Anti-Aging Medicine – Focusing on Age-Related Disorders
Medically speaking, anti-aging refers to the detection, prevention, and reversal of age-related illnesses.

Progress in anti-aging medicine, a relatively new field, has been very rapid. In recent decades many of the once-standard perceptions about aging have been overturned as new treatments and techniques proved effective.

Anti-Aging medicine includes the following:

- Recognizing the impact of lifestyle on aging
- Detecting and treating conditions like diabetes earlier, at a pre-clinical level
- Using anti-aging antioxidants to repair and prevent cellular damage
- Antioxidant vitamins like vitamin K, vitamin E, and vitamin C
- Antioxidant supplements like COQ10, resveratrol, and glutathione
- Hormonal supplements like DHEA and HGH

Anti-Aging Science – Focusing on the Aging Process
The scientific community tends to see anti-aging more in terms of tackling the aging process itself, with research on how to delay, prevent, or reverse aging. Though research on controlling the aging process is ongoing, to date no method for doing so has been established.

Anti-Aging in the Marketplace – Buyer Beware!
Consumer interest makes claims for anti-aging a valuable addition to any product. Be wary of extraordinary claims, “secret formulas”, or any product that promises what sound like impossible results.

Since sleep problems are among the most common complaints of midlife and older adults, many believe that it’s simply an inevitable part of aging, and that older people need less sleep anyway. But the experts say that’s simply not true; we don’t sleep less as we get older, but we do sleep differently. And not recognizing that fact can lead to a lot of sleep-related problems.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the big change in the amount of sleep needed happens long before aging is even a consideration. Children and adolescents need more sleep than adults, but older adults need about the same amount of sleep as younger adults.

The big change that comes with aging is in sleep patterns. Older adults tend to get sleepier earlier in the evening and to wake up earlier in the morning. Simply adjusting your sleep schedule to an earlier bedtime and rising time can go a long way toward erasing the perception of sleep difficulties, but medical research actually recommends that older adults supplement the nightly sleep with a daily nap. A brief sleep during midday can serve a host of health-related functions, from improving mood and easing stress to strengthening the heart.

A study by Boston’s Harvard School of Public Health showed that older adults who took a half-hour midday nap at least three times a week had an amazing 37% lower risk of death from heart attacks and disease than those who did not nap. The researchers suggest that the key factor in the effect of napping on heart disease risk could be stress reduction.

Napping has also been shown to improve mood, increase energy and endurance, boost memory, focus, and comprehension, and enhance libido.

To make the most of a nap, both length and timing of daytime sleep is important. Sleep specialists say the prime time for a nap is generally between 1 and 3 p.m., when the body experiences a natural dip in energy levels. The optimum length for a nap is ranges from 20 to 30 minutes. This will allow you to experience the first two phases of sleep, which will result in a feeling of refreshment. Sleeping for an hour or more will take you into a deep sleep cycle, which could leave you feeling tired and groggy on awakening.

Whole grain foods such as wild and brown rice, oatmeal, whole wheat and rye, bulgar, and even popcorn can be a very effective part of an anti-aging diet. Whole grains are an outstanding source of B vitamins and antioxidants and they provide iron, magnesium, and fiber as well – all of which are important at any age, but absolutely vital to health and well-being as we get older.

Here are just a few ways in which whole grains play an anti-aging role in diet:

Reduced risk of colon cancer – A mammoth 16-year study that monitored over a million participants concluded that consumption of whole grains was inversely associated with the risk of developing colorectal cancer.

Better weight control - A Dutch study of nearly 5,000 older adults found a direct link between increased whole grain consumption and reduced risk of overweight and obesity. Increased whole grain intake was also associated with lower Body Mass Index.

Lower risk of diabetes – An ongoing joint U.S. – Norwegian study has found that whole grains are an important part of what they term a “low risk food pattern” that has been found to lower risk of developing diabetes by as much as 15%.

Improved heart health – A 20-year Harvard study of more than 20,000 physicians concluded that that those eating two to six servings of whole grain cereal a week reduced their risk of heart failure 22%, while those eating whole grains daily reduced risk by 28%. In addition, a massive Wake Forest University study of more than 285,000 participants found that eating as little as 2.5 servings of whole grain foods daily can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease by almost one-quarter.

