Adequate consumption of 'longevity' vitamins could prolong healthy aging, nutrition scientist says

A recent review of nutritional science has shown that they are deficient in a key role of vitamins and minerals that have been previously unrecognized in cancer and neurodegeneration.

In the review, published Oct. 15, 2018, as a "Perspective" article in Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesBruce Ames, Ph.D., presents the findings of more than a decade of research in his laboratory at Oakland Children's Hospital Research Institute (CHORI), which is affiliated with UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals.

These findings are presented alongside a detailed survey of additional evidence published by other scientists. It can be concluded that these vitamins and vitamins can be extended as vitamins, vitamins, and vitamins, and that they should be recognized as essential to extend a healthy life.

vitamins and nutritional minerals are key components of a large number of enzymes that are necessary for the body's metabolic health, but as many as 70 percent of Americans are deficient in one or more key nutrients. Most importantly, Ames, a Senior Scientist at CHORI and Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley, suggests that even minor vitamin deficiencies could impact long-term -term health.

Ames, who direct CHORI's Nutrition and Metabolism Center, argues that nutrition science has long overlooked the fact that most vitamins and minerals are required by various enzymes. This means that we need to maintain our health as vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, and magnesium-are also critical components of enzymes required for our long-term maintenance, in roles such as DNA repair, cardiovascular health and prevention of oxidative damage.

As a result, the effects of key nutrients, they must be rationed, enabling enzymes to be critical to their immediate survival and to their ability to maintain their ability to function. Ames- who is known for creating "Ames test," a method he devised during the 1970s to a flexible predictors of a chemical's potential to cause cancer-calls this theoretical framework "triage theory."

"The prevention of the degenerative diseases of aging is a different science than curing disease: it will involve expertise in metabolism, nutrition, biochemistry and genetic regulatory elements and polymorphisms," Ames writes. "This approach is critical for lowering the cost of dietary supplementation, which would have saved $ 4 billion from osteoporosis alone by using vitamin D and calcium supplementation."

In several recent publications, his team has found evidence that such trade-offs can be seen in people with chronic, low-level deficiencies in vitamin K and the element selenium (which are key components of 16 and 25 different enzymes, respectively). Published by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries, http://www.unicef.org/index.php?p=blogs/entry/index.htm

"Diet is very important for your long-term health and that theory framework that you should try to do what your mother told you: eat your veggies, eat your fruit, give up sugary soft drinks and empty carbohydrates," Ames said.

Ames suspects many more longevity vitamins may remain to be discovered because unlike so-called survival vitamins, such as vitamin C, that were originally identified because we quickly became sick with them-their identification requires very long-term observation, since the damage caused by deprivation of these vitamins is, by nature, an insidious and slow process into old age.

Ames, who has published more than 500 journals, said he considers this an important publication. "This may be a theoretical paper, but I hope it can add a few years to everyone's lives."

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More information:
Bruce N. Ames. Prolonging healthy aging: Longevity vitamins and proteins, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018). DOI: 10.1073 / pnas.1809045115