Can we stop aging and live forever? Well, do you know that theoretically at least, that is possible ! That is provided that we can live in absolutely perfect conditions.

In an experiment conducted by Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Alexis Carrel of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in 1942,it was demonstrated that live tissue have the potential to live indefinitely! In the experiment, Dr Carrell took a small piece of heart tissue from a chicken embryo and managed to sustain the life of the tissue by immersing it in a solution of nutrients. The cells got their food from the nutrient-containing solution and exerted their metabolic waste into the same solution. The solution was changed daily and the chicken tissue lived for an amazing 29 years and could possibly have continued to live till today if not for a careless mistak by Dr. Carrell’s assistant who forgot to change the polluted solution one night, which resulted in the tissue poisoned and killed by its own waste.

Of course that was only a laboratory experiment, we do not live in test tubes, our body is much more complex than just a piece of tissue, and neither do we live in perfectly controlled conditions.

However, the results of such experiments do suggest that we can literally live our lifw to the fullest if we can adjust our living conditions towards idealistic conditions as far as possible. In fact, several scientists believe that given the right conditions, an average person has the potential to live at least 120 years or more. Compared with the general life expectancy of 70-80 years, the average person should have the potential to live some 40 years more! Or put it in a different way, the general life expectancy has been cut short by some 40 years due to the premature advancement of degenerative of ageing diseases.

There are several causes that scientists attribute to premature ageing, and the one that scientists generally consider to be the greatest contributing factor id free radical demage. Free radical are highly reactive unstable molecules that can damage the cellular membranes and DNA of our body cells and mutating DNA, they cause cumulative damage, setting the stage for speeding up ageing by accelerating the ’wear and tear’ process of our body, and causing the various degenerative diseases which plague our population today.

In fact, it is believe that some 80% or more of all degenerative diseases are due to free radical damage.

Research has led scientists to discover certain nutrients called antioxidants which can protect body cells against the destructive effects of the free radicals. By preserving the inregrity of individual cells which make up the whole body, antioxidants help to reduce the premature ageing effect, hence playing a major role in maintaining health and youthful vigor.

This discovery is supported by various studies that showed that laboratory animals with a high concentration of antioxidants in their body generally have a longer life span than those with a lower level of antioxidants. Other studies have shown that feeding laboratory mice with antioxidants increased their average life span.

Our body itself produces certain amounts of potent antioxidants. However, their production declines with age. Therefore as the production declines, degenerative diseases,i.e the numerous diseases that are associated with ageing would appear. Supplementation or intake from foods that rich in antioxidants can help to restore youthful levels of these internal antioxidants.

by Chen Shi-fai