Anti-Aging Supplements Work Better Started In Middle Age
According to Jinze Xu, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida’s Institute on Aging. anti-aging supplements may work better when they are started in middle age. This conclusion was reached after doing a study with rats, but rats do not always react exactly like humans. Still, this should be given some thought.
Aging is still a mystery to scientists, but they believe it has a lot to do with the function of mitochondria – the cell’s source of power. They do produce energy, but they also produce free radicals which can cause cell damage. It is this damage which scientists believe causes the signs of aging. So many aging studies look at the affects of free radicals.
The Rat Study Of Antioxidants
This particular study researched the effects of a common supplement that contained coenzyme Q10 and ginseng. Both are antioxidants which are supposed to reduce the effects of free radicals. They fed this supplement to two groups of middle aged rats for 6 weeks. One group was in middle age (50 to 65 in rat years), while the other group was in late middle age (65 tyo 80 in rat years).
At the end of the six weeks, they measured paw grip strength as a way to measure their actual age. The middle aged rats had a 12 percent stronger grip strength when compared to a control group that did not get the supplement in their diet. The late middle aged group did not demonstrate increased grip strength either.
It is interesting to note that though the older group did not demonstrate an increase in grip strength, they did have less free radical damage than the control group. So while the supplement did seem to reduce free radical damage, they may have already been too damaged for the supplement to help them as much. While it does not seem to hurt an older person to include antioxidants, it is more beneficial to take them while still in early middle age.
It would also be very interesting to see more studies that were actually performed on humans. This is promising though, and certainly motivating for us to start paying attention to antioxidants early in middle age.
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