Slow Aging with These Two Key Nutrients Part 1
Aging and health takes place at the cellular level. While cellular aging is normal there are two important nutrients that can delay some of the effects of cellular aging.
Since the cells energy furnace called the mitochondria produces 95% of the body’s energy current research has singled out the mitochondria as the potential issue in aging.
Dr. Gerald Shulman, MD, PhD, a professor at Yale University School of Medicine, has been studying mitochondria for over a decade. His work has focused on the link between stored fat and insulin resistance in cells. Which has made him asked what really happens as we age?
Shulman compared thin, healthy young people to thin, healthy older people to see if there were differences in mitochondrial activity related to aging alone. They found that the 70-year olds, even though they appeared as fit and trim as the younger people, had more fat stored in their cells and more insulin resistance. “The question then became ‘why is the fat building up in the cell?’”
Through further chemical analysis Dr. Shuman found that mitochondria in the 70-year- olds were not nearly as active as the mitochondria in the younger people. Putting all the data together, Shulman and colleagues surmised that we lose mitochondrial activity as we age. And, as we lose mitochondrial activity, fat stores may increase, triggering insulin resistance—perhaps even in people who are not judged to be overweight.
Although Shulman says this decreased mitochondrial activity appears to be part of the aging process, we don’t have to despair that insulin resistance and diabetes is our unalterable fate. The link between mitochondrial activity and insulin resistance is likely only one step on the road to diabetes.
Before I talk about two important nutrients that effect mitochondria energy and one nutrient will even multiply your mitochondria. There are a couple of things you can do to increase the mitochondria’s activity.
Studies show that mitochondria become more active after exercise. When they tested animals after exercise that more fatty acids are metabolized by the mitochondria and as a results less store fat, which should yield less insulin resistance. A healthy diet to help maintain normal weight can help decrease the insulin resistance to the cell as mentioned in the previous post. And using Glucose Regulation Complex can help decrease insulin resistance.
Two Key Nutrients to Slow and even Reverse Aging
There are two nutrients that are particularly important to your energy producing centers, mitochondria. One nutrient is CoQ10. This nutrient is not actually a vitamin. It is called an ubiquionone and is found in most tissues of the body.
The Japanese has been using CoQ10 as approved drug for congestive heart failure since 1974. And several studies show the correlation of depleted CoQ10 with heart disease.(Ironically Statin drugs to lower cholesterol actually depletes the body of CoQ10)
CoQ10 is essential for the manufacture of the body’s energy molecule called ATP that is manufactured in the cells energy factory called mitochondria.
CoQ10 is like the spark plug in your car that ignites the gas to give the car power. It improves both the rate and efficiency of energy production and at the same time protects mitochondria from free radicals.
Mitochondria are particular susceptible to free radical damage and makes them an important potential target for anti-aging and anti-stress intervention. In fact, inhibiting mitochondrial burnout is one of the most promising avenues of life extension research.
As we age energy producing capacity of the mitochondria declines. It appears that mitochondria are the first cellular system to degenerate with age. This process is sometimes called mitochondrial burnout. As a result, cells become less metabolically active, which leads to the decreased functional capacity of organs, poor adaptability and progression of degenerative diseases.
Before you purchase a CoQ10 product, do your research for best results. There are indeed many manufacturers of Co10 products and a lot of confusion about the ones that are most bioavailable.
Shaklee Corporation combines C0Q10 with Resveratrol in a product called CoQHeart which contains strong antioxidant properties PROVEN to help prevent LDL oxidation.
Comparison market testing showed that their CoQHeart product was:
• 500% more bioavailable than any solid form in the marketplace
• Up to 333% more bioavailable than other soft gels in the marketplace
• Has a 33% greater absorption rate than the leading bioavailability-enhanced soft gel
In the next post the second nutrient that is exciting in the anti-aging research that was discovered by a famous Harvard researcher that has been shown to actually increase the numbers of mitochondria and reverse aging.
To Your Health,
Caroline
