Complex Dietary Supplement Abolishes Brain Cell Loss in Mice – Research
Research by Dr.Jennifer Lemon (Research Associate,Medical Radiation Sciences at McMaster University) has known to decrease the loss of brain cells in mice by regulating their diet with a complex diet supplement.
BACKGROUND
The research with the supplement began in 2000, as part of her doctoral degree; her team and her developed the supplement to try to offset the severe cognitive deterioration and accelerated aging in a mouse model they were working with in the lab. Based on aging research, five mechanisms appeared to be key contributors to the process of aging; those include oxidative stress, inflammation, mitochondrial deterioration, membrane dysfunction and impaired glucose metabolism. The criteria used for including components in the supplement were as follows: each one of the 30 components had scientific evidence to show they acted on one or more of the above mechanisms were able to be taken orally, and were available to humans over-the-counter. Even then the hope was that if the formulation was successful, this would make it more available to the general public.
KEY FINDINGS
It was found that the severe cognitive deterioration in the rapidly aging mice was completely prevented, both those mice and the normal ones actually got smarter as they got older. Our most recent study provides the reason why we saw those results. The rapidly aging mice only had 44% of their brain cells left by the time they were a year old, which is likely the key explanation for the cognitive deterioration. It was also determined that older mice on the supplement were more active, stronger, had better balance, improved vision and sense of smell compared to untreated mice of the same age. All of these finding indicate that the supplement is able to protect a broad spectrum of functions and the overall brain health is protected and improved by the supplement.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE FUTURE?
We know that the mental and physical deterioration seen in aging is a multi-factorial process. Historically, anti-aging interventions have been ineffective, mostly because they only treat one factor or symptom of aging. What we discovered was that if you simultaneously protect several of the key processes that contribute to that deterioration, you can significantly slow aging and offset both physical and mental dysfunction.
