You might think your body is as old as you are — but your cells would disagree.
Here’s the truth: your body is constantly renewing itself. In fact, most of it is much younger than you.
While you may be [insert your age], your cells are on their own individual timelines — living, dying, and being replaced in a symphony of regeneration that keeps you alive and well.
Lifespan of Cells: A Quick Glimpse
Different types of cells have wildly different lifespans. Here are just a few examples:
- Small intestine lining:
- Regenerates every 2–4 days. These cells are exposed to constant wear and tear and need frequent renewal.
- Skin cells:
- Replaced every 2–3 weeks.
- Red blood cells:
- Circulate for about 4 months before being recycled.
- Liver cells:
- Regenerate completely about once a year — your liver is one of the few organs capable of full self-renewal.
- Bone cells:
- Renew every 10 years or so.
- Muscle and fat cells:
- Vary more — some live for years, others longer.
On average, your entire body is almost completely regenerated every 7–10 years.
So Why Does This Matter?
Because cellular regeneration requires raw materials — and nucleotides are one of the most important.
Every time your body needs to replace a cell, it has to:
- Copy DNA
- Repair or create cell membranes
- Build supporting structures
- All of which rely heavily on nucleotides.
If your body doesn’t have enough, cell turnover can slow, and regeneration may be compromised — which can show up in the form of slow healing, gut issues, fatigue, or weakened immunity.
Mitosis (cell division)
Each cell first needs to replicate its own DNA before the cell division process can continue. When a single cell has duplicated and divided, the newly formed cells are called daughter cells.
This doubling of the DNA requires at least 6 billion Nucleotides.
Did you know: Mitosis requires more than 6 billion Nucleotides per cell in humans.
Let’s recap on some of the interesting facts about Nucleotides which are molecules, also called DNS which are the basic building blocks of our genetic material
They are very important for:
- energy transfer (ATP/GTP are the energy carrying molecules in the
body and the A and the G are both nucleotides) - production of protein and building of muscle
- essential in DNA repair and duplication – mitosis
- mucosal repair – this is the critical lining of our gut
- mediation of hormone signals
- immune function
- Nucleotides are involved in almost all activates within the cell.
Remember we have discussed that you are not what you eat – but rather what you absorb? Therefore the next question might be…………
How to improve absorption in the gut?
Here, the way in which the cells of the lining of our gut are able to divide and arrange themselves structurally is important. I want to compare this to building a wall with just enough bricks, maybe even too few bricks or making of half bricks. The end result will be an unstable wall with holes.
Similarly, if there are insufficient Nucleotides available, cell division in the gut lining cannot keep up with the demand for new cells to build a perfect lining.
Remember……..
- The gut lining / small intestine gets replaced every 2-4 days, and
- The surface area of the gut lining is the size of a tennis court.
Does this paint a better picture of the massive amounts of Nucleotides needed to build an intact lining in the gut?
See the difference with Nucleotides
The left picture shows the typical length and structure of the finger-like protrusions that line our gut (the villi) . In addition, the picture on the right portraits the same gut lining, photographed 3 weeks later after
supplementing with Nucleotides. Can you see better development in the length and structure of the villi? A notable difference and it shows how a well developed gut lining should look like to enable proper absorption.
Supplementing with Nucleotides assists the bacteria in the gut to grow better. There are lots of bacteria in the gut like Bifidobacteria (the
good bacteria) which are not able to produce enough of their own
Nucleotides for their multiplication.
They play a critical role in regulating the acidity in our gut by excreting butyric acid. Because this is an important function, which is needed for proper absorption, they are sometimes also called butyrate’s .
Improvement of growth and differentiation of the gut lining will:
- provide more space for the good bacteria to grow and live in
- enable “gaps” in the lining (leaky gut) to heal faster
- make the villi grow longer to function better and increase the surface area for absorption
- improved the use and uptake of other nutrients
- and improved recovery of the intestine (gut) after starvation or diarrhea.
You’re Not the Same You as 10 Years Ago
(And that’s a good thing.)
Supporting cellular health with the right nutrients — especially nucleotides — helps ensure that your body can continue this incredible process of renewal with strength and precision.
