Baby Boomers have driven the market for the past 60 years, and the trend continues. With Boomers reaching retirement there is a great demand for services that cater to the senior population. Research is affected by the same factors. As a result a great deal of interest has been seen in exploring the factors that influence aging and longevity in both human and pet populations. Many of these factors have been identified and recommendations made based on solid, scientific evidence. Some of these will be discussed here.

While genetic predisposition and lifestyle are important influences on aging, the fundamental cause appears to be oxidative processes or the effects of free radicals on cellular function. To put it in simple terms, like the Tim Man in the Wizard of Oz, our bodies “rust” until they can’t move any more. Rust occurs when a free radical steals an electron from iron. This same process happens in our bodies on a cellular level. If cellular molecules are damaged, then the structures or functions that those molecules participate in will be damaged. That’s called aging.

There are two sources of free radicals, also called oxidizing agents; internal and external. External sources can come from food, water, air, or light and include such things as ultraviolet light, ozone, chlorine, and many other compounds both natural and artificial. We are exposed to these agents every day. We can have some control over them by watching the food we eat, the water we drink and where we live. However, we can never escape them completely. Internal free radicals are produced primarily as a result of cellular metabolism. In the course of transforming matter into energy that our bodies can use free radicals are produced as waste material. Waste material is inherently toxic to the body and must be removed. Fortunately, our Creator arranged a system to deal with these oxidizing agents called antioxidants. By far the number one antioxidant our cells produce is glutathione. If it weren’t for glutathione our bodies would be eaten up by the toxic wastes and we would quickly die. The good news is, glutathione works very well, and we can lead a healthy, energetic life because of it. The bad news is, beginning at about age 20 our glutathione levels begin to decline by about 10% per decade. By the time we reach middle age we begin to feel the effects of the slow increase in oxidizing agents taking a toll on our bodies. We start experiencing more aches and pains, we don’t have as much energy as before, we don’t sleep as well, our eyesight begins to fade and the list goes on. Ad to that poor eating habits, late night parties, smoking and alcohol and the result is a recipe for disaster. With some lifestyle changes, these problems can be reduced. For example, it has been conclusively shown that carbohydrate restriction will increase longevity. In some lower life forms longevity has been increased by a factor of 300. In primates and humans carbohydrate restriction has been shown to reduce incidence of disease and improve life expectancy. The rationale behind this is by lowering blood glucose levels the body enters “survival” mode and begins to store up nutrients and lower the metabolic rate resulting in fewer free radicals. Carbohydrate restriction must be started early in life and maintained throughout life to gain maximum benefits.

Taking antioxidant supplements is another method of fighting aging. There are many antioxidants on the market including green tea, blueberries, wine, acai berry, vitamin C, among others. These certainly help if you take enough of them, but how much is enough? How will you know if what you are doing is really adequate?

Recent research has focused on glutathione itself. Glutathione is produced in every cell in the body. It is right where it needs to be to get the job done. It can be measured so we know how much is normal and thus how deficient an individual might be. Like Human Growth Hormone glutathione is a large protein molecule. It is not readily absorbed by the digestive tract so must be injected to have its effect. This is both painful and expensive making it impractical for the most part. However, what has worked is providing glutathione precursors which are readily absorbed and utilized by the body to produce intracellular glutathione. One important factor in how chemical reactions take place is the amount of chemicals on one side of the equation or the other. What this means is if you have an abundant supply of glutathione precursors there will be a tendency to produce more glutathione. This insures that the body always has enough antioxidants to deal with the free radicals that are presented to it.

Check out my favorites