Nutrients to fight ageing process

As we age it seems inevitable that poor health follows. However, research in aging shows that by adopting healthy lifestyles and incorporating nutritional and herbal supplements, we are able to influence the ageing process and keep the age-related disease at bay.

Age related disease include impaired vision, dementia, heart disease and osteoarthritis that make us age and die before our time.

A growing body of evidence is pointing to an imbalance of free radicals as the cause of our health woes.

Free radicals are highly unstable molecules produced in our body as a by-product of oxidation. It is estimated that on a daily basis each human cell is subjected to at least 10,000 damaging "hits" from free radicals.

Normally, the body can repair the damage by using its own supply of enzymes and nutrients from the diet, but as we get older, this intrinsic ability to repair our cells is reduced.

Apart from this, our lifestyle factors such as poor diet, stress, exposure to pollutants and toxins, lack of exercise and disease further impair the healthy reproduction and repair of cellular tissue.

Heart Disease
Cardiovascular risk increases with age possibly due to wear and tear. Men are at greater risk of developing heart disase at an earlier age compared to women.

This is attributed to the protective effect of the female hormone-estrogen against heart disase until menopause when the risk becomes the same.South Asians, in particular Indians, have a higher risk compared to other ethnic groups.

Our heart derives at least two-thirds of its energy from fat in the form of free fatty acids. Free fatty acids are the preferred fuel as energy for the heart to pump effectively. In order to utilise this fuel, a transport system is required to usher the fatty acids into the mitochondria (power-house of cells) for burning. This is where L-carnitine, the transporter of fat is needed.

L-carnithine's crucial role is the support of oxidation of these free fatty acids in the mitochondria to improve oxygen utilisation and energy production by the heart muscles.

A deficiency in L-carnithine can cause a lack of oxygen in heart muscle that leads to angina (chest pains) and heart disease.

L-carnithine helps in faster recovery from a heart attack. Studies show that L-carnithine elevates good HDL cholesterol, reduce triglycerides and lowers blood pressure in hypertension.

L-carnithine is a powerful antioxidant and free radical scavenger that prevents cells from damage or death when faced with free radicals.

A powerful antioxidant found in the mitochondria is the enzyme CoQ10. CoQ10 also contributes to the body's production of energy and protects LDL cholesterol from oxidation.

Osteoarthritis
Another distressing problem of old age is arthritis or inflammation of the joints. Osteaarthritis is also known as "degenerative joint disease" where the joint cartilage degenrates, causing pain and stiffness.

The body parts that are more commonly afflicted are the hands, feet, knees and hips and to a lesser degree the ankles. Between the cartilage are sealed cavities filled with synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that the free radical activity on the lipids of cell membranes causes the synovial fluid to lose its lubricating properties.

Free radicals also promote the release of "bad" prostaglandins, which are short-acting chemicals that cause pain, swelling and inflammation. These pathological changes eventually lead to damage in the joints.

Clinical trials in Britain have found that approximately 80% of arthritis sufferers found significant relief from pain, reduced inflammation and swelling by taking a combination of beta-carotene, vitamin C,E, zinc together with selenium.