BHT has extended the life spans of mice in experiments by Dr. Denham Harman. In some species which have a naturally short life span and tend to die of cancer, the BHT’s life extending effects probably stemmed from its suppression of cancer development. Harman has also demonstrated an increase in average life span with BHT in long-lived mouse strains in which incidence of tumors is normally low.
Dr. Harman, who developed the free radical theory of aging (1956), suggests three methods of experimentally reducing free radical damage in the bodies of experimental animals:
- Reduce calories in the diet to reduce the production
of free radicals in metabolism. - Minimize dietary components such as copper and
polyunsaturated fats which tend to increase free radical production. - Add to the diet one or more free radical quenchers,
such as vitamins E, C, A, B-1, B-5, B-6, zinc, selenium, BHT,
and cysteine.
A large number of studies with experimental animals found that some tested antioxidants can increase average and even, in some cases, maximum life span (in rats, mice, fruit flies, and nematodes, a type of worm); inhibit or regress cancer; stimulate the immune system; protect against radiation and produce other desirable effects.
The fact that the death rate in America from stomach cancer is declining while it is increasing in many other developed countries (such as Japan)
seems to be associated with the addition of antioxidants such as BHT and BHA to breakfast cereals and other foods since about 1947 in the United States, and possibly because of the increased availability of fresh fruits and vegetables which contain antioxidants. A typical United States citizen gets an average of about 2 milligrams per day of BHT in food. While the cardiovascular disease rate had been increasing in the United States up to about thirty years ago, it had been accompanied by a 37 percent rise in polyunsaturated fat consumption and only a 7 percent increase in saturated fat consumption. In the past several years, this death rate has declined by 20 percent, possibly due to increased health consciousness on the part of
Americans and factors such as greater intake of vitamins C, E, and other antioxidant dietary supplements, dieting, moderate exercise, increased use of low doses of aspirin (another antioxidant) in the elderly, widespread use of beta-blocker drugs such as propranolol to control high blood pressure, and perhaps the increased availability of fresh fruits and vegetables.
(It is interesting to note, however, that total per capita consumption of all fruits and vegetables is declining.)
We know that polyunsaturated fats are much more susceptible to oxidation and the subsequent generation of free radicals. Since there is a high content in the brain of the very highly polyunsaturated fatty acid docosahexanoic acid (the precursor of which is dietary linolenic acid, also polyunsaturated), it is likely that a major part of brain aging is due to free radicals generated during the abnormal, inadequately controlled oxidation of these fatty acids. Possibly the decline in sensory perception associated with age may be due at least in part to free radical damage in the brain. Sensory nerves involving vision, hearing, taste, and smell all contain large amounts of very eas-
ily peroxidized docosahexanoic acid. There is experimental evidence to support these ideas.
Sprague-Dawley rats fed semi-synthetic diets (which did not significantly affect the death rate) made more errors on a maze test when larger
amounts of polyunsaturated fats were fed in place. of saturated fats. In another experiment, rats fed safflower oil (polyunsaturated) plus 20 milligrams of vitamin E acetate per 100 grams of food performed better on a discrimination test than rats fed the safflower oil without E. Moreover, zinc (required for a common type of SOD) has a reputation of helping to re-
store lost taste and smell in some individuals.
Vitamin C plays an essential role in protecting these important polyunsaturated lipids in the brain and spinal cord from free radical attacks, to which they are very susceptible. There is a selective membrane surrounding the brain and spi- nal cord called the blood-brain barrier. This membrane contains pumps which require valuable energy to operate, but
which move vitamin C from your bloodstream, across the membrane, and into the cerebral-spinal fluid (CSF) that bathes the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system, CNS). These pumps concentrate vitamin C so that the CSF has about ten times the vitamin C concentration as your
blood. Each nerve cell has its own membrane which contains more vitamin C pumps, so that the interior of each nerve cell contains about ten times the vitamin C concentration as the CSF—a total of 100 times the vitamin C concentration in your blood. This is a vivid illustration of the lengths to which a healthy body must go to protect the brain lipids from damag-
ing autoxidation.
Are you interested in life extension products?
mod4all ships all major brands of Modafinil from the UK
All products shipped from the UK by tracked post. We guarantee delivery.
We guarantee delivery, free reshipping.
Any questions at all about payments, shipping, etc. Anything at all, just email us.
Comments (0)