Antioxidant Making Old Blood Vessels Like New Again

Pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements may play important roles in the prevention of heart disease. Nutraceuticals also resurrect the notion in which properly targeted oral antioxidants could reap measurable health benefits, which was dismissed as ineffective years ago.

This was the first known clinical trial to assess impact of mitochondrial specific antioxidants on human vascular functions. Results are suggestive that therapies as this hold promise for decreasing risk of age related cardiovascular disease.

20 healthy men and women were recruited to participate in this study who were between the ages of 60-79 years old. Half of which took placebo, while the other half took 20 milligrams of MitoQ supplements daily, in which antioxidant Coenzyme Q10 are chemically altered to cling to mitochondria within cells. Lining of blood vessel, or the endothelium, functions were assessed after 6 weeks by measuring each participant’s artery dilation with increased blood flow. The 2 groups switched meds after a 2 week wash out period of taking nothing, and tests were repeated.

It was found that taking the supplement participant’s dilation of arteries improved by 42% to that of a person 15-20 years younger, due to reduction in oxidative stress. If sustained an improvement of that magnitude is associated with 13% decrease in heart disease. Participants who had stiffer arteries after taking the supplement had reduced stiffness.

With age blood vessels grow stiff as a result of oxidative stress, which is excess production of free radicals that damage and impair the endothelium. Enough antioxidants are produced in youth to quench free radicals, but with aging that balance tips as mitochondria and other cellular processes produce excess free radicals and the body can’t keep up with antioxidant defenses.

Supplements of vitamin C and E oral antioxidants fell from favor after studies showed them to be ineffective, This study serves to put a breath of fresh air into new life of the theory that supplementing diets with antioxidants can improve health, showing that targeting specific mitochondria may be a better way to decrease oxidative stress and improve cardiovascular health.

This is the same lab which recently also showed that a compound called nicotinamide riboside may be able to reverse vascular aging within healthy subjects. The team will be launching a 3 month follow up study using a larger number of participants to confirm findings and investigate more closely the impact of the compound on mitochondria.

Healthy diet and exercise are the best approach for maintaining cardiovascular health, but it is evident and been proven that not enough people are willing to do that, as well as some are not able to. The team is investigating complementary evidence based options to prevent age related changes which drive disease.