The search for the Fountain of Youth has energized generations of explorers, scientists, and great minds. And although there’s a lot to be said for growing old with dignity and class, most of us would prefer to forego the liver spots, wrinkles, and gray hair.
Aging is a natural part of our life cycle. Getting older just means you’re doing it right. But living longer, better lives, and staying young and vital for as long as possible is a good goal to have. Quality of life is just as important as quantity. And thanks to modern medicine, we’ve taken a big step toward having both.
We’ll do just about anything to prevent aging. Cosmetics companies and plastic surgeons built empires off the desire to reverse the flow of time.
And all those teenage vampire books tap into our “forever young” obsession.
Finally medicine has caught up, as scientists have made a promising breakthrough that can stave off aging.
Aging starts deep in our cells, where mitochondria convert food into energy.
As you might recall from high school biology, mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells.
Over time, mitochondria lose energy, and your metabolism suffers because of it.
Researchers have also discovered that mitochondria help stem cell function. In young people, those stem cells repair and regenerate damaged cells in organs and muscles.
Now, they’ve discovered that a vitamin called nicotinamide riboside (or NR) that can restore the body’s regeneration and repair that’s typically lost with aging by activating mitochondria.
At least, that’s how it works in mice.
The researchers found that mice given NR not only showed improved muscle regeneration but also lived longer than mice not given NR.
Nevertheless, NR shows great promise, and you don’t need a guy in a lab coat to provide it…
You can already get NR from vitamin supplements.
It’s a proven metabolism booster, which makes sense given its connection to mitochondria.
Better still, you can find NR in milk.
Yet another benefit of a nutrition-packed and delicious beverage…
And it’s also believed to be in beer!
Beer!
Clearly more research is needed. The researchers noted that NR boosted all cells, which means even bad, damaging cells could see improved function.
But the potential to reverse aging and treat diseases like muscular dystrophy make its potential worth exploring.
