Dr. Mercola January 10 2009 100,924 views
In a back room of New Scientist's offices in London, I sit down at a table with the Russian biochemist Mikhail Shchepinov. In front of us are two teaspoons and a brown glass bottle. Shchepinov opens the bottle, pours out a teaspoon of clear liquid and drinks it down. He smiles. It's my turn.
I put a spoonful of the liquid in my mouth and swallow. It tastes slightly sweet, which is a surprise. I was expecting it to be exactly like water since that, in fact, is what it is - heavy water to be precise, chemical formula D2O. The D stands for deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen with an atomic mass of 2 instead of 1. Deuterium is what puts the heavy in heavy water. An ice cube made out of it would sink in normal water.
My sip of heavy water is the culmination of a long journey trying to get to the bottom of a remarkable claim that Shchepinov first made around 18 months ago. He believes he has discovered an elixir of youth, a way to drink (or more likely eat) your way to a longer life.
Many anti-aging medications are based on supplementing your body's own defenses with antioxidant compounds such as vitamin C and beta-carotene, though there is scant evidence that this does any good.Shchepinov realized there was another way to defeat free radicals. While he was familiarizing himself with research on aging, his day job involved a well-established - if slightly obscure - bit of chemistry called the isotope effect. On Christmas day 2006, it dawned on him that putting the two together could lead to a new way of postponing the ravages of time.
The basic concept of the isotope effect is that the presence of heavy isotopes in a molecule can slow down its chemical reactions.
All of this is conventional chemistry: the isotope effect was discovered back in the 1930s and its mechanism explained in the 1940s. The effect has a long pedigree as a research tool in basic chemistry for probing the mechanisms of complex reactions.
Shchepinov, however, is the first researcher to link the effect with aging. It dawned on him that if aging is caused by free radicals trashing covalent bonds, and if those same bonds can be strengthened using the isotope effect, why not use it to make vulnerable biomolecules more resistant to attack? All you would have to do is judiciously place deuterium or carbon-13 in the bonds that are most vulnerable to attack, and chemistry should take care of the rest.
Since time immemorial, man has searched for the Fountain of Youth. Nothing has changed in that regard, only the methods of inquiry and discovery have progressed, catching up with some of the most outlandish sci-fi scenarios imaginable.
Personally, I’m not one to want to veer too far from the natural order of things -- I don’t even want to eat a piece of genetically modified corn. But the technology and science enthusiast in me can’t help but be intrigued by the ideas and radical advances in the field of extreme life extension.
This is one of the latest installments in the ongoing quest, and Russian biochemist Mikhail Shchepinov believes he may have discovered the type of water needed to make the Fountain of Youth deliver on its promise.
The Free-Radical Theory
The most widely accepted idea for life extension is the free-radical theory. According to this theory, we begin to self destruct” as we age. Our DNA becomes damaged beyond our body’s ability to repair and we eventually accumulate enough damage that can’t support life, and we die.
The main agents of this destruction are oxygen free radicals; aggressive chemical compounds created as a byproduct of your natural metabolism. Over a lifetime, this progressive damage accumulates to the point where your body’s basic biochemical processes fail.
This is one of the primary reasons that Coenzyme Q-10 works and why I take the reduced form, ubiquinol, every day.
One of the most destructive processes is protein carbonylation, in which oxygen radicals attacks the carbon-hydrogen bonds in proteins. This process has been implicated as a cause for many age-related diseases, such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, chronic renal failure and adult-onset diabetes.
Antioxidants continually combat these free radicals – which is why a diet high in natural antioxidants is so important for your health – but over the years, your biological defense systems eventually begin to suffer from oxidative damage as well and can’t function as effectively. Your state of health suffers as a result, and “age-related ailments” set in.
This is where Shchepinov’s theory for youth extension comes in.
The basic concept of his discovery is that heavy isotopes can slow down a molecule’s chemical reactions. Hence prolonging the time it takes before the molecule suffers damage.
Is it Safe to Drink “Heavy Water"?
It’s important to note that some heavy isotopes are radioactive and obviously should not be consumed.
But others, like the ones studied by Shchepinov (deuterium and carbon-13) are stable and occur naturally in your body. And, so far, they appear to be non-toxic when ingested -- up to a point.
In mammals, toxic effects become apparent once 20 percent of their body water is replaced with heavy water, and is deadly once you reach the 35 percent mark.
That said, a research team at the Institute for the Biology of Aging in Moscow recently tested Shchepinov’s idea on fruit flies. Though large amounts were deadly, smaller quantities increased the flies’ lifespans by up to 30 percent. But whether this was due to the isotope effect, or simple calorie restriction – which is another well documented life extension technique – is still unclear.
