Pep pills for old age

Elderly rats have rediscovered their youth by eating two simple dietary
supplements sold in health food shops. If the regime works in humans, it could
make for a sprightly old age. Bruce Ames of the Oakland Children’s Hospital
& Research Institute led a team which fed the supplements to old rats for a
month or so. Acetyl-L-carnitine “revved up” the rat’s mitochondria, the energy
powerhouses of cells. And a fatty oil called (R)-alpha-lipoic acid helped the
rats mop up damaging chemical radicals created by the extra mitochondrial
activity. It made them lively enough to “dance the Macarena”, says Ames. The…