Multivitamins Prolong Life
Whew! It sure has been a long and heated debate!
Do multivitamins really work? For decades we have wondered if those little pills we have faithfully swallowed every day were really doing us any good, or if they were just a waste of money resulting in “expensive urine.”
While a simple question to ask, answering it has proven incredibly difficult. How can we really tell? What would we look for? Several studies in recent years have attempted to evaluate the effects of certain vitamins and minerals on the treatment and prevention of particular diseases, but few have had promising results.
Recent developments in the field of anti-aging, or longevity, medicine has turned the tides. . . but to understand it we first need to know a little bit about the process of aging and special fragments of DNA called telomeres.
Telomeres
Telomeres are sequences on the ends of the DNA molecule that protect genes from damage. Every time a cell replicates itself, the telomeres become shorter. As cells age, telomeres become so short that certain changes occur within the cell so that it may no longer renew itself through the replication process. The cells become more vulnerable to injury resulting in an increase in illness, and eventually death.
Research into certain syndromes of accelerated aging in the human body, such as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria and Werner’s syndrome, has clearly linked aging to telomere system defects. Scientists are coming to view the erosion of telomeres as one of the primary mechanisms of aging, and not a moment to soon. Recent developments in lab testing have now made it possible to determine the length of the body’s telomeres relative to its chronological age.
Longevity Medicine
The developing field of longevity medicine is focused upon methods to reduce and reverse telomere damage resulting in an increased life span. One of the ways practitioners seek to accomplish this is through the action of telomerases. Telomerases are enzymes which protect the telomeres from damage during replication. These enzymes fall into a special class of enzymes called reverse transcriptases which function in a fashion similar to the HIV virus.
Nutrition and Health
Enzymes such as telomerases often require certain minerals and vitamins to function properly. The balance of vitamins and minerals, collectively called cofactors, is responsible for the regulation of functions within the cell that affect the body’s overall state of health.
Natural health practitioners have long maintained that even a minimal deficiency in the cofactors we intake through our diet can result in disease and premature aging of the body, however the scientific community at large has steadfastly demanded the evidence for this claim.
The evidence is finally in.
Take Your Vitamins!
Researchers from the National Institute of Environmental Health have found that people taking multivitamins on a regular basis tend to have a younger biological age. A recent study determined that people who take multivitamins on a daily basis had telomeres that were 5.1% longer than those that did not take multivitamins. Critics of the study claim that since regular vitamin users are more likely to have a healthy diet, it is difficult to draw a global condition from the study.
While that might be true, the critics are ignoring the fact that over 99% of Americans, even those with healthy diets, do not intake the minimum requirements set by the Food and Nutrition Board.
Sounds to me like a multivitamin is the cheapest health and life insurance policy money can buy!
Before you run out and grab the very cheapest thing off the shelf keep in mind that not all multis are created equal. Be sure to choose a formula that is specially formulated to be highly bioavailable. Some of the important things to look for are naturally-sourced capsule or liquid formulations, chelated minerals, and a formula free of chemical binders and fillers.
