Here’s a Side Effect to Hope for: Longevity

In most clinical trials, scientists and doctors hope for the fewest number of side effects possible, but in a new batch of anti-aging research, doctors are hoping that there is a significant side effect to their trials: longer life.

Mice kept in a germ-free room with intensive nursing care at Harvard Medical School are hopefully the key to this side effect. A mouse gym holds a miniature exercise machine that tests the rodents’ ability to balance on a bar, while in a nearby water maze, mice must recall visual cues from their “training” to swim to safety on a hidden platform - thereby testing memory powers. (Don’t worry: the that forget their lessons are rescued as they start to submerge.)

The new drugs being tested are called Sirtuin activators, and are based on a theory that most species have an ancient strategy for riding out famines: switch resources from reproduction to tissue maintenance. These activators appear to be triggered in mice when fed a healthy diet with 30 % fewer calories. The mice seem to live longer because they are somehow protected from the usual diseases that kill them.

Left to our own devices, many of us couldn’t stick to a diet that requires a 30% cut in calories, so a drug that could initiate this “famine” reflex is what the study is working toward. Safety tests in people have just started, with no adverse effects so far.

The hope is that activating sirtuins in people would, like a calorically restricted diet in mice, avert degenerative diseases so often linked to aging - things like diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s. Because the FDA doesn’t have a specific approval category for longevity drugs, if the drug resulting from this study is submitted for approval, it needs to be for a specific disease.

Read more at my Anti-Aging blog.

Antioxidant = Anti-aging?

Antioxidants have been proven to play a big role in anti-aging, but the final solution may still be a long way off. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take advantage of antioxidants in their various, forms but it will pay to know what’s going on with the compounds and your body.

As we all probably know by now - there’s no such thing as a quick fix, and this is especially true when it comes to the anti-aging process. If you take a couple doses of anti-oxidants chances are you won’t start seeing results overnight, although there are studies that show anti-oxidants play a major role in enabling the body to digest food properly and to also convert the foods into energy.

What is known so far is that after eating food, certain substances - also known as free radicals - appear whenever food is being converted into energy and it is their presence that may contribute to the aging process.Using antioxidant anti-aging solutions is the best way to tackle as well as neutralize the unwanted free radicals

As I love to say, aging is a process that takes place - and can in part be halted - from the inside out. While we don’t know the full extent of antioxidants, we do know they tackle free radicals. And, when enjoyed in the forms of fruits - like berries - or juices, they taste great! So it seems we don’t have much to loose at this point!

For more information please visit my Anti-Aging blog.

Fillers and Firmers: New Non-Surgical Face-Lifts

It used to be the case that anyone wanting to turn back the clock on their physical appearance, particularly where their face was concerned, had to subject themselves to the surgeon’s knife — but not any longer. Now there are new additions to the anti-aging weaponry that can slow down the effects of aging and achieve results that before now were only possible with a full face-lift.

Fillers

The beauty of fillers is that they can plump the face out in a way that a face-lift can’t. A face-lift can only pull the facial muscles up, together with the fat and skin covering them, whereas fillers replace the skin’s stocks of hyaluronic acid, the distribution and function of which change as we age leaving us with lines and wrinkles. The most widely-used fillers are Restylane, Hydrafill, and Perlane. Restylane also has two other treatments: Restylane Lipp, which plumps up age-deflated lips; and Restylane Vital, which counters the effects of sun damage and the natural aging process.

The fillers are safe, effective, and relatively long-lasting. And if you don’t like the results, they are easy to get rid of with an injection of the enzyme hyaluronidase.

Restylane, Hydrafill, and Perlane procedures cost from about $700 per treatment.

Firmers

If it’s not so much filling out but firming up that’s needed, then there are a few new treatments that can do just that. Thermage and Polaris work by applying controlled heat to existing collagen causing the skin to tighten and promoting the production of new collagen to plump it up. Thermage is carried out in one intensive treatment session, and some patients do experience a degree of pain, but only one treatment is needed and the effects can last for up to two years.

Named the best anti-aging treatment by New York Magazine in 2004, Polaris is regarded as a much gentler option, as not only does it require multiple sessions in order to achieve results, but is also reported by patients as being pain-free. Best for treating fine wrinkles, at least three sessions are recommended, although each session lasts no longer than 15 minutes.

Titan, the latest in the line of face firmers, can tighten and lift the skin on the face and neck, as well as on the abdomen, thighs, and underarms. Three treatments four weeks apart are recommended for maximum effect, with results lasting from one to three years.

Thermage costs between $1000 and $3000 to treat one area and between $2000 and $5000 to treat the whole face. Polaris costs about $700 per session. Titan costs between $1,000 and $2,000 per session.

The Latest Buzz On the Fountain Of Youth

While you’re still giddy at the emergence of anything associated with antioxidants out on the market, there are much more exciting potential breakthroughs in the anti-aging industry which can practically sweep you off of your feet.  If you’re a bit squeamish at the prospects of a brow lift, and plastic surgery is practically out of the equation, there are fortunately a few other alternatives you can consider, some groundbreaking, others ho-hum, but all offer potential benefits just the same.

Topical products are usually the first in line to gain consumer attention these days, especially with brand names like Revlon and L’Oreal being household terms in themselves.  While antioxidants are nothing new, a new variety of coffee berry has only been recently discovered to possess an incredible ability for skin rejuvenation, and the race is on to synthesize it.  At present, only the Reval brand offers products which contain this component, but the rest is sure to catch on next year.

On the same note, newer peptide and vitamin A formulations are much more potent with collagen stimulation, and it’s only a matter of time before the lab coats get the science right.  There’s even a new method which touts to release the topical substance deep within the skin through nano liposome technology, with minute particles which easily seep into the pores, delivering nutrients well into the skin.  If such a technology proves to be of use to consumers, it can put all those anti-aging sunscreens and retinoids in a whole new light – you can just feel the pleasant sting of nano particles working their way into your pores.  Well, you’ll have to wait.

You can settle for good old injections in the meantime.  While silicone has gotten a bad rap in the past, four new substances have taken the forefront: Perlane, Juvederm, Radieese, and Artfill.  These provide benefits which supercede that of the traditional facelift – they plump up the skin instead of stretching it, so the look is more natural in comparison.  The first two substances also contain hyaluronic acid which stimulates for more collagen production.  Brace yourself for the catch, though – a single treatment shot can cost anywhere between 600 to a thousand dollars.

If you don’t already have frown lines, you’d do well to wait a few more years before your anxieties are eased.  The wonders of anti-aging medicine are attempting to get to the root of your problem.  Frown lines are usually caused by, er, frowning anyway, so why not target the nerve which causes the facial muscles to frown, and get rid of the gesture altogether?  You may be thinking along the lines of the ‘surprised’ look which overdoing a brow lift can bring, but the soothsayers of a procedure called neuroblation are quick to get rid of the comparison.  Some advocates maintain that it can be a permanent alternative to Botox, but it’s better to hesitate first before doing away with an entire emotion from your arsenal.