The delivery of antioxidants that reduce oxidative injury to tissues, including the brain, is one of the most common ways of combating the effect of aging. Although individual antioxidants are commonly promoted in the marketplace, antioxidant “cocktails†may be more desirable. For example, one recent study indicated that taking antioxidants from different fruits may be more effective than consuming single fruits.1 In the study, pigs were supplemented with linseed oil (25g daily), and then given either apples only (690g), strawberries only (745g), tomatoes only (615g) or a mixture of all three (230g apples, 205g strawberries, 248g tomatoes) daily. The mixture of fruits appeared to completely prevent DNA damage. The authors suggest the most effective reduction in DNA damage may come from a synergistic activity of mixing different types of antioxidants (water- and lipid-soluble), as found from the fruit combination in this study. Apples are a rich source of phenols, tomatoes are rich in lycopene and carotenoids, and strawberries are rich in vitamin C.
Other nutrients with the potential to affect hormonal pathways also are becoming popular. Pathways for which nutrients may affect the aging process are many, as shown by a new research on acetyl l-carnitine.2 In this study, researchers noted that acetyl l-carnitine, already a proposed therapeutic agent for several neuro-degenerative disorders, also “may play a critical role as modulator of cellular stress response in health and disease states.†Their paper discussed carnitine and acetyl l-carnitine's role in mitochondrial dysfunction, in longevity and in age-related disorders including the ability of acetyl l-carnitine to modulate redox-dependent mechanisms that would increase brain “vitagenes.â€