According to recent research scientists claim that most anti-ageing creams and supplements are a waste of money.
Antioxidants – the ‘must-have’ elements of face creams and pills that claim to restrain the hands of time – have little or no outcome, a study found. For more information and tips on how to slow down aging go to genf20plus.info.
British scholars said that instead of spending cash on vitamin-loaded concoctions and pills, individuals who want to preserve a youthful appearance should rather focus on eating healthy foods in sensible quantities and working out.
University College of London Dr David Gems, said: “It is not the antioxidant components of your food that is important, it is that you don’t eat it excessively”.
‘And get adequate workouts. Get a dog and take it for a walk.’
Dr Gems’s effort exposed the extensively held belief that antioxidants are the main tool in the fight against ageing.
This old concept states that our tissues and cells are under attack by free radicals – dangerous oxygen molecules formed when food is converted into energy.
Antioxidants, for instance vitamins C and E, ‘mop up’ the attackers, off-putting the amount of harm done.
The concept has led to millions to take vitamins and use costly antioxidant-based anti-ageing creams. Now, it seem like, it might be erroneous.
Dr Gems, an expert in the biology of ageing, looked at what happened when worms were engineered to make less of a ‘mopping up’ enzyme they produce naturally. If the concept was correct, the living being would be the subject to more attack than normal and so would perish sooner.
But, though they were weaker than ordinary worms, their lifetime was not affected, the Wellcome Trust-funded study said.
Related experimentations carried out on rats in the US came to similar assumption.
Dr Gems said: Our outcomes enormously failed to support the observations of the free radical theory.
The fact is that we don’t comprehend much about the major mechanisms of ageing.
The free radical theory of ageing has filled a knowledge vacuum for over 50 years now but it just doesn’t stance up to the test.
That concludes that if you are taking vitamin C or E in the expectation of slowing off ageing, it is not likely to be right.
He said that though antioxidants may have some part in slowing ageing, many other elements in our nutrition, may also be involved.
The researcher, whose research work is obtainable in the journal Genes & Development, further added that skin creams that have sun-screen will protect the skin against ageing.
Nevertheless it is not all bad news. Green tea, which is also much-feted for its antioxidant properties, may be valuable because it can guard against a variety of attackers, not only free radicals.
Previous study has raised suspicion on the assertions that antioxidants can cut the risk of illnesses from cardiac disease to Alzheimer’s and led to cautions that certain supplements can be risky when used in high doses.
Dr Alan Schafer, of the Wellcome Trust, assumed: With increasing age comes bigger exposure and liability to the ageing process.
Research such as this points to how much we have to learn about ageing and the importance of understanding the mechanisms behind this process.
Dr Aubrey de Grey, the provocative Cambridge-founded anti-ageing expert, said it would be erroneous to just settle that free radicals do not play a part in ageing.
He said it was likely that while they do damage in some body parts, they do well in others, and the two effects cancel each other out.
He further added: ‘That said, the conclusion that today’s antioxidant products are not life-prolonging for humans is very possibly true.’