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"Grow YounGer" NutrieNts i take every Day 6 Page 46 | Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysMag.com the ubiquinone to the reduced form, called ubiquinol -- and research is showing that this reduced form may actually be superior for your health in a number of ways. If you're under 25 years old your body is capable of conver ng CoQ10 from the oxidized to the reduced form. However, if you're older, your body becomes more and more challenged to convert the oxidized CoQ10 to ubiquinol. Premature aging is one primary side effect of having too li le CoQ10 because this essen al vitamin recycles other an oxidants, such as vitamin C and E. CoQ10 deficiency also accelerates DNA damage, and because CoQ10 is beneficial to heart health and muscle func on this deple on leads to fa gue, muscle weakness, soreness and eventually heart failure. In a previous interview with Dr. Stephen Sinatra, he recounts an experiment from the mid-90's on aging rats. The average lifespan of a rat is two years. Rats given CoQ10, at the end of their life, had more energy, be er coats, and be er appe tes, compared to the rats that did not get CoQ10. The supplement basically had a potent an -aging effect, in the sense it maintained youthfulness un l the very end of their life. In terms of life extension, the effect was minimal. Dr. Sinatra also conducted his own research and found that CoQ10 given to both younger and older mice resulted in increased energy and vigor. Older mice traveled through mazes quicker, they had be er memory, and had more locomotor ac vity than those who did not get CoQ10. So CoQ10 definitely appears to improve the quality of life, even if it may not significantly increase longevity per say. 4. FERMENTED FOODS / PROBIOTICS It's quite clear that ea ng a diet consis ng of high amounts of processed foods will shorten your life, yet 90 percent of the money Americans spend on food is spent on processed food, and the number one source of calories in the US comes from high fructose corn syrup – a staple ingredient in nearly all processed foods, from frozen dinners, to condiments, snacks, and soda. Researchers have even discovered that gene c muta ons and malfunc ons that cause disease are created in future genera ons when highly processed and ar ficial foods are consumed! Part of the problem is that these processed, sugar- and chemical-laden foods effec vely destroy your intes nal microflora. Your gut flora has incredible power over your immune system, which, of course, is your body's natural defense system. An bio cs, stress, ar ficial sweeteners, chlorinated water and many other factors can also reduce the amount of probio cs (beneficial bacteria) in your gut, which can predispose you to illness and premature aging. Ideally, you'll want to make tradi onally cultured and fermented foods a staple in your daily diet. You can use a probio c supplement, but ge ng your probio cs from food is definitely be er as you can consume far more beneficial bacteria, in many cases up to 100X more. Fermented vegetables are an excellent alterna ve as they are both delicious and simple to make. 5. KRILL OIL According to Dr. William Harris, an expert on omega-3 fats, those who have an omega-3 index of less than four percent age much faster than those with indexes above eight percent. Therefore, your omega-3 index may also be an effec ve marker of your rate of aging. According to Dr. Harris' research, omega-3 fats appear to play a role in ac va ng telomerase, which, again, has been shown to be able to actually reverse telomere shortening. Although this research is preliminary, I would suggest that op mizing your omega-3 levels above eight percent would be a good strategy if you are interested in delaying aging. A er all, you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by doing so, since omega-3 has proven to be extremely important for your health in so many respects. My favorite animal-based omega-3 is krill oil, as it has a number of benefits not found in other omega-3 supplements such as fish oil. Aside from higher poten al for contamina on, fish oil supplements also have a higher risk of suffering oxida on damage and becoming rancid. Krill oil also contains naturally- occurring astaxanthin, which makes it nearly 200 mes more resistant to oxida ve damage compared to fish oil. Addi onally, according to Dr. Harris' research, krill oil is also more potent gram for gram, as its absorp on rate is much higher than fish oil. You get somewhere between 25 to 50 percent more omega-3 per milligram when you take krill oil compared to fish oil, hence you don't need to take as much.