Decreased incidence of gum disease – The findings of a 14-year study of more than 34,000 Canadian men conclude that the risk of periodontal disease, a serious inflammation of the gums that frequently leads to tooth loss in adults, may be significantly reduced by eating three to four servings of whole grains daily.

An easy way to increase the percentage of whole grain foods in your diet is simply to make substitutions, such as replacing white bread with whole grain bread or eating whole grain cereals. If you like you can do a breakfast mix-and-match, substituting a whole grain, high fiber cereal for half of your regular cereal; some whole grain is better than none.

If you snack at night, try replacing chips with popcorn.

The Free Radical Connection
These compounds, known as free radicals, are atoms that have an uneven number of electrons, and are therefore unstable. Free radicals attempt to correct their unstability by scavenging other molecules, and in the process they damage the cells with which they interact.

It is believed that oxidation damage accumulates throughout life, and that cellular damage by free radicals plays a major role in the aging process.

Antioxidants to the Rescue
Antioxidants are vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that can counteract the damaging effects of free radicals. By definition, an antioxidant is a substance which gives up electrons easily, and thus can function to neutralize free radicals and prevent them from damaging cells.

Medical research has shown that many of the general health and fitness declines associated with aging show a positive response to antioxidants.

Some of the most powerful anti-oxidants, such as Co-enzyme Q-10 and Glutathione, are produced within the body. Unfortunately research has demonstrated that the body’s production of these natural antioxidants decreases sharply as we age.

A number of vitamins have significant antioxidant properties. Vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin K are all potent antioxidants, but because the body does not produce any of them, they must be metabolized from a diet rich in antioxidant food or dietary supplements.

The study authors, reporting their results in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, said that while high levels of the vitamin correlated with high scores on cognitive function tests, more clinical tests are needed to fully interpret their findings.

Though the study clearly demonstrated the correlation between D vitamin levels and cognitive function/processing speed, the findings stopped short of identifying the vitamin as a treatment for aging brains. Instead, the researchers noted that the association could be simply a “risk marker”, indicating a risk for cognitive decline.

The study concluded that in light of the findings and the fact that vitamin D deficiency is common among older adults, more research is warranted to determine whether supplementation could aid in minimizing age-related cognitive decline.

The European study is the latest of many research projects to investigate the association between levels of D vitamin – often referred to as the sunshine vitamin because sun exposure triggers its production in the body – and brain health.

The vitamin is known to play a significant role in brain biochemistry. Nuclear receptors for the vitamin exist in the brain, and it is involved in the biosynthesis of neurotrophins, protiens responsible for neuron growth and development. Because neurotrophins can also repair damaged neurons, some believe they have potential for use in reversing age-related brain disorders including Alzheimer’s Disease.

In addition, recent studies have revealed that insufficient levels of the vitamin are strongly correlated with incidence of depression.

It looks like the answer is yes. A University of North Carolina study on the effects of drinking coffee concluded that caffeine is a safe and reliable drug that could potentially play a role in the therapies against neurological disorders. It is even believed that drinking coffee could help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, one of the most wide-spread and devastating of all age-related disorders.

How coffee protects the brain
Coffee’s protective powers center on what medical experts call the “blood brain barrier”, a natural filter that guards the central nervous system against potentially dangerous chemicals that may be carried through the rest of the bloodstream. It is believed that high cholesterol levels in the blood have an adverse effect of this filter, weakening the barrier against these chemicals and leaving the brain vulnerable to damage.

The University of North Dakota study showed that after three months of a high-cholesterol diet, the blood brain barrier in rabbits that had ingested the equivalent of just one cup of coffee per day was far more intact than the barrier in those that had been given no caffeine.

Research on Alzheimer’s disease indicates that a weak or “leaky” blood brain barrier that makes cholesterol damage to the brain possible is among the factors that can trigger or contribute to the disease.

Caffeine shown to reverse Alzheimer’s symptoms
A recent University of Florida study even suggests that caffeine could actually reverse some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The study used mice bred to develop symptoms of the disease, which were tested to confirm that they were exhibiting the same kind of memory impairment that human Alzheimer’s sufferers experience.

