We’re living in a time of major, worldwide breakthroughs when it comes to understanding how we age and also the steps we can take to not only slow down aging, but to all appearances reverse the process.
Over history, the fountain of youth seekers came, literally and figuratively, to dead ends, but back then Ponce de Leon had no internet in Florida. I do and after a few clicks, I’m reading solid anti-aging research from universities around the world including in Japan, Israel, and the US.
Some of the most interesting work is coming out of a place you’ve likely never heard of, the Wistar Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, whose website describes itself as “a world leader in early-stage scientific discovery.”
The big scientific publications--Nature, Science, and Aging Cell--accept only peer-reviewed scientific research, quality over hype. If you get lost in too much scientific jargon, graphs, and tables, the well-known Life Extension Foundation’s magazine presents very accessible prose, though admittedly it’s a bit prone to hyperbole.
NAD+
The most significant news of the past couple years has centered on a substance produced in our bodies called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, NAD+ for short. It’s classified as a co-factor, meaning that it helps all parts of your metabolism run efficiently. Imagine your metabolism as billions of gears running 24/7, from conception to your final breath. NAD+ lubricates everything. Without NAD+ you’d be dead, instantly.
Scientists have spent decades trying to figure out exactly how we age, researching why some people become old before their time and die quite young even as others are mentally and physically fit as they near 100, sometimes even enjoying a daily cigar and martini.
The current thinking is that, over the years, we age because we’re exposed to a variety of harmful substances (free radicals, for example) that slowly but relentlessly damage our cells. When we’re young, we’ve got plenty of NAD+ to handle damage control. But with the passage of time our bodies simply don’t make enough NAD+ to keep up with the harm to important things, like our DNA and our mitochondria (the “power plants” inside every cell).
At 50, you have only half the NAD+ you enjoyed as a callow youth. At 80, you’re lucky if you have 5% left.
Here’s how NAD+ acts as an anti-aging agent...
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