Happy Thursday, Zapien 👋

This week’s focus is on one of the longevity biomarker powerhouses: CRP.

As a marker of systemic inflammation and a predictor of cardiovascular disease risk, it's heavily weighted in most BioAge calculations. So if you want to live to a healthy 100, you'll want to know about CRP - and your own CRP levels.

Forever,
Lisa, Karol & Simon

TODAY’S ISSUE

LONGEVITY BEAT

What is CRP?

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a biomarker produced by your liver in response to inflammation, a natural process your immune system uses to heal injuries and fight off infections.

Essentially, CRP marks damaged goods and invaders, such as microbes and defective cells, for destruction so they can be cleaned up by white blood cells.

Once the cause of the disorder is taken care of, CRP levels usually return to normal. However, when there's chronic low-grade inflammation in the body, blood CRP levels remain slightly elevated.

hsCRP (high-sensitivity CRP) is the level of CRP that is determined using highly sensitive assays that are able to measure very low levels of CRP in your blood.

The link between CRP, illness & mortality

CRP levels increase in chronic inflammatory states, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and inflammatory (autoimmune) diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

And it can give you a glimpse of the future: Higher levels of hsCRP can help predict the future risk of heart disease, even in apparently healthy people.

There’s even some evidence that CRP might not just be a marker of chronic inflammation, but may be able to worsen inflammation-related diseases on its own.

CRP can for example directly inhibit insulin signaling and prevent blood sugar from entering muscles, thus increasing insulin resistance, which leads to diabetes.

Should you be testing your hsCRP levels?

In our opinion, hsCRP is one of the biomarkers you should test regularly.

Keep in mind that levels will be elevated if you have an acute infection. Also, hard exercise, such as intense weight training or a long run, can cause a spike in CRP levels.

Because of these possible fluctuations, you should ideally have your levels measured at least twice (a few weeks apart) to determine your risk of heart disease and other chronic conditions.

What’s a healthy level?

• <1 mg/L: Green zone, low inflammation and lowest health risk. For optimal health and longevity, aim for hsCRP levels in this range.

• 1-3 mg/L: Yellow zone, indicating some inflammation with moderate health risks.

• 3 mg/L: Red zone, indicating significant inflammation and a significantly increased risk of disease and early mortality.

SHORT HACK, LONG LIFE

Turmeric (Curcumin)

The tastiest way to lower your CRP is to add more turmeric, with its anti-inflammatory component curcumin, to your diet. With a long history in Asian cuisines, it goes great with rice (and currywurst in Berlin). Turmeric is a root similar to ginger, and there is promising evidence that it reduces the symptoms of a variety of inflammation-related conditions (e.g., arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, post-exercise soreness ....).

Unless you’re into making awesome curries every day, try this easy-to-make Golden Milk (aim for more than 1 glass per day or add to additional drinks/dishes, as turmeric only contains about 2-6% curcumin).

Just mix the following and drink it hot or cold (it mixes better when it’s hot):

1. 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

2. 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (more / less to taste)

3. 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (ceylon!) (more / less to taste)

4. 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

5. A cup of “milk” of your choice (low-fat coconut is great for flavor)

6. Optional: Sweetener of choice

RECOMMENDED

In Issue #3 we talked about the different types of blood tests you can do. For today, let's assume we're interested in regularly testing our hsCRP levels from the comfort of our own home.

Rapid tests versus lab tests

Rapid tests, such as COVID tests, are usually qualitative (yes/no) or semi-quantitative (low/medium/high). This is because our eyes can't accurately measure color intensity. Adding digital readouts to these tests could provide more accurate, quantitative results.

But such truly quantitative rapid tests for home use are not widely available yet. For now, we recommend to measure your CRP levels by sending your sample to a laboratory (and to keep an eye out for emerging innovations in the rapid testing field).

Conflict of interest: None! We get no money for product links. We promote what we find useful. Please do your own research.

HEALTH & LONGEVITY NEWS

ZAPIEN PROTOCOL

Robin 🇩🇪 

Workout

2-3 sessions/week of resistance training at the gym, focusing on upper body & core with emphasis on bodyweight and compound movements.

Slowly getting back into running regularly: 2-3 sessions anywhere from 7-20km, with the main focus on enjoying the run for my mental wellbeing.

Nutrition

16:8-18:6 intermittent fasting with lunch around 4-5pm and post-workout dinner around 9-10pm, loosening up on the weekends. I have been eating a plant-based diet for almost a decade and stick to simple meals with few ingredients and short prep times.

Supplements

I take a mix of personalized micronutrients, mainly vitamins, minerals and secondary plant substances from Bioniq (disclaimer and plug as I do work for them), as well as omega 3 and iodine.

This stack is sure to change soon, as there is growing evidence of more potential nutrient deficiencies with a plant-based diet.

Mental Wellbeing

As an ambivert, I truly enjoy spending time with friends and family, even dragging them to the gym or going for a walk. On the other hand, I find Sunday evenings to be perfect to reflect and think while being alone.

BECAUSE WE LOVE NUMBERS

⚡️ 50% ⚡️

of all deaths can be linked back to inflammation-related diseases.

ABOUT US

Lisa has a PhD in Medical Biology. She was a researcher at Harvard Medical before developing D2C laboratory diagnostics.

Karol is a serial founder who helped thousands of people build healthy eating habits with Upfit.

Simon is a healthcare entrepreneur who brought the doctor online-booking service Doctolib to Germany.

WHEN YOU ARE READY, THIS IS HOW WE CAN HELP YOU

Health Disclaimer

New Zapien’s products and services are not intended to substitute for professional medical guidance. Our content and media offerings do not aim to diagnose, cure, or address any medical issues.