Joe Nakano, who turned 100 on Sept. 22, 2022 is the kind of 100-year-old that anyone hoping to make it to that age would want to be like: fully ambulatory, fully functional mentally, and with no major health problems. He did catch Covid-19 in April of this year, but only suffered minor symptoms of a cough and fatigue.

But if you asked Joe’s secret to his healthful longevity, you might be disappointed. Asked why he is so fortunate, he said, “It’s pretty hard for me to come up with an answer.”
It is worth noting, though, that Joe did give up smoking decades ago and save the occasional glass of wine, mostly eschews alcoholic beverages. As for exercise, he said, in his Hawaii-derived lilt, “Well, as you know, everybody else does a lot of exercises to stay in trim. And I do it myself. I try to get moving all the time.”

Diet-wise, Joe says he tries to avoid fatty foods. “I try to control my eating habits … but nothing wrong with a little bit of this and that.”

What about health or dietary supplements? As it turns out, Joe did indeed say he does take something that he thinks may be a contributing factor to his longevity.

Hawaii to Okinawa to California
Joe is a Nisei, a Japanese word for second generation. His first-generation immigrant parents came from Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture. They left Japan for Hawaii, landing in the town of Wahiawa on the island of Oahu.

“My parents had two daughters and five sons,” recalled Joe, who noted that he was the second son, with three of his brothers born after him. All of his siblings are deceased.

Like many in his age group, Joe served in the United States Armed Forces during World War II, Army in his case. After the end of the war, he joined the Civil Service in Hawaii and was sent to Okinawa, which at the time was under U.S. military control and remained so until 1972, when the southern Japanese island reverted to becoming a Japanese prefecture.

While living there, he met Tomiko Nakamura and after they married, they had four sons: Yosh, Mamo, Bob, and Wally. The Nakano family went on to spend decades on Okinawa, with Joe putting in 43 years in the Civil Service.

After he retirement, Joe and Tomiko would eventually go on to follow the eldest son Yosh to the U.S. mainland as he pursued his career as a professional poker player. The couple lived in Southern California, enjoying spending time with their eldest son’s triplet children, Ian, James, and Molly, for the past several years in San Diego. Sadly, Tomiko died in 2021.

The GSH Factor
About 2008, Yosh learned through a high school friend, Scott Momii, about a dietary supplement called Cellgevity, which contains a proprietary molecule dubbed RiboCeine, which was developed by Herbert Nagasawa PhD.

In his research as a trained chemist working for the Veterans Administration (now Veterans Affairs), Nagasawa discovered that RiboCeine was able to deliver the amino acid cysteine into the body’s cells 300% more effectively than n-acetylcysteine (NAC), which is necessary for the production of GSH or glutathione.

Endogenous GSH is produced by the body and serves as an antioxidant, a detoxifier, and an immune-system enhancer that protects against oxidative stress and environmental factors such as air pollution and alcohol consumption.

In other words, glutathione is a necessary tool for maintaining one’s health. The bad news is that as we age, our bodies produce less GSH, leaving us vulnerable to the ravages of free radicals, inflammation, a weakened immune system, hangovers, and the like that younger people don’t typically have to worry about.

Intrigued, Yosh, who was dealing with his own health issues, including diabetes, began taking Cellgevity and in time became a true believer when his diabetes became under control, his mental acuity and memory improved, and realized that he no longer caught colds or got sick. Catching Covid-19 in May 2020 was an exception, but it was also minor explained by the peer-reviewed article: “Endogenous Deficiency of Glutathione as the Most Likely Cause of Serious Manifestations and Death in Covid-19 Patients”.

Joe’s Journey
Cellgevity, with its patented formula, does, according to Yosh, what no other dietary supplement can do as effectively: naturally increase the body’s ability to produce GSH as one age — and thus help fight the ravages of time.

As he researched the salutary effects of increasing one’s GSH levels, he became an evangelist for the supplement, especially as he learned that simply ingesting a dietary supplement containing GSH did nothing to increase the body’s levels. The key was RiboCeine, which allowed the body to produce and thus increase GSH levels — and only Cellgevity and other products manufactured by Salt Lake City-based Max International were that effective.

So, about 12 years ago, at his son’s behest, Joe began taking Cellgevity. Now, he has done something none of his siblings ever achieved: He has turned 100. Is there, then, a correlation between that and taking this supplement? As far as Joe is concerned, the answer is simple: Yes.
“Taking Cellgevity is not doing me harm. It’s doing me good,” he said. “I’m still, you know, doing health-wise, very good. So, I can’t say Cellgevity is not helping me. … It must be something good in there that keeps me going.”

Recently there has been a clinical trial on a product that uses NAC for endogenous glutathione enhancement, and it validates the theory that there is a direct relationship between glutathione and longevity: Supplement Reverses Hallmarks Of Old Age And Promotes Healthier Aging | IFLScience.

The Celebration
On the evening of September 22, 2022, family and friends, many connected to Kubasaki High School and Okinawa, gathered at the Izakaya Sakura on Convoy St. in San Diego to celebrate Joe’s milestone.