Could
Hyaluronic Acid Be an Anti-Aging Remedy?
Like many of his peers who routinely
live into their 90s and longer, Tadanao
Takahashi, 93, is in good health.
Japanese researchers think this
phenomenon may be connected to the local
diet. (ABCNEWS.com)
Nov. 2
- Every morning, Hiroshi Sakamoto wakes
up and farms his field, usually for
about four or five hours a day.
Sakamoto, who lives in the village of
Yuzuri Hara, two hours outside of Tokyo,
is 86 years old. But his age by no means
makes him the elder statesman of his
village, nor is a daily routine like his
uncommon among his peers. More than 10
percent of the population of his village
is 85 or older - 10 times the American
norm. The residents of Yuzuri Hara are
not only living longer, but they are
also quite healthy. Rarely do they have
any reason to see a doctor, and they are
hardly affected by diseased like cancer,
diabetes and Alzheimer's. Many have even
managed to keep their skin from showing
signs of aging. What makes the residents
of Yuzuri Hara even more remarkable is
that they are living long, healthy lives
- even those who engage in unhealthy
activities. Sakamoto, for example,
smokes a pack and a half of cigarettes
daily and is still in reasonably good
health and physically fit. Tadanao
Takahashi, 93, has worked in the sun for
50 years, never once using sun block or
skin cream, and yet his skin is soft and
smooth. Some medical researchers believe
that Yuzuri Hara, known as "The Village
of Long Life," and its residents may
hold the key to anti-aging secrets: the
local diet that is unique to the
village. Unlike other regions of Japan
that grow rice, Yuzuri Hara's hilly
terrain is better suited to harvesting
different carbohydrates that may prove
healthier: things like satsumaimo, a
type of sweet potato; satoimo, a sticky
white potato; konyaku, a gelatinous root
vegetable concoction; and imoji, a
potato root.
The Secret Ingredient
Dr. Toyosuke Komori, the town doctor who
has studied and written books on
longevity in Yuzuri Hara, believes these
locally grown starches help stimulate
the body's natural creation of a
substance called hyaluronic acid, or HA,
which aging bodies typically lose. This
may ward off the aging process by
helping the cells of the body thrive and
retain moisture, keeping joints
lubricated, protecting the retina in
eyes and keeping skin smooth and
elastic.
"I have
never seen anyone suffer from skin
cancer here," he says. "I have seen a
woman in her 90s with spotless skin."
One of Japan's leading pharmaceutical
companies began researching and
developing a pill supplement containing
hyaluronic acid. The company tested the
pills on 1,000 people, and said roughly
half reported smoother skin, less
fatigue and better eyesight.
In the
United States, hyaluronic acid has been
used for years in eye surgery as a shock
absorber to protect the retina, and has
been proven effective in lubricating
arthritic joints. Synvisc, for example,
a Food and Drug Administration-approved
product used to treat osteoarthritis,
works by injecting hyaluronic acid, or
Hyaluronan, which acts as a shock
absorber and lubricant. Dr. Irving
Raphael, a Syracuse, N.Y., orthopedist
who specializes in sports medicine,
explains that these injections coat the
surface of the joint to decrease
friction, which allows the joint to move
more smoothly and cuts down pain.
Western Skeptics
While hyaluronic acid has proven useful
in orthopedics and opthalmology, many
Western experts are skeptical that
swallowing it in a pill could actually
help prolong one's life. "I cannot today
imagine any possible benefit," says Dr.
Endre Balazs, a leading expert on HA.
"The only way it acts, as far as I can
see, as an anti-aging remedy," adds
Raphael, "is because if you're not
limping, and your joints feel better,
you feel younger." But HA has been shown
to have wound-healing and
tissue-reconstruction applications, and
some cosmetic companies tout it as an
effective ingredient in moisturizers
that can soften facial lines, leaving
skin elastic and firm.
One
company even claims it may be the latest
development in treating hair loss. And
Komori, 80, who has adopted the local
diet of very little meat and a lot of
homegrown sticky starches, holds to his
theory. "I feel very strongly that if I
had not come here to Yuzuri Hara, I
would not have lived this long and
healthy a life," he says. "I probably
would have died from some adult
disease." Komori also points to
statistics that since Western-style
processed food infiltrated the village a
few years ago, heart disease has
doubled. With youngsters being seduced
by these products, what the Japanese
call an upside-down death pyramid has
emerged, in which adults die before
their elderly parents. "Although my
children ate what I had been eating
while they were young and lived here,"
says a 91-year-old woman who has
outlived two of her six children, "when
they moved away they chose to eat
differently."
