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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…