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HOW THE
SKIN AGE?
Growing older does not have to be riddled with physical suffering and emotional alienation. It can usually mean growing better.Scientists unraveling ageing are gaining new insights researching with yeast, fruit flies, mice and monkeys. Among the many theories, the most accepted
are :
Biochemical processes in the body break
down over time with accumulation of ' free radicals or diminution of growth
hormones. Normal repair mechanisms in the cell lose ability to mend all
breakdowns, leading to wide - scale tissue damage This results in diseases
like cancer and degeneration or ageing. The most notorious are free radical. There
molecules are waste product electrons that fail to combine with oxygen
on our blood to be safely excreted from the body. Free radicals are highly
toxic and cause tremendous damage, including destroying DNA.
How to fight it:
If free radicals are destroyed by antioxidants then it's logical that boosting them should arrest cellular degeneration. While studies
have shown that a diet rich in fresh fruit, vegetable and legumes contains a
battery of beneficial anti-oxidants, there is no evidence whatsoever that mega
doses of vitamins slows ageing. " It's one thing to have antioxidants
delivered to a cell and another to take a pill and expect it to do the same
thing, "says Dr Ambrish Mithal, a top endocrinologist at Delhi's Apollo Hospital." No study has shown that Vitamin E helps diabetics or heart victims --
the answer lies in eating fruits and vegetable. "
Our bodies normally respond to sugar by releasing
insulin which changes the sugar to fat for storage. With age obesity our
cells become resistant to insulin. Unconverted glucose molecules are released
and combine with blood proteins to wreak havoc. This erratic accumulation of sugar
is known as Advanced Glycosylation End ( AGE ),
creating complex, unwanted cellular structures in the body.
How to fight it:
Since the 1930s, scientists have been aware that a
severely restricted diet -- consuming between 30 and 60 per cent less calories
than normal -- increases the life span of a variety of species. The theories
range from slower metabolism to reduced body fat causing less glycosylation and
less oxidation as free- radical production is delayed.
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Programmed cell death:
Biologists know of ' suicide genes '
which cause degeneration. Massive cell death in embryonic development and that
of the immune and nervous systems suggests genetic programming leads to ageing. Scientists have isolated at least there types of suicide genes and the
discovery that these are part of our genetic code reveals the biological basis
of programmed death. That means there's more to ageing than world of bio -
genetic waste.
How to fight it:
In the brave new world of bio -genetic engineering,
scientists are experimenting with a range of Longevity Assurance Genes that
protect against ageing. There, if introduced successfully into an organism,
can completely reverse ageing in human skin, brain, blood vessels.
Sometime in our 40s or early 50s the testes and
ovaries stop producing adequate testosterone and estrogen. Menopause has a
broad ageing effect on the body ranging from the reproductive, to circulatory
muscular - skeletal systems. With age, the hypothalamus in the brain fails
to respond to biochemical signals and many glands stop functioning.
How to fight it:
While HRT is not new, DHEA, a growth hormone, can stimulate an inactive hypothalamus to start
spitting up youthful biochemical's. The incidence of and tumours is reduced and
growth hormone levels are restored. However, effects are reversed when
treatment stops.
To uncover causes of ageing and antidotes is the next step in the quest for
youth. But arriving at our destination will open a whole new set of ethical,
demographic, social, economic and other dilemmas that might make us nostalgic
about the good old days when humans died by the hand of God or sickness. Who
wants to live forever ? Medicine can prolong life, but the quality of those
extra years are in our hands.
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