When we're children each year seems an eternity - yet once we become adults the years accelerate, and we worry about getting old, sometimes dreading physical and mental deterioration.
Improved nutrition and medical advances mean that human beings are living longer. Some scientists now believe that a "normal" life span may actually be greater than 100 years.
Longevity is of little advantage if not linked to an optimum quality of life. Small wonder, then, that more and more emphasis is being put on research into what causes us to grow old; what makes our human machinery break down and what, if anything, we can do to slow this process. Increasingly, it appears that vitamin supplements, specifically vitamins E, A and C, may well be part of the answer.
There has been some recent concern that taking excess vitamins may be bad for you. The fact remains that if your body is not naturally absorbing the vitamins and minerals from your regular diet, you have only one recourse and that is to take a supplement.
Research shows that some ageing processes are hereditary while others involve ageing mechanisms within certain body organs. These we cannot alter, but there are other things which happen to our cells which we can do something about. In fact, a staggering forty per cent of the factors which affect life expectancy can be controlled.
Our bodies consist of many millions of cells. New ones are created and old ones die every second. When we are young, more cells are created than die, and so we grow. Then during our thirties the scale begins to tip; more cells die than are created and we begin the ageing process.
Free Radicals
One area of research suggests that it is the powerful chemical substances called Free Radicals which damage body cells and cause the pathological changes associated with aging. Some researchers believe that Free Radicals are linked to a variety of age-associated diseases, including cancer, heart disease, hypertension, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's disease.
Free Radicals are normal products of our cells, and some play a beneficial role in the body. When we have too many in our system they go haywire, and eventually destroy healthy tissue. They cause harm because they are "energised" due to the loss of electrons.
Our exposure to Free Radicals is greatly increased by lifestyle choices and exposure to environmental influences. Even some things you may have thought that are good for you, like strenuous exercise, also actually increase Free Radicals by suddenly boosting our oxygen intake. Other factors on the list include smoking, air and environmental pollutants, infections and alcoholic drinks.
One way to prevent the havoc free radicals can wreak is to "neutralise" them by replacing their missing electron. Natural vitamin E, as the most effective fat soluble antioxidant in the body, does just that.
Immune Responsiveness
It is not only in neutralising free radical damage that Vitamin E can be beneficial. Research published from the USDA Nutrition Research Centre on Ageing in Houston, USA has found that Vitamin E supplements improved immune responsiveness in healthy elderly subjects, thus indicating greater disease resistance.
Effective Moisturiser
Vitamin E can also help in the battle to keep our skin looking good as we grow older. In addition to minimising the effects of oxidisation already mentioned, Vitamin E is an extremely effective moisturiser. Use a skin preparation that includes natural vitamin E and water loss may be reduced by around 10 per cent, maintaining the skin's elasticity. It will also penetrate easily to the deeper skin layers to protect nerve tissues, sensory organs, glands, blood vessels, collagen and proteoglycans.
Replenish Reserves
Stephen Levine, PhD and Parris Kidd, PhD, have put forward a "Unified Disease Theory".
“Your health potential”, they say, “Depends absolutely on your antioxidant defence capabilities and on your ability to replenish your reserves of antioxidants in response to frequent "attacks" of oxidising, or free radical, stressors”.
It's a potent argument for ensuring you cover your antioxidant needs. And the simplest and surest way to do so is by taking supplements of natural Vitamin E, Vitamin A (Beta Carotene) and Vitamin C.
