Talking to Bruce Ames of Juvenon

ScienceDaily has a two part interview with Bruce Ames (part one, part two) of Juvenon - another portion of the wider healthy life extension community that sells old school products while discussing new school science. (A skeptic would say "hyping supplement sales with talk of mitochondria"). I would lump them into the same category as A4M or the Life Extension Foundation; heart in the right place, but basically health concerns rather than longevity concerns in all but rhetoric.

I have nothing against supplements: I use them, they're demonstrably good for your health in both the short and long term, but they are not the future of healthy life extension. Taking care of your health today is of course something you should do, but a focus on supplements to the exclusion of supporting research into developing working rejuvenation medicine is the path to aging and death - see some of my previous comments on this matter for a sense of where I stand on it all. Sadly, all too many people don't realize that there is anything beyond the very large, very vocal "anti-aging" marketplace as it stands today.

If you're big on mitochondria, selling vitamin supplements is not the way to support the future of healthy life extension. There are more than enough people out there selling vitamins; many of them are even responsible and do a good job. Protofection research and work on understanding the modes of mitochondrial damage and its cause and effect - now that's the way to go.

Comments

ALCR is a Pro oxidant ans that is why Ames added ALA (and NAC in his patent supossedly to act as a proxidant! In his patent he recomended equal amounts of ALA and ALCR-10mg/kg/day! bad idea in vivo ALA and ALCR act as pro-oxidants and many of the antiocidants sold are poorly aborbed easpecially the polyphenols! the best way is CR with a calorie dense diet based on nuts and fruit with some fish and egg yolk for b12. Jane brody this tuesday in the science times takes about exercise and the dangers of oxidative stress and only realized the damage she has done to herself over the years recenty. by next decade people will only begin to realize the damage they have done to themselves with all this aerobic exercise and extreme and damaging supplementation.

Posted by: Gil Rosenberg at August 10th, 2005 8:07 AM
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