The study monitored physical improvements on middle-aged rats after receiving anti-aging supplements. It was observed that middle-aged rats’ physical abilities improved with anti aging supplements, whereas those of older rats did not.
Scientist Jinze Xu, a post doctoral 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."
As the study was on rats, applying its results on humans requires a slight precaution, and further subsequent studies using human subjects.
What scientists so far understand about the aging process tend to point often to the role of the mitochondria—as it is the one responsible for generating energy within the cell, it is vital to growth and development. But there, alas, is the rub: the mitochondria’s energy-related roles leave it—and the cell--susceptible to damage from free radicals. It has been known that too much damage can cause the mitochondria to stop working properly, hence the emergence of aging-related diseases such as chronic fatigue and cancers.
The key to the work of anti aging supplements, such as acetyl-L carnitine and alpha lipoic acid, seems to lie at how such supplements affect the cell’s powerhouses—the mitochondria. Acetyl-L carnitine, for instance, effectively aids in turning fat into energy. As it also passes the blood-brain barrier easily, it also protects cells from deterioration. Thus, Acetyl-L carnitine has been shown to enhance memory and boost energy. On the other hand, alpha lipoic acid protects cells from oxidative stress. When taken together, acetyl-L carnitine and alpha lipoic acid can effectively delay the manifestations of aging.
In the present study, the researchers used the antioxidant coenzyme Q10 (coQ10), creatine, and ginseng. The researchers fed the anti aging supplements to middle-aged 21-month-old and late-middle-aged 29-month-old rats — corresponding to 50- to 65-year-old and 65- to 80-year-old humans, respectively — for six weeks. How strongly the rats’ paws could grip was then measured carefully. Rats’ grip strength is analogous to physical performance in humans, and grip strength can provide useful information about muscle weakness or loss seen in older adults.
At the end of the six weeks, grip strength had improved 12 percent in the middle-aged rats compared with controls, whereas no improvement was found in the older group.
Moreover, the results of the accompanying stress tests showed interesting data regarding the condition of the test subjects’ mitochondria. In middle-aged rats that received anti aging supplements, mitochondrial function improved by 66 percent, whereas no improvement was found in older rats. The findings suggest that anti aging supplements can work best within a specific age, especially before any major age-related declines have emerged.
But that is not saying that older rats (or people) will not benefit from anti aging supplements. In still the same study, although no improvement was found in the physical abilities and mitochondrial function of older rats, they had less free radical damage. The researchers think that although anti aging supplements may still have an effect on older animals, such old animals may have been too damaged by free radicals to an extent that the mitochondrial function could no longer be restored.
The study’s results were published last week in the PLoS One journal, with anti aging supplements donated by their respective manufacturers and the animals used in the study provided by National Institute on Aging grants.
