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Diseases which may be prevented or cured
by means of therapeutic fasting and caloric restriction
(experimental and clinical evidence:
click to see scientific report)
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| Scientific update |
Pathways of Aging
Science has not yet found a way to keep us young forever. But there is good news! The latest research on aging reveals that, though we cannot actually stop the ravages of time, we may be able to slow them down.Experts now know that it is not simply inherited genetics that determines who will live the longest in an energetic, disease-free state. By the time humans reach the age of 80, behavioral choices become significant determinants of a person's overall health and longevity. 1 The article you are about to read examines the mechanisms behind growing old and explains new ways in which aging humans can slow this devastating process. There is no single cause of growing old, but the various mechanisms that characterize aging are often interrelated. The good news is that scientists are identifying many of these interrelated pathways of aging. This provides those of us alive today with an unprecedented opportunity to gain at least partial control over this devastating process. For the past 20 years, scientists have focused on free radicals as a culprit in the development of age-related diseases. New research provides a basis that links free radicals with other pathological changes that cause cellular malfunction or mutation (i.e., cancer). As we age, the body generates higher levels of free radicals and other oxidants. 2 Unfortunately, antioxidant defenses do not generally rise to meet this challenge, 3 remaining either constant or in some cases declining. For example, cells generate more of the oxidants superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, while levels of the key cellular antioxidant glutathione decline progressively with age. 4 Studies show that the life spans of animal species are affected by their levels of oxidant generation. The higher the level of oxidant generation in a species, the shorter will be its average life span. When scientists engineer cells of Drosophila (fruit flies) to increase production of the antioxidants superoxide dismutase (which quenches the superoxide radical) and catalase (which neutralizes hydrogen peroxide), the flies live longer and their metabolic potential increases.Lethal Consequences of Cellular Energy Deficit One adverse consequence of aging is an inadequate energy supply in the cell. Energy-deficient cells lack the minimum metabolic capacity necessary to carry out an orchestrated cell-removal program known as "apoptosis." The result is that the body's system for the orderly disposal of defective cells cannot operate. When apoptosis fails, the two alternative pathways the damaged cell takes are highly deleterious. The cell either continues to malfunction and reproduce, or dies violently through necrosis in which the cell swells and ruptures, organelles disintegrate, and inflammation tends to occur. Scientists long ago discovered that acetyl-L-carnitine and coenzyme Q10 help protect against cellular energy deficits by maintaining healthy mitochondrial function. With new evidence showing a vicious cycle of cellular energy depletion causing more damaging free radicals, and the increased free radicals then causing more cellular energy depletion, the importance of nutrients that boost endogenous antioxidants such as alpha lipoic acid becomes much more apparent. Alpha lipoic acid increases glutathione levels within our cells.
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