Anti-aging Supplements Inquiry

Gary
Can I ask if you have read the above book by Stephen Cherniske?
It is quite fascinating - he talks about taking supplements to assist the body to delay aging, A lot of it really makes sense, but I want to get a 2nd opinion on it as he advised using things like DHEA and other controversial supplements.
I guess I am also suspicious as he works for a company that sells anti aging goodies!
Anyway - any comment will be appreciated!
thanks
JOhn
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Gary Moller comments:
The jury is still out about the supposed anti aging qualities of substances like DHEA, so I can not recommend them at this stage. I also note that Stephen Cherniske is being prosecuted by the regulatory authorities for making excessive claims about his anti-aging products. From the little I have read, he sure does seem to be overstating the claims.

A couple of years ago I attended a lecture by a strikingly young looking professor in gerontology who was supposedly one of the world's experts in aging. He believes that we must die at about 100 years principally because our genetic code becomes too riddled by about that age with errors as an inevitable conseqence of of cell division. He explained that the main reason we die earlier than 100 years (infection and accidents aside) is additional damage to our genetic code that happens mostly from free radicals and radiation that knock it around.

He explained that the best way to prevent premature aging is to ensure that we have plenty of anti oxidants in our bodies and that we minimise exposure to conditions that cause damage to our genetic code. Among other things, this means avoiding old, rancid and burned foods, preventing sunburn, avoiding xrays and not overdoing the exercise. Once our genetic code is damaged beyond a certain point our cells simply cannot do their work and we die and there is nothing we can do about it once the damage is done.

As we get older our bodies change, including our hormones. While we can supplement with artificial hormones, I wonder if this is really necessary in most cases. Surely we should be accepting that our bodies change with time and these changes in hormones are possibly for a reason? Tinkering with one area may adversly affect another. Aging gracefully is a pleasant thought.

Stay young at heart: Smile and laugh with others each day, exercise moderately, have regular sex, eat fresh foods, take some key supplements, have regular medicals, avoid regular drugs use (including prescription ones) unless absolutely needed, get your toes in the dirt or sand, get wet and cold and challenge your brain daily.