Half the mice were then put on a daily regimen that included the caffeine equivalent of five cups coffee added to their drinking water, while half the mice had no caffeine added to their water.

After two months both groups of mice were retested, and it was found that the mice that had been drinking the caffeine-added water performed significantly better on memory and thinking skills, actually testing as well as mice that had not been bred to develop dementia. The mice that had been drinking non-caffeinated water showed no improvement in the tests.

Even more encouragingly, it was found that the brains of the mice given caffeine showed as much as 50% reduction in levels of beta amyloid protein, which is the basis of the destructive plaque that builds up in the brains of dementia patients. The research suggested that caffeine had this effect because it suppresses brain inflammation that leads to over-production of the protein.

Experts warn that while these results are extremely positive, more research is needed to determine whether caffeine has the same effects on people.

Though research has shown that similar regimes have effectively extended the lives of a number of organisms including yeast, worms, flies, and rodents, there have been no large or long-term studies of how caloric restriction for anti-aging effects humans.

It is believed that caloric restriction triggers a survival mechanism in some organisms that normally have short lifespans, enabling them to outlive food shortages. Reducing the calorie consumption of young rodents by 30 to 60 percent increased their maximum lifespans by the same percentage, while reducing the calorie consumption of adult rodents by 44 percent extended their maximum lifespan by 10 to 20 percent.

In addition, rodents fed a restricted calorie diet also developed fewer age-related diseases, and the onset of those diseases was delayed. The studies also showed that calorie restriction effectively decreased the deterioration of nerves in the brain among animals with neural disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and stroke.

But Does It Work The Same Way In Humans?
While research on the effects of caloric restriction in humans is limited, a number of small studies show potential for health improvement. It has been suggested that caloric restriction for anti-aging may improve memory in older adults, and improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol level, and blood sugar have been observed.

These benefits, along with reductions in weight and body fat percentage resulting from caloric restriction, are known to help reduce the risk of a number of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. But researchers stress that at this time there is no clear and compelling evidence that caloric restriction for anti-aging will extend lifespan in humans as it does in some other organisms.

Risk Factors Must Be Considered
Caloric restriction for anti-aging cannot be considered risk-free for humans, particularly those who are already lean. Excessive calorie restriction can result in hormonal changes, reduced bone density and muscle mass, fatigue, anemia, dizziness, depression, and lethargy.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive and devastating brain disorder that effects more than 26 million people worldwide. 5.3 million people in the US alone have the disease, including thirteen percent of adults over 65 and more than half of all US adults over 85. The Alzheimer’s Association makes the chilling prediction that every 70 seconds, someone in the US develops AD. By the middle of the century, that rate is expected to increase to one new case every 33 seconds.

The disease impairs memory, cognitive function, and physical ability. Though the severity of symptoms varies, it is characterized by dementia – brain impairment severe enough to interfere with everyday activities and social relationships. A high percentage of people with the disease eventually need full-time care. The Alzheimer’s Association data shows that 69 percent of all nursing home residents and 65 percent of people in assisted living have dementia resulting from the disease.

The cause of AD remains unknown and there is no cure for it, though there are some drugs that are believed to slow its progression. However, some of the most exciting new research is indicating that beefing up the body’s natural defenses is an effective therapy, and some very common nutrients could have uncommonly successful results in fighting and even treating the disease.

CoQ10: Coenzyme Q10, a natural substance found in every cell, delivers a one-two punch to the Alzheimer’s-related conditions that cause brain cell damage and death. Blood levels of the coenzyme are typically low in Alzheimer’s patients.

Crucial to the production of energy at the cellular level, CoQ10 enhances immune function and boosts the body’s resistance to damage. And as a powerful antioxidant it is capable of neutralizing and even repairing damage done by free radicals, which are believed to be the source of the harmful protein-based plaque typically observed between brain cells in Alzheimer’s patients.

Vitamin D: Long known for its importance in bone health and strength, the sunshine vitamin is now also recognized as extremely important to mood, memory, and cognitive function. Vitamin D is involved in the biosynthesis of neurotrophins, proteins responsible for neuron growth and development. Because neurotrophins can also repair damaged neurons, some believe they have potential for use in reversing age-related brain disorders including Alzheimer’s Disease.

