ANTI-AGING SUPPLEMENTS - INTRODUCTION - DrLam®

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ANTI-AGING SUPPLEMENTS - INTRODUCTION

Michael Lam, MD, MPH
www.DrLam.com

Supplementing your diet with vitamins, minerals and herbs will significantly increase your life span. These agents to diet cannot replace proper nutrition, but aid and abet a healthy life extension. Not all nutrients are anti-aging supplements per se. Anti-aging supplements address and prevent any possible deterioration in the cells that may accelerate the aging process.

The fact that supplements could aid in preventing certain disease has not always been known. Between 1500 B.C and 1900 A.D, it was observed that certain foods prevented some diseases. Egyptians used liver to ward off night blindness. From 1890 to 1900 the relationship between the lack of certain foods and disease became established. For instance, polished rice (lacking in thiamine) caused beriberi. The years 1900-1948 were known as the golden age of vitamin discovery. Many techniques for perfecting the production of vitamins, such as isolation and synthesis, were pioneered. In 1933, the first commercial synthesis of Vitamin C occurred.

Up until recently many fallacies existed about vitamins and minerals. Following here below are three such basic misconceptions in this field. First, vitamins are a catalyst and therefore are needed in very small doses since they can be recycled almost indefinitely. Second, vitamins are needed only to prevent deficiency diseases such as Vitamin C for scurvy and nicotinic acid for pellagra. Third, large doses are not needed and are dangerous.

In fact, optimum doses of vitamins should be used in both prevention and optimum health. These doses vary from very small to very large (e.g. 10 mg nicotinic acid needed to prevent pellagra, but 1000 mg to prevent recurring chronic pelagra). Furthermore, there is no optimum dose for the whole population. It depends upon age, sex, type of illness, type of stressors. Another discovery found that vitamins have activity which appear to be unrelated to their properties as vitamins.

RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCE

Before advancing any further, a word on the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) will be forthcoming. The RDA is the measured amount or dosage of nutrient per vitamin and minerals recommend. The U.S. federal government sets these levels . The RDA indicates the amount of vitamins and minerals needed to prevent common deficiency diseases (such as rickets or scurvy) for the average person. The average person assumes that you are an adult under 60 years old who is in good health, has normal digestion, isn't overweight, leads a relatively stress-free life, has no medical problems, does not need any medication, and eats a good diet everyday of 2,000 calories per day (most older people eat less than 1500 calories per day).

Needless to say, most of us don't fit into the definition of the average person defined by RDA. In fact, most adult women don't meet the RDA for zinc, Vitamin B, calcium, magnesium, and Vitamin E; likewise, most adult men don't meet the RDA for zinc and magnesium. Fewer than 29% of people eat 5 fresh fruits and vegetables a day. Furthermore, 20% of the people don't eat ANY fruits or vegetables at all.

IS RDA SUFFICIENT FOR ANTI-AGING

The question then naturally becomes Is RDA sufficient for anti-aging? We feel that in general, RDA is inadequate if your goal is for prevention of heart disease, cancer, cataracts, arthritis and other age related diseases. For optimal anti-aging intake, many health practitioners are recommending many times higher than the RDA on certain nutrients. At this point allow us a note on measuring vitamin levels. Ordinary blood tests are not adequate to tell us the true level or functional level of each vitamin. You can be "normal" based on blood level and lack the amount needed for optimum metabolic function, especially for anti-aging purposes.

SOME ALARMING NEWS

It's no secret that for the majority of the U.S. population, the diet is poorly lacking in essential nutrients. Half of all Americans past sixty years are deficient in Vitamin A, C, and E, even by minimum standard RDA. As we age our body run out of steam; therefore, we need more nutrients. Growing old itself can even be viewed as a vitamin deficiency disease of monumental magnitude. Worse, these deficiencies have virtually been ignored for the past century. To add to this perplexity, it has been learned that food cannot give us all the vitamins and minerals we need to slow down aging. Additionally, nearly all Americans are deficient even in the minimal RDA requirements, and are therefore exposed to premature death. Moreover, vitamins and minerals in anti-aging are remarkably safe and free of side effects if taken properly. Vitamins and minerals work together synergistically to slow down aging. There is no one anti-aging miracle vitamin or mineral.

WHY DO YOU NEED SUPPLEMENTS?

The answer posed to the question in the heading above is plain: You simply cannot get enough of some of vitamins and minerals in regular or anti-aging dosages, even if you eat a healthy anti-aging diet (50% fruits and vegetables, 25% protein, and 25% fat). The following information on several important vitamins and minerals shows why dieting alone cannot give you enough vitamins and minerals to promote anti-aging. For Instance, take Vitamin E -one would need a daily intake of 5,000 calories per day (mostly fat) in order to get 400 IU ; or take chromium - a daily intake of 5,000 calories per day to get the minimum requirement of 50 mcg per day.Zinc - a daily intake of 2,400 calorie per day is needed jus To get the recommended 200 mcg of chromium, you would have to consume more than 12,000 calories per day! t to reach its RDA; magnesium - intake of 2,000 calorie per day is needed to get enough magnesium; coenzyme Q-10 - intake of 1 pound of sardines or 2.5 pounds of pancreas to get 30mg of CoQ-10 (healthy people need 30mg and chronic patients need 50-150 mg). From this short catalog it is evident that taking supplements is a more reasonable and convenient way to provide you with the necessary optimum level of these nutrients.

Message from Dr. Lam

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article. If you have areas you don't understand,
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About The Author

Michael Lam, M.D., M.P.H., A.B.A.A.M. is a specialist in Preventive and Anti-Aging Medicine. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Oregon State University, and his Doctor of Medicine degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine, California. He also holds a Masters of Public Health degree and is Board Certified in Anti-aging Medicine by the American Board of Anti-Aging Medicine. He has authored numerous articles and the following books: The Five Proven Secrets to Longevity, How to Stay Young and Live Longer, Estrogen Dominance - Hormonal Imbalance of the 21st Century, and Beating Cancer with Natural Medicine.

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