Hyaluronic Acid And Anti-aging

Hyaluronic acid has been nicknamed by the press as the "key to the fountain of youth" because it has been noted that at least some people who ingest a lot of it in their diets tend to live to ripe old ages. ABC News had a show on a village in Japan and hyaluronic acid entitled, "The Village of Long Life: Could Hyaluronic Acid Be an Anti-Aging Remedy?" (It should be noted that the people in the ABC news show were thought to get high amounts of HA from starchy root vegetables their natural diets. They were not taking supplements.)

Hyaluronic acid (also called Hyaluronan) is a component of connective tissue whose function is to cushion and lubricate. Hyaluronan occurs throughout the body in abundant amounts in many of the places people with hereditary connective tissue disorders have problems such as joints, heart valves and eyes.

Hyaluronic acid abnormalities are a common thread in connective tissue disorders.

Interestingly, they are also common biochemical anomalies in most of the individual features of connective tissue disorders such as mitral valve prolapse, TMJ, osteoarthritis, and keratoconus.

With HA as with other substances in the human body, such as estrogen and cholesterol, there are most likely optimal levels and disease often occurs when these levels become out of range in either direction. Low estrogen levels have been linked to bone loss, while high estrogen levels have been associated with breast cancer. High cholesterol levels have been linked to heart attacks and stroke, while low levels have been linked to bleeding problems and depression. HA has been studied less than either cholesterol or estrogen, but the prudent path would be to assume that the body has optimal levels of HA, as it does for cholesterol, estrogen and many other substances.

Since the ABC special on hyaluronic acid called it the "Fountain of Youth", it is interesting that one of the defining characteristics of premature aging syndromes, such as Progeria, is hyaluronic acid abnormalities.

There are many factors known to influence hyaluronic acid levels. Genes are likely to be a factor, but there are many environmental factors that are known to have an impact, including zinc and magnesium availability. Not surprisingly, magnesium and zinc deficiencies are known to be associated with many of the same symptoms associated with hyaluronic acid abnormalities, such as mitral valve prolapse and poor wound healing, respectively. Perhaps this is because the zinc or magnesium deficiency contributes to the hyaluronic acid abnormality, which in turn causes the symptom.

Strep and staph bacteria emit an enzyme called hyaluronidase. Hyaluronidase is an enzyme which breaks down hyaluronic acid, thus allowing an entry point for the bacteria to enter the body. This may be why people may become hypermobile or develop heart aliments like mitral valve prolapse after illnesses such as rheumatic fever--because the hyaluronic acid in their connective tissue has been degraded by the bacteria that cause their illness.

Hyaluronic acid occurs in abundant amounts in many of the places people with connective tissue disorders have problems such as the joints, the eyes, the skin and heart valves. Hyaluronic acid is needed to cushion and lubricate joints, eyes, skin and heart valves.

People with connective tissue disorders and related features all seem to have abnormalities of hyaluronic acid.

HA is influenced by nutrition and other environmental factors. Many of the features of premature aging syndromes and connective tissue disorders are also known to be caused by nutritional deficiencies, and not surprisingly these are often the same nutritional factors that influence the manufacture of hyaluronic acid. My theory is that this is not all one big coincidence. Logically, it is more likely to be a predictable sequence of causes and effects.

Hyaluronic acid is being used commercially or experimentally to correct a large portion of the problems found in connective tissue disorders such as fractures, eye disorders, poor wound healing and prematurely wrinkled skin. It would be highly logical to consider the possibility that hyaluronic acid works to correct these problems because defects or deficiencies of hyaluronic acid are what cause these problems in the first place.

Perhaps controlling or optimizing the environmental factors, such as modifying ones diet, to optimize hyaluronic acid levels would be helpful in treating many inherited connective tissue disorders and premature aging syndrome.

Post Your Comment

The rules: Keep it clean and stay on the subject or we may delete your review.
Name
Email
Comment
Enter the code shown in the image:

Your name
Your email
Recipient name
Recipient email
Message

Hyaluronic Acid And Anti-aging

Related Articles

Top Wrinkles Treatments

Recommended Product

Wrinkles Topics