"We all know what aging looks like from the outside wrinkled skin gray hair a growing need to turn up the volume on Jeopardy. But in recent years scientists have made some breakthrough discoveries about how we age on the inside right down to our genes. The science of aging has created a glimmer of hope that we could someday slow the process  a dream that has already spread beyond the lab to the marketplace. Antiaging research used to be mainly about finding new ways to get lab mice to take their vitamins. But if you visited a lab today youd be more likely to hear scientists talking excitedly about telomeres protective strands of DNA at the end of chromosomes that seem to play an important  some would say crucial  role in aging. Whenever a healthy cell divides the telomeres get a little shorter. In fact you could tell a lot about the age of a person simply by looking at the length of his or her telomeres. Studies have found that in people older than  short telomeres are one sign that the end may be relatively near Older people with short telomeres seem to be especially vulnerable to disease including heart disease and infections. But telomeres arent as reliable as a clock or even a tree ring. Recent studies suggest that you can help your telomeres stay relatively long and youthful if you get regular exercise eat a healthful diet and avoid stress.   At a time when people are willing to spend big bucks to look and feel younger its not surprising that telomeres have become a buzzword in the supplement industry. One expensive option TA supposedly works by stimulating telomerase a natural enzyme that helps restore telomeres after a cell divides. The TA stands for telomerase activator. Created by Geron Corp. a biotech research company TA contains extracts of astragalus an herb often used as an immunitybooster in traditional Chinese medicine. Although TA is legally classified as a dietary supplement TA Sciences the company that bought the licensing rights from Geron makes it available only through select doctors who have paid a fee and have passed a test on telomere biology. Seven doctors offer TA in California including two in Los Angeles according to the company website. When TA was first released in  patients spent  a year on the supplement and accompanying tests. Now patients spend  to  for a sixmonth supply depending on the dose. The company recommends taking the supplement for two years. Patients must spend an additional  on doctors fees and they have the option of spending several hundred to a couple of thousand dollars more on tests to check the results. Reneuve a supplement sold online supposedly lengthens telomeres by giving users an extralarge dose of telomerase. You wont see telomerase in the list of ingredients but Reneuve does offer select proprietary glandular extracts from pig thymuses that provide enough telomerase enzyme for the cellular infrastructure of one adult. A single milliliter vial of Reneuve purchased through the company website costs . Users are instructed to drink the vial in a single sitting perhaps with some Mountain Dew or Gatorade. The effects are said to last six months. Claims The TA Science website says the company is the first and only  in the world to offer TelomeraseActivating products to combat the effects of aging through leadingedge science. Company founder Noel Patton says Our product is not the fountain of youth. You wont miraculously turn into a yearold again. But it is a fountain of youth for certain cells. Specifically Patton says the product will strengthen and rejuvenate the immune system. He points to an unpublished companyrun study that compared an astragalus supplement similar to TA to a placebo in  men ages  to . The study reportedly found that men who took the supplement for six months developed stronger immune system cells better eyesight improved sexual satisfaction and youngerlooking skin. He also says that tests paid for by patients show that the supplement improves bone density cognitive function cholesterol levels and control of blood sugar. The Reneuve website says the product uses  Nobel Prizewinning technology to supply immunesystem enhancing and antiaging enzymes to the body. It also says that thanks to Reneuve aging is now a choice not a fact. Rasjesh Sharma the chief scientific officer of Reneuve declined to be interviewed but said in an email that the supplement helps replace the telomerase that people make naturally until they turn . The bottom line"