Aubrey de Grey Weighs in on Heavy Water
Shchepinov’s idea has been embraced by one of my favorite biogerontologists, Aubrey de Grey, Dr. de Grey is a Cambridge researcher, and chairman and chief science officer of the Methuselah Foundation. He is one of the leading pioneers in aging research and I recently had the pleasure of interviewing de Grey about his fascinating ideas for “engineering immortality.”
If you missed that remarkable interview, I highly recommend you listen to it now.
Aubrey de Grey is also the editor of the journal Rejuvenation Research that published Shchepinov’s theory in 2007. Since then, de Grey has become the scientific advisor of Retrotope, the company Shchepinov launched to pursue his anti-aging theory.
Currently, Retrotope is not advocating heavy water as a cure for aging. Rather, they’re considering creating what Shchepinov calls “iFood.” This would be food products that have been already altered by the isotope effect (for example by feeding chickens heavy water), so your body’s proteins would receive nutrients that already had their vulnerable bonds strengthened, hence being less prone to free radical damage.
I’m not surprised that Dr. de Grey has chosen to support this new anti-aging theory. After all, his own “strategies for engineering negligible senescence” (SENS) plan focuses on finding the main causes of age-related damage and using science to prevent or reverse them.
According to Dr. de Grey, nature has not specifically pre-programmed you to die, as there is no “death gene”. You don’t perish because of some internal clock counting down to death, but because nature doesn’t bother to promote self-healing past a certain point.
He claims there are seven major known causes of aging:
From a strictly biological standpoint, the maximum lifespan of human beings seems to be set at around 120 years. However, I do believe it’s possible to extend your lifespan well beyond this with the regenerative technologies that Dr. de Grey discusses.
And, who knows, perhaps heavy water will one day be one of them, although I believe there’s still a lot of research that needs to be done before we unleash yet another manipulated food product. The theory appears sound, but nature has a way of rebelling against too much of a good thing.
Remember, too many antioxidants can be just as bad as too few! This is yet another reason to make sure you’re getting your antioxidants from healthy, raw, organic foods, rather than supplements.
How to Live Longer, Starting Today
Regulating your insulin pathways, and all the other important lifestyle changes I advocate, would clearly increase not only the quantity of your years but the quality of them as well.
Proper nutrition; feeding your body the fuel it needs based on your individual biochemistry rather than a one-size-fits-all regimen, exercise, and maintaining emotional well-being should never be underestimated in the anti-aging quest.
If living your life to its full potential appeals to you, I’ve listed nine of my top tips to maximize your lifespan in this past article.
Actually this is such an OLD story, a subtle pun once you read further, I wonder it's being called new? Maybe because the original concept is still under patent protection and partial government watch? Heck it wasn't even released for public use or development until the late 50's. The original and still available liquid here is CellFood. Originally developed by Dr. Einstein's close friend, Dr. Everett Storey. While they were all working on the Manhattan project, he explored it's potentials as a possible healing agent in the body by adding deuterium with other amino compounds in a concentrated form to be added to water when needed.
It was originally used in a looser form as the original water purifier for troops in WWII. It has been typically sold by quite a few MLM's with all sorts of claims. However when I studied it I found many references and is now a mysterious little white bottle used by quite a few athletes as it aids your bodies use of oxygen in a natural way Hydrogen Peroxide therapy never will or could. While it's in there, it bonds any free radicals it finds and delivers them to be removed. It also slowly rebuilds damaged tissues and cells when taken several times a day. It's been used and tested with burn treatments, asthma, and even as an aid in cancer cures. It helps the body identify cancer tumors as being bad instead of being ignored.
And yes, it does purify water and you can get it at VItacost.com for a huge discount over what MLM's will try and sell it for. Dr. Storey simply stated it's a way to help the body fight disease, not a magic cure or fountain of youth. It's even been made into skin creams which test better than anything currently on the market. I have no monetary interest here whatsoever. I thought it best to clear the air here and make it clear this idea is not new at all. It's been done before and I fear a great aid in our battle with the damage we all face from so many things everyday is getting lost in the shuffle.
Think First - I would like to learn more about CellFood. I checked the Vitacost.com website and found a one ounce bottle of a product called CellFood, but there were many altenatives. None seemed to contain heavy water, according to the product descriptions. Can you provide more specifics?
Thanks
kts0347 - The one ounce bottle on the web site is what you are looking for. It's the one that started it all and the other products are later additions developed to complement it. I do know some folks who make what they refer to as their mid-morning cocktail which is a combination of the cellfood with their silica product. I use the cellfood in the morning and afternoon, the silica after a workout. For testing purposes stick with the cellfood at first and try it for the full month.
