Elderly rats have rediscovered their youth by eating two simple dietary
supplements sold in health food shops. If the regime works in humans, it could
make for a sprightly old age. Bruce Ames of the Oakland Children鈥檚 Hospital
& Research Institute led a team which fed the supplements to old rats for a
month or so. Acetyl-L-carnitine 鈥渞evved up鈥 the rat鈥檚 mitochondria, the energy
powerhouses of cells. And a fatty oil called (R)-alpha-lipoic acid helped the
rats mop up damaging chemical radicals created by the extra mitochondrial
activity. It made them lively enough to 鈥渄ance the Macarena鈥, says Ames. The
team reports its results in Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (vol 99, p 1870).
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