Antioxidants and Ageing -

The Opinions Of Scientists

As long ago as 1956, the research scientist D. Harmon, writing on a medical journal devoted to the science of ageing, the Journal of Gerontology suggested that free radicals are probably involved in the ageing process. Since then the free radical theory of ageing has become widely accepted. Gerontologiest now generally believe that free radial damage to tissues is a central factor in the development of most of the age-related diseases atherosclerosis., arthritis, loss of muscle an heart efficiency, cataract, rheumatoid arthritis, lung disorders, skin deterioration and probably cancer.

Earl R. Stadtman, Chief of the Biochemistry Laboratory at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, writing in Science the American equivalent of the British Nature in August 1992, summarized the current scientific views on free radical oxidation of proteins and ageing. He confirmed the general opinion that free radicals are responsible for much damage to cell membranes and DNA, and described in detail the way proteins the essential building materials of the body are attacked by hydroxyl radicals produce din the body. The evidence he quotes suggests that anything up to 50% of the cellular protein in old people might be present in the damaged oxidized form.

This hard-headed scientist ends the paper with the carefully restrained statement. There is reason for hope that a pharmacological intervention may be found to ameliorate age-related disorders. In other words, we have reason to believe that it may become possible to reduce many of the effects of ageing by taking antioxidant vitamins