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Mankind
has been seeking the fountain of youth for generation
and yet, despite our best efforts, we all age - some of
us faster than others. Why do bodies deteriorate with
age? Heredity has something to do with it. The potential
length of our lives is determined by genetic
programming, but is also influenced by diet, lifestyle,
exercise and environment. Our bodies degenerate because
they are constantly under attack by a class of highly
corrosive, oxidizing molecules called free radicals. |
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Free
radicals are fragmented molecules with unattached
electrons. Because they have these unattached electrons,
such molecules have unbonded sites that react with
essential biochemicals in the cells so that these
biochemicals become useless for our normal living
processes. Free radicals are introduced into the body in
many ways beyond our control. For example sunlight,
background radiation and air pollution. Poor personal
habits such as inadequate nutrition and cigarette
smoking have the same effect.Ironically, the body itself
produces its own free radical, called superoxide, so
that even a person with an exemplary lifestyle is not
immune from ageing. |
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Even good nutrition does
little to disarm this free radical, since food is the
source of its generation. Moreover, the older a cell is,
the more of these molecular renegades it’s produces,
much as an older car begins to burn gasoline
inefficiently. |
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Antioxidants, not
surprisingly, are most abundant in the plants that first
produced oxygen and they include such nutrients as
vitamin E,C, and beta-carotene which animals convert to
vitamin A. In the past, the amount of free radical
scavengers one could obtain was limited by how much one
could eat. Today, we are also able to add nutrients by
way of supplementation so that we may come closer to
optimally satisfying each cell's need for antioxidant,
anti-ageing nutrients. There are some of the primary
antioxidants that may help us slow down the ageing
process. |
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VITAMIN E
Perhaps the medical establishment has been skeptical of
this vitamin's value because it is good for so many
things. However, when one considers that these problems
are all related to how the body uses oxygen, the mystery
clears. Vitamin E promotes oxygenation, which is the
healthful use of oxygen for respiration, while limiting
oxidation. |
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VITAMIN C
This vitamin is an antioxidant like vitamin
E, but it is also an immune system stimulant
used to manufacture white blood cells,
adrenal hormones, antibodies, and
interferon. |
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Like the rest of the body, the immune system
deteriorates with age, making us more susceptible to
infections and degenerative diseases including cancer,
arthritis and all the other ailments we attribute to
`old age'. Therefore, our need for vitamin C increases
with the years.
Youthfulness is partly defined by how well we are
holding together literally. Vitamin C keeps us together
because it is essential for the synthesis of collagen,
the intercellular cement that bonds tissues. Without
vitamin C, healing could not occur and the slightest
wound would be fatal. In severe vitamin C deficiency,
the skin breaks open and the victim bleeds to death.
Milder deficiencies of vitamin C may mean that the
collagen is unable to resist penetration by disease
organisms and cancers. An early warning of vitamin C
shortage is bleeding of gums. |
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VITAMIN A
Plants contain beta-carotene that animals consume and
convert to vitamin A. This nutrient protects epithelial
tissues: the skin, mucous membranes, stomach and lung
linings and most of the connective tissues between and
around organs. Most human cancers are malignancies of
the epithelial cells. Vitamin A is a particularly
efficient scavenger of the free radicals generated by
cigarette smoke, chemical fumes and urban air pollution. |
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THE B-COMPLEX
These vitamins support the immune system by reducing the
impact of stress. Stress, both physical and mental,
initiates a complex series of biochemical responses that
stimulates a release of hormones from the adrenal
glands.Scientists who study ageing estimate that under
ideal conditions we should remain active for 120 years.
The key to longer life may indeed be the optimal intake
of nutrients. A moderate lifestyle is also important, as
is moderate exercise. |
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Sunita Motwani Makhija
LCGI
Sunita Motwani-Makhija is an Internationally qualified
Beautician and Hair Consultant and is the Director of
the Schnell Hans Chain of Beauty Schools & Salons in
Mumbai, that conducts Basic and Advanced courses and
also the City & Guilds International Hairdressing
Qualification. Sunita is the first Indian to have been
conferred the prestigious Licentiateship in Hairdressing
by City & Guilds, U.K.
For any hair & beauty queries E-mail:
schnellhans@rbcsgroup.com |
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