Slow ageing & prevent cancer with a metabolic tune up

Posted on Tue, 16 Mar 10

Each day your body requires more than 40 essential vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients.  Low micronutrient intake is remarkably common and linked to subtle metabolic damage which may lead to the development of chronic diseases such as cancer over time (1). Optimizing your metabolism each day is a simple way to maximise your health and prevent disease.

Accelerated aging

Dietary factors are responsible for approximately one third of all cancers, as much as smoking. Most people do not get enough micronutrients from their daily diet primarily due to low intakes of fruits and vegetables. Inadequate intakes of various vitamins and minerals have been found to mimic the effects of radiation, causing DNA damage, a process linked to accelerated aging and cancer development (2).

The metabolic tune up

Bruce Ames, professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California has been pioneering research into the effects of low micronutrient intake on cancer development and accelerated ageing. Professor Ames recommends a simple solution, “tuning up your metabolism” with a daily multivitamin and mineral.

“A metabolic tune-up is likely to have great health benefits, particularly for those with inadequate diets such as many of the poor, young, obese, and elderly, who need improvement the most, although it is currently not being addressed adequately by the medical community” say Professor Ames (3). A daily multivitamin and mineral supplement is safe, inexpensive health insurance and should form part of a healthy diet and lifestyle (4).

References

1. Ames BN. DNA damage from micronutrient deficiencies is likely to be a major cause of cancer. Mutat Res. 2001 Apr 18;475(1-2):7-20.

2. Ames BN, Wakimoto P. Are vitamin and mineral deficiencies a major cancer risk? Nat Rev Cancer. 2002 Sep;2(9):694-704.

3.Ames BN. A role for supplements in optimizing health: the metabolic tune-up. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2004 Mar 1;423(1):227-34.

 4. Willet W, Stampfer M. What vitamins should I be taking doctor? N Engl J Med, Vol. 345, No. 25 · December 20, 2001