You won't find them mention this as "heavy water" because our bodies are in many ways built on deuterium and is what everyone keeps referring to. What's getting lost here is trying to make what is a natural part of our bodies make up into some sort of secret potion or something. Bunk. Cellfood is simply taking what was found to be most fundamental building blocks needed to refuel our bodies in it's war against the attacks it encounters every second or every day. No mystery, no secrets and no wild claims.
Many pet owners also swear by how much better their pets are when they use it in a diluted form for their pets water. I've heard and seen a ton of claims, read several hundred different testimonials from all kinds of people and seen a few tests done in Australia, New Zeland and a couple of universities I've been trying to dig out. They were done in a test to see how it affected performance, recovery and any possible side affects. What they found was a 27-33% increase in performance for couch potatoes spread across the spectrum to even a 14-21% increase in athletes judged in peak shape already.
The only side affect they found was faster recovery times and a drastic cut in what is often referred to as the oxidation damage done after a work out. In other words, your work out helps much more and is more sustained because your body isn't working as hard to recover and clean itself up after words. Best done app. 15-20 mins before a workout.
Uh, in other words, is the Cellfood something I would need or am I already getting those things that the Cellfood would give me. I forgot to mention that I eat whole unprocessed foods, lots of fresh colorful vegetables, fruits, I exercise regularly, drink a glass of sulfate-free red wine a few times a week and drink a lot of alkaline ph purified water. Now, do I need the Cellfood or is this sufficient already. I do feel great since I started this lifestyle.
Interesting comment. I also immediately thought of CellFood.
I use CellFood religiously, just because I feel better when I do. Quite a bit better, actually, but I don't pretend to know why. Since I work in the supplement dept of a large national natural food store, I've tried and tested almost everything. CellFood is a winner for me, along with D3, neptune krill Oil and borage oil. Also walking almost every day for one hour at 4 mph makes a huge difference. And giving up grains was major factore in my improvement, too. And eating low glycemic. That's my whole system, right there. lol (I have rheumatoid arthritis, which is improving daily, and used to have chronic fatigue.)
Now, my main question was that if I take brine made from Himalayan salt (1 spoon mixed in a glass of water on an empty stomach every morning), is taking the Cellfood too much. Because Himalayan salt also contains all trace minerals. I don't want to "overtake" things.
Brook's Law of Unintended Consequences-
Any new product, no longer how healthy or benign will occasionally have unexpected and nasty consequences.
If Deuterium works as an anti-aging treatment and gives humans longer life to 150 or more, and is placed in a widespread fashion in food and water, it may start to give animals and plants longer and more healthy lives as it moves through the biosphere.
Sure, it may be nice to have Fido live to to be thirty years old, or your favorite Kitty to push twenty, but do you really want to live around rats with a ten year life span, who have grown to the size of a spaniel.
How about houseflies that live for years, or long lived mosquitoes. Not to mention the fun of crabgrass that lives for years and years.
Of course, we would also have the fun of dealing with politicians who would never be removed due to a hundred plus years of seniority. MMMMM. Deuterium. The gift that keeps on giving...and giving...and giving.
in the article you talk about feeding heavy water to our food supply (chickens), if heavy water slows the break down of cells. could using it this way stop the absorption of vitamins and minerals (in us) from the food eaten?
kevin651, I was wondering the exact same thing.
I think the idea would be to change the average person's expected lifespan. If 120 years is what we could all potentially have, then none of us would experience being the only hundred year old on the block. But to me the real point to all this is not just mere continuation of life. The idea is to have more time to achieve greater growth and maturity in all areas, and certainly the spiritual aspects of life are an important part of that. I recall my mom, who died of cancer at 79, frequently saying how she only realized this or that when she was 70. It was like she was finally coming out of some sort of "adolescence", and finally growing up in a whole new way. I am 62, and I frequently feel that my youth is finally passing, and I am not mourning it. I would like to have time with the health it takes to continue to grow (not up or out). I think if we could all do that we would then have a whole new cohort of humans (80 plus) who would be healthy enough to add a completely new dimension to our human abilities. I feel like people need a lot more care and time to grow up, and that means we need an older older generation with the maturity to provide that. Reverse social security of the non-monetary variety.
(Also I like single malt scotch, though I seldom indulge anymore, but I don't understand how that got into the discussion.)
I agree that maturity takes a bunch of years. But it also takes an environment
oriented to the discovery of wisdom. Our culture is so busy selling, manipulating and overworking
us that I think we get trapped in a prolonged, distracted, exhausted, and unsatisfying adolescence. The lords of Allopathic Medicine are mandating unsafe vaccinaions for our children, our troops, our elderly,
our preadolescent daughters & everybody else if FEMA or the CDC sez so. I do not believe
that longevity will be the outcome. To be even more dismal, I think single malt scotch may too soon seem like a fabulous luxury.