The elixir of life?

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The elixir of life?

by JAMES CHAPMAN, Daily Mail

Two over-the-counter pills may provide the cure for old age.

The dietary supplements, on sale at health food shops, put the spark back into ageing rats.

Now experts believe they may do the same for people.

The pills are acetyl-L-carnitine, taken as a therapy for low energy levels and heart disease, and alphalipoic acid, a fatty
acid used to protect the eye.

Both contain chemicals normally found in the body's cells.

Scientists fed ageing rats acetyl-L-carnitine in their water and alpha-lipoic acid in their food.

The supplements, when combined, produced amazing results.

Professor Bruce Ames, a molecular biologist at the University of California at Berkeley, who led the research, said: 'The
brain looks better, they are full of energy - everything we looked at looks more like a young animal.'

Rats aged between two and four months were compared to others aged 24 to 28 months - the equivalent of old age in
humans.

After a month on the supplements, the old rats became more active. Their memories also improved.

'This is equivalent to making a 75 to 80-year-old person act middleaged,' said Prof Ames.

The scientists also measured the effects the two supplements had on memory by seeing how well the rats found their way
through mazes.

'We did two different tests for cognitive activity in rats, and in both it made a big difference to feed them this mixture.
Memory degenerates with age, and this makes them better.'

The study was being discussed yesterday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual
conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

A bottle of 30 acetyl-L-carnitine pills is about £28 in the shops and a phial of 50 alpha-lipoic acid pills about £29.

The scientists claim their discovery opens up exciting new avenues in the quest to beat the ageing process.

Professor Tory Hagen of Oregon State University, another member of the team, said the improvements brought about by
the two supplements were impressive.

'We significantly reversed the decline in overall activity typical of aged rats to what you see in a middle-aged to young
adult rat seven to ten months of age,' he said.

'The animals seem to have much more vigour and are much more active than animals not on this diet, signalling massive
improvement to their health and well-being. We also see a reversal in loss of memory.'

The scientists also found that crucial 'power packs' inside the rats' cells functioned more effectively.

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests the pills boost mitochondria,
the tiny internal combustion engine of cells. The deterioration of mitochondria is thought to be a major cause of ageing.

Prof Ames believes the two supplements work to stop this deterioration by blocking the harmful effects of so-called free

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The elixir of life? | Mail Online Page 2 of 2

radicals, toxins produced by natural processes in the body.

They are known to damage cells and can lead to heart disease, cancer and strokes.

Studies suggest the lifelong accumulation of free radicals in the brain is linked to mental declines in old age and is also a
probable factor in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Human trials have now been launched to assess the effects of the two dietary supplements.

Prof Hagen said: 'That is a dualtrack improvement that is significant and unique. This is really starting to explode and
move out of the realm of basic research into people.'

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Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-101105/The-elixir-life.html 27/08/2014