The Aging Process and Vitamins

Cannot be stopped but it can certainly be slowed

As you age, you are subject not only to several potential diseases, but also mental damage that can occur in this process.

Every day that you are alive, your body is being attacked by very small molecule like substances referred to as free radicals.

They exist in any environment, and can drastically become advanced as well as aided by smoking, pollution, or any type of infection.

However, these free radicals can also be affected by your normal cell metabolism that converts carbohydrates and fats that you eat into energy that power these cells. There are several things that you can do to control them, and other than smoking, none of them will have a big as impact on the aging process that cell metabolism has.

Understanding Aging:

In understanding the aging process, it is very helpful to understand some of the basics that affect the process, especially to your cells and organs. Some of these changes can occur very rapidly with a serious disease, but in the vast majority of cases they will occur very slowly at first, and then start to accelerate as you begin to age.

However, the wonderful aspect about this process is that it will affect each individual person differently and will depend on three major factors; you’re genetics, environment, as well as your diet.

You may not be able to control the genetic part of the equation, but you certainly can control the environmental as well as the dietary portions.

There are several genetic factors that can be very powerful in the aging process, such as Down syndrome, Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome, as well as Werner’s syndrome. Down syndrome is a congenital disorder that is also referred to as trisomy 21, and is caused by the presence of an extra 21st chromosome.

It can result in mild to moderate retardation, but it also causes premature aging. Hutchinson-Gilford is much more dramatic in the process, as it a genetic condition that causes a very rapid appearance of aging that will start in childhood.

Werner’s syndrome is also a hereditary disease in young adults that causes early graying, a short stature, as well as premature aging and death. None of these can be controlled by your environment, diet, or dietary supplements.

However, the aging functions that causes cell damage in your body if you choose to smoke, drink excessively, become overweight, and then you do not eat properly as well as supplement your body, can be controlled.

If you do not control these aspects, you leave the door wide open for an attack.

Even though the cells in your body start to slow down as you age, you can help them tremendously by placing the proper nutrients into this process. There are certain cells that are critical to your immune system referred to as T-cell lymphocytes, and they also decrease in the aging process as they will not multiply if not fed properly.

Age also interrupts another process referred to as apoptosis. Apoptosis.is best defined as a mechanism that allows cells to self-destruct when triggered correctly, and it generally occurs when a cell is no longer needed or when it becomes a threat.

However, aging can cause this process to malfunction, and can lead to several diseases including cancer if the aging process is not slowed down.

Vitamins and Minerals:

So how exactly do vitamins and minerals help slow down the aging process? Free radicals can also steal electrons from your body and in this process, damage the cells as well as their DNA. There are some estimates that your body is literally hit over 8,000 to 10,000 times a day by these free radicals just waiting for the chance to do their damage.

The result of this attack will all depend on how your cells are protected, but this damage can very easily cause several diseases that also increase the aging process.

An example of this would be one of your skin cells, and in the normal process, your immune system reacts very quickly to any type of an attack. If it is fully nourished, the skin cell fights back; but if it is under constant attack with no backup supply, they will reach a point where they simply cannot keep up.

The result is wrinkles starting to develop instead of smooth and well-conditioned skin.

Each immune system in your body is masterfully designed to produce an antioxidant which is a naturally occurring chemical in your body. This antioxidant can easily neutralize the free radicals that are attacking by fighting back with its own form of electrons.

However, any form of these antioxidants must have a natural supply of power so to speak, and this power comes from the nutrients in your body. Each of these natural antioxidants depends on various nutrients as one will depend on copper, magnesium and zinc, and the next one may depend on iron.

However, there are others that will depend on selenium as their power sources, as well as several vitamins to work in tandem with these minerals.

This is where the all-important question comes into play; how many vitamins and minerals do you need?

No one expert will agree on what exactly the optimum levels are, as each person will have completely different needs. Vitamin E is recommended in daily doses of 200 to 400 international units by most professionals, and between 1,200 and 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C is recommended to fight off the damages of free radicals.

Beta-carotene, which is the isometric form of carotene, is recommended at 25,000 units and it is found in several foods and assists your body to efficiently convert vitamin A, but it must be supplemented to reach these levels.

Selenium, which is the power plug of most every cell in your body, is generally recommended in at least 50 micrograms per day.

All of these can be found in a well-balanced multi-vitamin, preferably in liquid form. Liquid forms are much more efficient as they absorb at a 90 percent plus ratio in your body as compared to a 25 percent at best for tablet forms of supplements.

Summary:

The aging process is something that you will never be able to avoid and at some point it will take its toll, but the key is to try to beat it the best that you can. Free radicals have one objective in mind when they attack your body; do as much damage as they can.

Your body has an extremely powerful set of defense mechanisms built in place to defeat this attack, but as you age, they need some help. Vitamin and mineral supplements provide this help.

Natural Treatments for The Aging Process

Return to Boils & Cysts