What's Hot
What's Hot
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| October 1997
Offshore Drug Therapies I'm sure you've heard of some of the drugs available in other countries, but not in the United States. Perhaps you've heard of Gerovital-H3, the legendary Romanian youth drug? Or of the fetal sheep cell therapy injections that the rich and famous go to exclusive Swiss clinics for? Then there are European "smart drugs", such as piracetam and centrophenoxine, which can stave off age-related memory decline. If you think those therapies are only for the rich and famous, you're mistaken. The Life Extension Foundation has the inside scoop on all these therapies, and the wherewithall to give you direct mail-order access to them from reliable offshore companies. Don't think there's anything wrong with this? It's perfectly legal for U.S. citizens to obtain unapproved drugs from other countries for their own personal use. Who says this? The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) that's who. Just take a look at the FDA's Mail Importation Policy. —D Dye
A More Effective Form Of Vitamin C Almost everyone takes vitamin C these days. They take it to protect themselves against colds or cancer or just to help them stay healthy. Few people know anything, however, about different forms of vitamin C, and how they affect the body. One of the most interesting forms of vitamin C is ascorbyl palmitate, a fat-soluble derivative of water soluble vitamin C. The unique benefit of ascorbyl palmitate is its ability to penetrate lipid-rich cell membranes, which enables it to get into cells better than other forms of vitamin C. Recent studies suggest that ascorbyl palmitate may have greater antioxidant, antitoxicity and anticancer effects than water soluble vitamin C. —D Dye
Chocolate: The Health Food Ever wonder why chocolate doesn't spoil? Why you can leave a chocolate bar unrefrigerated for months without compromising its freshness or taste? The answer is that chocolate contains potent doses of the polyphenol antioxidants also found in green tea. These polyphenols not only protect chocolates from oxidation, they also protect you against cancer. But be careful about eating chocolate for your health. Chocolate also contains a substance similar to that found in marijuana. That's why eating chocolate makes you feel good. It's also why it turns some people into chocoholics, who crave it all the time. —D Dye
The Only Proven Method Of Extending Maximum Lifespan Since the 1930s, scientists have known for sure that it's possible to extend the maximum lifespan of mice and rats. Why? Because in the 1930s, Cornell University nutritionist Clive M. McCay, induced laboratory rats to live almost twice as long as any rat had ever lived before. How did he do this? Very simply. McCay drastically reduced the caloric intake of his experimental animals. He didn't starve them. In fact, McCay gave his animals extra nutrients to keep them healthy. Since then, dozens of scientists have repeated and expanded upon McCay's work. Most noteworthy was the work of Roy Walford and Richard Weindruch, who showed that a moderately-restricted diet can extend lifespan in middle-aged animals. These findings have spurred attempts by some life extensionists to follow calorie-restricted diets, the details of which are often discussed on the Internet group. Meanwhile, the Life Extension Foundation is funding pathbreaking research to develop new methods to extend the human lifespan. In addition to our Lifespan Project and Rejuvenation Project, we carry frequent reports on high-tech companies such as Geron and MRX Biosciences, which are spending big bucks in the search for revolutionary anti-aging breakthroughs. —D Dye
Staying Cool Could Help You Live Longer It's hot to be cool. Cold-blooded animals live longer if their body temperature is lower-than-normal. Scientists want to know if this also applies to warm-blooded animals like us. They know that annual fish (who normally live for one year) live twice as long when they're put into cold water, which lowers their body temperature. In fact, these fish live three times longer if they are also put on a calorie restriction diet. Every night our body temperature goes down while we sleep, an effect that can be enhanced by supplemental melatonin, the natural hormone our body produces to induce sleep and keep our biorhythms in sinc. Some scientists believe that melatonin can help us live longer. —D Dye
Where Are The Anti-Aging Doctors? If you're looking for a doctor to help you look and feel younger, the best place to find one is at the annual meeting of the American Academy Of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M). This years' A4M meeting is at the Alexis Park Resort hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on Dec. 13-15. One-to-two thousand doctors, scientists and other anti-aging enthusiasts are expected to attend. The featured subject at this years' meeting is brain aging: how and why it occurs and what you can do about it. The Life Extension Foundation will have two booths at the A4M meeting. See you there. —D Dye
The Benefits Of Cell Suicide When our cells begin to grow old or mutate, there is an intrinsic mechanism called apoptosis, which causes the cells to self-destruct, or commit suicide. Cell suicide is how the body discards cells that are about to become malignant or senescent. It is essential in keeping us alive and healthy. Recently, scientists have found that the trace mineral selenium enhances the expression of the genes that control apoptosis. This finding correlates with the proven ability of selenium to help prevent cancer. —D Dye
Afraid Of Getting Cancer? Of course you are. Everyone is. Cancer is a terrible disease. And it's killing us more and more often. More people are dying today of cancer than in 1971, when President Nixon's "War On Cancer" led to more than $30 billion in federal funding for cancer research. At the Life Extension Foundation, we never give in to our fears. We do something about them. Members of The Foundation find out about nutrients such as soy extracts, vitamin D3 conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and coenzyme-Q10, which can protect them against cancer. They also have access to a unique battery of tests which can predict their risk of cancer. And, if they succumb to the disease anyway, they can get expert advice about the most effective experimental cancer treatments from around the world. —D Dye
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