Vitamin supplements are used by most older Americans as a defense against aging. However, this protection is ineffective because it does not provide a deep answer to the root causes of aging. Instead, focus on anti-aging solutions such as senolytics and micro-antioxidants that reduce cellular stress. To do this, it is necessary to increase both education and funding in these sectors.
By 2050, the number of people aged 65 and over will double. If this period of life is just around the corner for us or our loved ones, or has already begun, there is growing interest in taking steps to improve our health during these twilight years. Many have decided that vitamins are the best way to stay healthy until old age. Half of American adults regularly take multivitamins or supplements, including 70 percent of those over the age of 65. These expenses exceed $12 billion a year.
Protecting our health is a worthy - if not the most worthy - use of our funds, and if vitamins give us the support that many of us think we do, it will be money well spent. Unfortunately, while some of these supplements may be helpful, they are not, on the whole, the most effective option available to us.
Most vitamins are not designed to effectively enter cells, which reduces their bioavailability. This means that the key properties of health supplements often fall short of their targets and have modest superficial effects.
Some take the approach of simply adding as many additives as possible to solve a problem and see which ones take hold. But when it comes to our health, quantity will never replace quality. You can take a 200mg supplement, but if the stomach acid absorbs most of it, there is only a small amount left that can enter the bloodstream.
Unfortunately, there are few studies showing limited effects of vitamin supplements. Some even point out that some multivitamins and supplements can have a negative impact on a person's health. Although observational studies have linked high intake of antioxidant vitamins and supplements to improved health, subsequent controlled studies have not shown a beneficial effect in preventing conditions such as heart attack and stroke.
In addition, an analysis of 450,000 people showed that multivitamins do not reduce the risk of heart disease or cancer. A long-term study in men showed that multivitamins did not affect key components of mental decline, such as thought delay and memory loss.
This does not mean that all vitamins should be thrown away. The antioxidants found in foods like blueberries, dark chocolate, and kale are undoubtedly important for us as part of a balanced diet. Problems arise when we regularly use multivitamins and supplements as a replacement for our diet and as a panacea for the problem of aging.
Imagine that you are driving down the highway and the engine starts to rumble. If it's a diesel tank, no amount of gasoline will start the car again, and it will end up doing more harm than good. In the same way, with our cells, it's not about the dose, but about the ability of the dose to penetrate and connect with the right part of the cell.
Vitamin intake should be viewed in the same light as exercise, healthy eating habits, and good sleep levels. It is a combined and holistic way to support health and possibly slow down the aging process. However, the sad truth is that no matter how much we hate multivitamins and how often we drag ourselves to the gym, these methods are not able to radically change the genetic roadmap given to us at birth.
However, there are solutions that are being explored. Instead of relying on this off-target approach, we need to advance the research of scientists developing new classes of smart small molecules, such as targeted antioxidants and senolytics, that can access previously inaccessible parts of cells. These molecules are fundamentally changing our view of the aging process.
These special molecules can cross mitochondrial walls and help reduce oxidative stress in the process—and vice versa—and protect cells from signs of aging. Remember that mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells and are responsible for cell energy function as well as cell-to-cell communication that controls everything from hormone signaling to cell damage and function. Senolytics are small molecules that selectively cleanse old cells, often referred to as "zombie cells" because of the way they move and stop dividing, inhibiting other processes.
Senolytics and targeted and specialized antioxidant molecules have been shown to have highly beneficial effects on cardiovascular, metabolic, immune, reproductive health, vision, and cognitive function in humans. This is a revolutionary effect that takes place at the cellular level, and not on the minor superficial changes associated with conventional multivitamins.
We need a concerted effort to open people's eyes to the limitations of routine supplementation and the transformative impact of these more targeted therapies. This should include strengthening education on cell health and their role in the aging process. The health care industry should prioritize funding that is proactive rather than reactive in healthcare.
The world population is aging and there is nothing we can do about it. In the future, important life-extending therapies may be barely visible from a distance. But the path to better health is right under our noses. It's time to reshape the health debate towards evidence-based and actionable solutions.
Dr. Brendan Woodhead is Head of Research and Development at MitoQ, a New Zealand-based cellular health company that developed the world's first mitochondrial-targeted antioxidant molecule.