Re: Co enzyme Q shortens LS?

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

I just saw this article and thought it interesting:

Thursday January 3 5:20 PM ET

Cutting Micronutrient Extends Life in Worms

By Merritt McKinney

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The secret to long life, for worms at least, may

be cutting back on a micronutrient called coenzyme Q, researchers report.

Worms deprived of the substance lived nearly 60% longer than worms on a

normal diet, according to a report in the January 4th issue of the journal

Science.

It is well known that animals that eat fewer calories live longer. Drs.

Pamela L. Larsen and F. e of the University of California,

Los Angeles, set out to see whether the contents of an animal's diet might

also affect its life span.

Working with a type of worm called C. elegans, the researchers eliminated

coenzyme Q--a fatty substance found in cell membranes--from the animals'

diet. This substance is involved in transporting electrons during the

cellular respiration process.

Adult worms on the restricted diet lived an average of 59% longer than those

fed a diet containing coenzyme Q, Larsen and e report.

Larsen told Reuters Health that she and e tested the ''Q-less'' diet on

several different genetic varieties of C. elegans worms to understand the

interaction between diet and genes. ``We found that all the mutants lived

longer on a Q-less diet as adults,'' she said.

The researchers speculate that reduced consumption of coenzyme Q may extend

the life span of worms by minimizing the damage caused by a cellular process

called oxidation.

The results were surprising since coenzyme Q is an antioxidant, meaning it

can counteract the effects of byproducts of the oxidation process, Larsen

said. This may be true, but the substance also appears to be a

``pro-oxidant,'' according to the California researcher.

``Coenzyme Q may cause more oxidative damage than it prevents depending on

how much is in the animal, where it is within the cell (and) the age and

genetic make-up of the worm,'' she said.

But extending life span may not be as simple as removing the coenzyme from

the diet.

``The amount of (coenzyme Q) that is most beneficial appears to be different

for the larvae'' than for adult worms, Larsen said. ``Ones that consume it

are better off than those that do not while they are growing up,'' she said.

The investigators found that worms fed a diet lacking the substance from

birth were much more likely to develop reproductive defects than worms that

started the diet towards the end of the larval stage of development.

Right now, how much coenzyme Q people need is uncertain, according to

Larsen. ``We expect that the optimal amount of coenzyme Q will vary among

individuals and may differ over the life cycle,'' she said.

There are several possible explanations for the link between longer life and

a coenzyme Q-free diet in worms, including an effect on the communication

between different parts of cells, according to Drs. Marc Tatar and M.

Rand of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

They conclude in an accompanying editorial that similar experiments should

be performed in other species such as fruit flies and rodents to confirm the

life-stretching effects of consuming less coenzyme Q.

_________________________________________________________________

Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com