Anti ageing supplements should be taken in middle age

It was shown in the research study that when anti-ageing supplements were given to middle-aged rats they showed significant improvement in their physical abilities. However, older rats did not display the same abilities when given these supplements.

Jinze Xu, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida's Institute on Aging, said: "It is possible that there is a window during which these compounds will work, and if the intervention is given after that time it won't work."

Nevertheless, further research will be needed to confirm these findings as studies done on rats do not necessarily apply to humans. Scientists have much to learn as regards ageing. What is known at present is that it is the mitochondria in the cells that are the active players in the ageing process. Not only do they generate energy within the cell but they also produce the harmful free radicals, which are molecules with extra electrons that cause damage. If the mitochondria are too badly damaged they are liable to stop working completely.

The study tested the effects of a supplement containing the antioxidant Q10, creatine which helps to improve muscle performance, and ginseng which contains antioxidants which fight free radical damage to the cells.

The supplement was fed to middle-aged 21-month-old rats and late middle-aged and older 29-month-old rats for six weeks to measure how strongly their paws would grip. The rats' age groups corresponded to 50-65-year-olds and 65-80-year-olds in human terms. The rate of deterioration in paw grip is a useful analogy to the rate of muscle degeneration in humans, so the study can give useful information for finding out about human ageing.

By the end of the six weeks, the middle-aged rats had improved 12 percent in grip function compared with controls. However, the older group showed no improvement. Nevertheless, they displayed less cell damage than the control rats, giving rise to speculation by the scientists that muscle damage in the older rats was too far-gone to be helped by the supplements.

Future research is likely to focus on improving the health of the mitochondria so that they work well to produce fewer free radicals. There will also need to be clinical trials to test the effectiveness of the supplements in humans.

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