Turn back time: supplements worthy of "anti-aging" labels

"I wish I was big," uttered Tom Hanks in the 1988 movie, Big. Jennifer Garner's new movie, 13 going on 30, offers a similar premise: A young girl makes a wish and grows up overnight, thereby skipping over the trials and tribulations of childhood.

Ironically, while these Hollywood stories depict children skipping over their youths, Hollywood itself is populated by countless celebrities who are attempting to forgo the aging process and retain their youthful appearances. Similarly, Americans across the nation are intrigued by anything that offers an "anti-aging" solution.

Botox and plastic surgery aside, there are many natural--and non-invasive--solutions that may help slow the clock down. Dietary supplements have the potential to enhance longevity and improve quality of life. These goals are important today more than ever since the average American will live past the age of 75 in 2004, compared to 1887's average of 45.

What Is "Aging"?

Many theories in the anti-aging field operate under the premise that aging occurs at three different levels: chronological, biological and psychological. According to Deepak Chopra, MD, and David Simon, MD, authors of Grow Younger, Live Longer: 10 Steps to Reverse Aging (Three Rivers Press, 2001), chronological age is a concrete number that measures time from birth, while biological age indicates how well bodily functions are operating. The more subjective measurement of psychological age represents how young a person feels.

"Although we cannot reverse our chronological age, we can reverse the more important measures of our biological and psychological age--and by doing so can regain the physical and emotional vitality we had in the past," the authors write.

Anti-aging medicine, as therapies for invigorating biological systems are known, combats the risk of chronic disease to preserve function and vitality. Of course, there's no substitute for exercise and a balanced diet, but dietary supplements can complement a healthful lifestyle and give some added protection against biological aging.

"Although we'd like to believe that eating healthy foods is all you need in order to thrive, there is increasing evidence that the appropriate use of nutritional supplements may take you to a higher level of well-being than is achievable by food alone," Chopra and Simon advised, adding, "Because we now know that high levels of certain nutrients can lower your risk for many common health concerns associated with aging, nutritional complements play an important health-promoting role."

Anti-Aging Vitamins

One major group of dietary supplements that gets a lot of airtime is the antioxidants, particularly with regard to anti-aging medicine since oxidative damage to cells is reputed to contribute to several chronic diseases including cancer and heart disease. In fact, oxidative damage may even be a factor in the aging process itself, according to a study published in the October 2003 issue of The Journal of Nutrition by investigators at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Specifically, vitamin E has been featured in numerous anti-aging studies for its effects against cognitive decline, heart disease and cancer. Research cited by Andreas Papas, PhD, in The Vitamin E Factor (HarperPerennial, 1999) indicated that vitamin E can enhance immune function in the elderly, which "helps fend off infections and chronic diseases. And this helps maintain the quality of life," according to Papas, who recommends supplements that contain all eight vitamin E isomers, both tocopherols and tocotrienols. "The objective is to provide a wider spectrum of protection, especially against the nitrogen radicals, which are believed to play a role in aging," he explains.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in America, although vitamin E appears to reduce the risk of mortality from atherosclerosis, according to a September 2002 publication in Current Atheroselerosis Reports. Similarly, vitamin C is a strong predictor of mortality, with British subjects in the highest fifth of serum vitamin C levels being at half the risk of death than subjects in the lowest fifth, as noted in the November 2003 issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine further noted that serum vitamin C levels remained a strong predictor of mortality even in subjects with cardiovascular disease or cancer at baseline.

More Antioxidant Power

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is naturally produced in the body and is popularly known for its role in creating cellular energy from the body's power-producing cells, the mitochondria.

Taken as a supplement, CoQ10 may increase lifespan, as demonstrated in research out of the Tokai University School of Medicine in Japan. The study, published in the January 2004 issue of Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, showed that by combating oxidative damage, CoQ10 extended the lifespan of wild-type Caenorhabditis elegans, a species of roundworm.