Anti-Aging Supplements

ZEB and shreddedmeat,

You might be interested in a thiamine derivative which has antiglycation properties:

ScottL,

No actually 1000mg of Vitamin C per day in supplement form is plenty. It’s not the amount that you take but breaking it up into two (or even three doeses) that is important. Everyone is different, but most people can only digest 200mg to 500mg at one sitting anyway.

In addition to this I eat at least 8 to 9 servings of raw fruits and vegetables per day. They also have vitamin C in them and many other bioflavins etc.

chints,

I rotate between Life Extension multiple vitamins and Twin Lab. I do this for several reasons. I think you will find Twin Lab priced a bit better.

Zeb,

  1. I agree, getting nutrients in food form whenever possible is always best.

  2. I agree, taking many nutrients in divided doses is always best.

  3. I do not agree with you on total dose of Vitamin c even in a well person. (I’m speaking about total dose and one would have to use e.g. fitday to figure out how much you are getting from food). My answer is based on personal experience and that of those I have worked with. However, a quick google search turned up:

  4. Eric Serrano on vitamin C:

(Off the top of my head I wonder if his doses are a bit high, but if you increase slowly and back off when you hit bowel tolerance [when you start to get gas and loose stools] there is no danger, and possibly much to be gained)

the whole article is worth reading, but his conclusions:

Conclusion
I use Vitamin C and definitely recommend it to my patients. I recommend that you start with 1500 mg to 6000 mg divided into three daily doses and go up to a maximum of 5 to 10 grams per day. The most important times to take Vitamin C are one hour prior to training and two hours after your workout is completed. By ingesting 2 to 4 grams at these times the Cortisol response will be minimized and the antioxidant effect of Vitamin C maximized. Your Vitamin C should be time released to keep serum levels constant. Never buy chewable tablets as this form will destroy your tooth enamel. Back off the dosage if you experience diarrhea or stomach upset. These symptoms are an indicator of the maximum dosage you can tolerate.

  1. I saw other references earlier using google that adressed your concerns but I can’t find them now and I’m pressed for time.

  2. I NEVER use or recommend ascorbic acid. I recommend calcium, magnesium or mixed mineral ascorbates (e.g. solgar calcium ascorbate, twinlab ascorbate C-500 or any ester c). Why? It is gentler on the system and at several grams/day (probably even a 30 year old 100 lb female would do best on at least 1500 mg/day) ascorbic acid can be irritating on the stomach. Also if you remember the acid-alkaline discussions, most people don’t need any more acid in their systems.

Scott

Scott,

I understand that you are a strong advocate of vitamin C. However, I respectfully disagree with you.
If too much Vitamin C is taken it can act as a “pro-oxidant” causing more free radical damage instead of preventing it.

A paper published in the journal of Nature describes the potential pro-oxidant effects of overdoing vitamin C supplementation.

You might be able to do some reading on this subject by going to the following web sites:

www.biomedcentral.com/news/20010618/01/

www.the-scientist.com” (use the search engine to type in 'the dangers of vitamin C"

I understand that there is some controversy on this topic and no clear cut evidence has been given either way. However, as always I would rather err on the side of caution. My recommendation of 1000mg per day split up into two doses is something I consider helpful and most importantly safe!

Zeb,

No offense taken. A few thoughts and we?ll leave it that reasonable minds can differ:

  1. Even 1000 mg/day total is probably better then many reading this are getting so if everyone on the forum ?only? took that much, it would be a huge improvement for many people.

  2. Vitamin C is present in the body as an unoxidized/oxidized pair. When vitamin c performs its duty as an antioxidant, it becomes oxidized. However in the body there is a system of other antioxidants to recycle it back to the unoxidized form ready to be used as an antioxidant again. I wonder if the studies you are talking about did not take this into account (this could be if they were in vitro, or if in vivo but without adequate i.e. supplemental other antioxidants to help recycle the vitamin C).

  3. Don?t know about the particular studies you have in mind but many studies done in vitro show things different than observed in vivo e.g. chromium picolinate becomes mutagenic and quercetin becomes carcinogenic.

  4. I have no idea if your studies fall into this category, but there are tons of ?studies? done by the anti-vitamin mafia who will do anything to discredit vitamins (kinda like the folks out to badmouth steroids, ephedrine, etc)

  5. Stress increases the need for vitamin C. I doubt the population in the studies you are talking about was as active as many on the forum. Also, this does not prove anything, but I can tell you that bowel tolerance for vitamin c goes way up when people get sick. If AT THE FIRST HINT OF GETTING ILL you take 1000 mg/hour (no misprint and please stick to the non-acid form) of vitamin c you will likely find that either you never get ill, or your illness will be very mild and run a much faster course. If you try this cut back if you get gas or loose stools and taper slowly from this dose as you start to get better (if you taper too fast you can rebound and get sick again). This is a great trick and has saved myself and others I know tons of sick time.

Scott

I used USANA Health Sciences products. Their anti-oxidant blend is rated #1 product over more than 500 antioxidant blend over the whole north america.

You can find out all about it at www.usana.com.

kurnia, do you have a link to info on those studies/ratings?

I used USANA Health Sciences products. Their anti-oxidant blend is rated #1 product over more than 500 antioxidant blend over the whole north america.

I’m sorry… I have no idea I ended up replying to the topic twice.

There is a book that does it actually. It’s called “The comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements” by Lyle MacWilliams. His website is located in www.comparativeguide.com.

I have the pdf file outlining the summary of his book. PM me if you want it. :slight_smile: Hope that helps!

A great article from the Life Extension Foundation. It lists the top 10 anti-aging supplements/drugs evaluated by peer reviewed research.

toptenlifeextensiondrugs.html

Sorry, here’s the link again.