At the fountain of youth: practices to slow the signs of ageing
A pea derivative as an antioxidant, stem cells to renew tissue, blood turnover. Functional and regenerative medicine helps to reverse the ageing process. But care must be taken.
5' min read
5' min read
'The man who has lived the longest is not the one who can number the most years, but the one who has felt life the most intensely,' wrote Rousseau in the 18th century. More than 200 years later, the subject is still open, but there is an attempt to mediate the terms: to live healthy and long, to experience as much as possible. "Anti-aging medicine is an evolving branch of medical science and applied medicine: it studies the underlying causes of ageing in order to prevent the damage of the passage of time, not only at the skin level, but also to the various organs and apparatuses, so that, beyond age, the individual can remain healthy and biologically active," explains Elisabetta Fulgione, dermatologist and aesthetic doctor at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli. 'The literal translation of anti-aging is anti-ageing, and the goal of this medicine is to improve the quality of life with a balanced diet, physical activity, stress management, and skin care on both a preventive and corrective level'. The desire to enjoy good health - and to look good - is a shared goal, and more and more people are becoming informed and putting the basic principles of anti-aging into practice. "However, it is essential to rely on medical professionals," Fulgione warns. 'It is the only way to prevent therapies from causing damage. The desire to take care of oneself also comes from a better acceptance and in this anti-aging medicine - which complements and does not replace preventive medicine - can be an aid to psychophysical balance'.
Today, there are treatments that promise not only to help prevent disease, but also to fortify health to such an extent that life is extended. It is no coincidence that studies are circulating claiming that we have the potential to live up to 140 years. Here is a selection of already available and widespread longevity practices endorsed by the scientific community.
NAD+
David Sinclair, professor of genetics at Harvard and author of the book Longevity. Why we age and why we shouldn't (Feltrinelli, €16), is a pioneer in research on niacinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD+, a derivative of niacin (or vitamin B3) found in vegetables such as asparagus and peas. "Everyone should know and appreciate it," he argues. "It is very important: it is considered one of the molecules of life, because it carries out hundreds of chemical reactions and is required by the body to defend itself against the processes of ageing. But as time goes by, its levels decline'. That's why the researcher takes a gram of NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) every day, an oral supplement that is the direct precursor of NAD+, and which has the function of increasing its availability: in adults, in doses not exceeding a thousand milligrams, it is a powerful antioxidant and anti-radical, useful to the cause of anti-ageing. It is 'the closest thing we have to the fountain of youth', confirms Dr Mark Hyman, an expert in functional medicine.
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