Levels of the vitamin are typically low to very low in Alzheimer’s patients. A major European study involving 3,300 men between 40 and 80 years of age clearly demonstrated the correlation between D vitamin levels and cognitive function/processing speed, though the findings stopped short of identifying the vitamin as a treatment for AD. Instead, the researchers noted that the association could be simply a “risk marker”, indicating a risk for cognitive decline.

Vitamin B3: Animal tests indicate that high doses of nicotinamide, a readily-available form of vitamin B3, effectively prevented memory loss in mice with Alzheimer’s disease. The research, performed by UC Irvine, concluded that vitamin D had “a very robust effect on neurons”, preventing memory loss in mice with AD and actually enhancing cognitive function in the control group mice, which did not have the disease.

The research results were so compelling that clinical trials with human AD patients are currently underway.

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin that’s crucial to the body in many respects; it’s needed for tissue growth and repair, healing of wounds, and to produce healthy cartilage, bones, and teeth. It’s not stored in the body so it must be constantly replenished through a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, which are the most important sources of the vitamin.

Though vitamin C was not identified and isolated until the 1930s, it’s protective properties have been known for centuries. In the 1700s the British navy discovered that adding citrus fruits to sailors’ diets effectively prevented scurvy, a debilitating and often fatal disease that is the direct manifestation of severe vitamin C deficiency. In addition, the vitamin has also been shown to be effective at preventing the common cold.

But recent research is indicating that vitamin C is important to health in many more ways, including the treatment and prevention of a wide range of age-related diseases and disorders.

A Powerful Antioxidant
One of the most exciting discoveries about vitamin C is its antioxidant capability. Antioxidants are substances which can prevent and repair cellular damage caused by free radicals, unstable molecules formed during the natural but potentially harmful process of cellular oxidation. Free radical damage is closely associated with many age-related diseases, so antioxidants are one of the first lines of defense in anti-aging therapy.

Vitamin C For Heart Health
A growing body of research indicates that vitamin C is crucial to heart health. Low levels of the vitamin are directly associated with increased risk of coronary and cardiovascular disease, with some studies showing that supplemental vitamin C lowered the risk for men by as much as 42% and for women by 25%.

In addition, studies have shown that supplemental vitamin C may actually be cardioprotective. The Nurses’ Health Study, a 16-year project monitoring more than 85,000 women, showed that higher levels of the vitamin were associated with a 27-28% reduction in coronary heart disease risk.

Vitamin C for Cancer Prevention
One of the most exciting aspects of the vitamin is its potential as a cancer preventative. Both case-control and prospective studies show that a substantial boost in vitamin C intake (amounts greater than 83 mg per day) significantly lowered the risk of a wide range of cancers, including cancers of the cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus. stomach, colon, rectum, and lung.

Raising vitamin C levels has also been shown to lower risk of breast cancer, with studies indicating risk reductions of more than 60% in women who consumed more than 200 mgs of the vitamin daily.

Vitamin C for Brain Function
Getting enough vitamin C can be important to brain function, mental alertness, and mood, particularly in older people. One of the vitamin’s most important tasks is to help in the body’s synthesis of norepinephrine, a crucial neurotransmitter. In addition, Vitamin C’s potent antioxidant properties help protect brain cells from free radical damage and can help prevent depression, increase learning capability, and enhance motor skills.

Vitamin C for Better Vision
As a strong antioxidant, vitamin C excels at protecting the eyes against age-related diseases like cataracts and macular degeneration.

Cataracts, a condition in which the lens of the eye becomes opaque, are a common and widespread age-related disorder found in more than half of all people over age 65. Research on how vitamin C effects cataracts is ongoing, but early studies show tremendous potential for cataract prevention.

A Tufts University study of 247 women indicated that long-term vitamin C supplementation could dramatically lower the risk of cataract development. According to the study, women who had taken supplements of the vitamin for 10 years or more had a 77% lower risk of early lens opacities and an 83% lower risk of moderate lens opacities than women who did not take supplements.

