When, Why and How do we Age?

Did you know that we start to age at 30? Our bodies function at its prime at the age of 25. Beyond the age of 30 our bodily functions start to decline. With age, people have come to accept degenerative disease or diseases of wear and tear. Our joints start to creak, our memory becomes poor, our reflexes are slower, and our sex life goes down the drain. Besides this the incidence of heart attack and cancer also increases with age. However, we all have known people who don't appear their age (i.e., either younger or older than their stated age). This is the difference between chronological age (the actual age in years a person has lived) and biological age (the age at which the bodily functions are able to perform). A person could therefore be 50 years old chronologically but has a biological age of 35! Why does this happen?

There are many scientific theories of aging. One of the major theories is the free radical theory of aging. As our bodies use up oxygen to generate energy it produces a molecule with a free electron. This is called a free radical. The free radical reacts destructively with adjacent molecules in order to attain electrical equilibrium. As you can see, eventhough we need oxygen to sustain life, by using oxygen our bodies produce harmful substances which damage our body. This is the "oxygen paradox".Another way of looking at free radical damage is to think of it as oxidation or rusting. In a sense our aging process is analogous to the rusting of a piece of metal.

Our body has several defences against these threats namely the natural antioxidants catalase, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase. As we age these antioxidants are depleted or diminish in function and cellular damage becomes evident.

Based on this theory, the use of antioxidants have been advocated to combat free radical damage. Some of the well known antioxidants include Vitamin C, Vitamin E and Beta Carotene (a substance used to produce vitamin A). One less known antioxidant is Oligomeric proanthocyanidin complexes (OPC) or flavanoids. These occur naturally in plants and are not produced in the body. Flavanoids defend us against fungi, toxins and environmental stress. One of the richest sources of OPCs is found in grape seed extract. Grape seed extract have been shown to lower bad cholesterol, inhibit cancer cell growth while promoting growth of healthy cells, protect the nervous system and helps the immune system.

Wishing you good health always,

Mahathir