One thing that most of us want is a long healthy life. We want to age slowly, be healthy and keep our mental faculties, so we can have a long life with a good quality of life. One panacea would be a long life cocktail.

Unfortunately I am not referring to an alcoholic cocktail. Long life through pina coladas. I wish.

The long life supplement cocktail that researchers have developed is a mix of supplements. The experiments (Exp Med Biol 235:66-76, 2010 – PubMed not yet available) involved both normal mice, and mice that had been engineered to have increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitrogen species. The engineered mice have an increased rate of aging.

Half the mice were fed a supplement cocktail that contained many components, including most of the vitamins, acetyl L carnitine, N- acetyl cysteine, acetyl salicylic acid, alpha lipoic acid, beta carotene, bioflavonoids, chromium picolinate, cod liver oil, CoQ10, flax seed oil, folic acid, garlic, ginger, gingko biloba, ginseng, green tea extracts, L glutathione, melatonin, rutin, selenium, magnesium, manganese, potassium. The supplements were soaked into bits of bagel, which the mice liked, to make sure that the mice consumed the entire supplement.

In previous studies, mice were assessed for adult learning abilities. Those of the supplement were significantly better at learning as adults. In the new study, mice were further assessed for both movement and mitochondrial function. (Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, providing energy to cells. As we age they accumulate damage including oxidative damage.) In both groups the untreated mice, but not the treated mice, showed a significant decline in the amount that they moved as they aged. Analysis of markers of mitochondrial function indicated that the treated mice showed less effects of aging. Additionally the treated mice on average lived longer (11% for the normal mice and 28% for the engineered mice with increased ROS).

Why is the supplementation so effective? Many research studies have not shown that supplementation, where there is no deficiency as being particularly effective for most age-related diseases or other markers of aging. Perhaps it is some combination of components of the supplementation. Perhaps several supplements have to be present together to have an effect. Perhaps many of the components have a very small effect but added together they a big effect.

If I take all of these I am going to rattling with the number of pills. This research is certainly making me rethink my opinion on supplements.

photo credit: PunkSailor