A lower risk of macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of blindness, has also been associated with increased vitamin C levels. A major clinical trial sponsored by the National Eye Institute showed that supplementation reduced the risk of moderate or severe AMD-related vision loss by as much as 25 percent.

Coenzyme Q10, commonly known as CoQ10, is a vitamin-like substance that occurs naturally in every cell of the human body and is used in the production of energy at the cellular level. It plays two important roles, serving both as an energy producing catalyst and as a powerful antioxidant.

Function One: How CoQ10 Helps Cells Produce Energy

CoQ10 plays an integral part in the production of energy at the cellular level. Cells produce energy by combining fats and carbohydrates with oxygen in a part of each cell known as the mitochondria. The actual biochemical reactions that produce energy occur along electron transport chains within the mitochondria.

The energy produced by these chemical reactions is converted to chemical energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP molecules. ATP is the source of energy the body relies on for all its inner workings, and it also represents the reserve energy in your muscles.

CoQ10 serves a unique function in this process. Because it is fat-soluable, CoQ10 is mobile within the cellular membrane and it serves as a “messenger link”. Each pair of electrons in the transport chain must first interact with CoQ10, which provides the “spark” for the chemical reactions that make up the energy-producing process.

Without CoQ10, there is no “spark” to trigger the biochemical reactions that lead to the production of energy, and no ATP is produced. The body only stores enough ATP to sustain vigorous activity for a few minutes at a time, so ATP must be produced constantly. And in order for this to happen, there must be an adequate supply of CoQ10 to keep production going.

Function Two: CoQ10 as Antioxidant

CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant and as such can counteract the damaging effects of free radicals, chemically active molecules that are created during the normal but potentially harmful process of cellular oxidation. Free radicals have an uneven number of electrons, which makes them unstable. They scavenge the body in the effort to correct this instability by giving or take electrons from nearby cells, and can create massive cellular damage in the process.

An antioxidant is a substance which gives up electrons easily, and thus can function to neutralize free radicals and prevent them from damaging cells. As an energy carrier, CoQ10’s molecular structure makes it an ideal antioxidant. It is constantly going through a cycle of oxidation and reduction, during which it easily gives up one or both electrons and is an effective free radical neutralizer.

Both Functions Crucial to Health

Together, CoQ10’s antioxidant properties and crucial role in the production of energy create a host of benefits in disease treatment and prevention. In addition, they work together to make it a potentanti-aging tool. Many of the diseases, disorders, and health problems associated with aging are directly associated with free radical damage.

CoQ10 supplements are often prescribed to aid in recovery from heart surgery, and there is a mounting body of evidence that CoQ10 can play a substantial part in preventing  heart disease as well as in the treatment and prevention of a number of age-related disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, macular degeneration, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Ongoing research is currently evaluating the use of CoQ10 in the treatment of migraines, asthma, breast and prostate cancer, and HIV/AIDS.

Need for supplemental COQ10 increases with age

Extensive research has shown that adequate amounts of CoQ10 are necessary to healthy metabolism and organ function, but the older we get, the less we produce. Normal aging can reduce the CoQ10 levels in the heart by as much as 72%. In addition, statin drugs a group of  drugs knows as statins (used to reduce LDL and cholesterol levels and frequently-prescribed for older people) also deplete CoQ10 levels.

The side effects of CoQ10 are mild (nausea, diarrhea, and heartburn) and rarely reported, though CoQ10 supplementation has been known to interfere with the action of some prescription drugs such as blood thinners and beta-blockers.

For people who are middle-aged or older, supplemental CoQ10 can be crucial to maintaining good health. While CoQ10 has been shown to be an effective form of treatment for some disorders, the most dramatic reseach results have been in the area of prevention. Not only is maintaining good CoQ10 levels a requisite for ongoing heart health throughout middle age and beyond, it is also believed to be among the keys to the prevention of an assortment of age-related disorders including Alzheimer’s disease.

For more in-depth information and the latest news on COQ10, visit COQ10 Benefits

* COQ10 benefits anti-aging
* COQ10 benefits energy and endurance
* COQ10 benefits heart health
* COQ10 benefits include the potential for being a cancer preventative or treatment