Book excerpt: AARP Digital Editions offer you practical tips, proven solutions, and expert guidance. Based on Nobel Prize–winning genetic research, AARP The Immortality Edge provides a simple plan to keep your telomeres healthy for better health and longevity. Telomeres play an important role in protecting our chromosomes from critical damage. The shortening of the telomere disrupts vital cellular function and promotes the previously seemingly inevitable onset of aging and various diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer's. Drawing from the groundbreaking discoveries about telomeres that won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine, this book includes a highly prescriptive program that shows you how to live longer by slowing telomere shortening and rejuvenating your cells through relatively simple alterations in nutrition habits and other lifestyle changes. Written by authors with extensive knowledge of genetics, telomeres, and longevity Offers a simple action plan you can start using immediately Includes a revolutionary new eating plan Recommends individualized supplement programs Shares a diet and exercise approach grounded in solid scientific research The exciting recent discoveries about telomeres promise to revolutionize our approach to anti-aging much as antioxidants did ten years ago. Unlike trendy diet and fitness books with no basis in science, The Immortality Edge targets health at its innermost level by laying out a realistic, lifelong plan using easy steps that can fit into any busy schedule-steps that can improve the length and quality of your life.