start of the study, participants ran for an average of four hours per week. By the time the study wound up, these people were in their 70s or 80s and ran about 76 minutes a week.

The outcome of the research revealed just 15 percent of the regular runners had succumbed to the ravages of age and had died, while 34 percent of the non-runners had died during the same time.

The study's lead author is Dr. James Fries, an emeritus professor of medicine at Stanford said people who had regular exercise regimen would spend less time being disabled even as their days neared an end.

Dr Fries said exercise was by far the best thing to delay aging, "The health benefits of exercise are greater than we thought. If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise," he added.

Some 21 years after the study all participants experienced some amount of disability, but for the runners, the onset was delayed. Also deaths from heart disease, diabetes and neurological disease were also less in the running group.

This report confirms the obvious that you not only look and feel better if you take reasonable amounts of exercise but you will also look better. We are not talking marathon running here which is excessive and does cause damage to the joints of the body but a gentle three-mile run three to four times a week and some stretching.

One thing the research did not go into was the effect exercise has on hormones - it is scientifically proven that you produce more Human Growth Hormone as a result of exercise - this is one of the key hormones that declines with age.

Also you produce more of the feel good hormones such as a Seratonin after exercise.

So after a few months of neglecting my usual exercise regime - two hours cycling to work and back and a 45 minute jog - I have started to get back into regular exercise.

It is wise for those older individuals who have never exercised to seek doctors advice and get a checkup before embarking on anything too strenuous which might be a shock to the body.

I began my regime yesterday with two circuits round my local park. On the way back home I popped into my local shop for a bottle of water, covered in perspiration, where the young lad said: "Have you been running - you look really tired!" Hmmm - but 10 minutes later after a shower I felt better than I had in weeks. And no aches or pains.

So the best advice for older consumers appears to be to put on your running shoes and start going - this may delay aging in more ways than you know.

WHEN DO WOMEN START TO WORRY ABOUT AGEING?

Women start to worry about losing their looks at the age of 28, according to a survey by Olay Regenerist which polled the views of 4,000 women. So is this true, or does 28 sound too young?

Well I confess I began worrying about ageing even earlier than that. I was only 23 when I made my first visit to a health farm - determined to stem the ageing tide that might happen to my body.

That was followed not long after by a visit to Tyringham Naturapathic Clinic, near Olney in Buckinghamshire, where I was prepared to undergo colonic irrigation to turn back the clock. And that was a quarter of a century before Princess Diana tried it out at the Hale Clinic in London.

Always a women ahead of my time - my paranoia about ageing and getting wrinkles peaked at the age of 28. I recall that was when most of my friends were getting married and maybe that was the start of it - if I had wrinkles I would definitely not get a husband. I thought I already had one foot in the grave!

It was also the start of my interest in the more expensive anti-ageing wrinkle creams - I became a devotee of Clarins - I had the saggy bust cream, the craggy neck cream, the anti-cellulite cream etc etc. Sometimes I couldn't find enough bits of my face and body to put everything on. I would always carry Clarins Eye cream in my handbag and rub it into my non-existent crows feet several times a day just in case.

I recall going to department stores on wrinkle cream forays, determined to get the latest and best in Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Harrods. Over the years I have spend a small fortune on anti-ageing wrinkle creams.

And to cap it all I always wondered why those ladies selling the stuff looked like extras from the Night of the Living Dead with bright red hair, yellow teeth....and wrinkles.... And they frequently say - "don't use it round your eyes". Oh dear I have just spend £50 on a wrinkle cream for the only place I have wrinkles - around my eyes and I can't use it!

On one occasion I bought a wrinkle cream by Chanel that was aimed at the 50+ woman. I thought, well that must be good. I paid for it later that night when the sensitive skin around my age 35 eyes balloned up in an allergic reaction.

It does make you wonder about human psychology when we are prepared to spend thousands on anti-ageing creams when there is scanty evidence that they work. Hope springs eternal and its hope in a jar that we just keep buying.