Your Genes May Be More Important Than Antioxidants In Slowing The Body's Aging Process

Shelf life of antioxidants - expired.

Don't put down the red wine and vitamins just yet, but if you're taking antioxidants because you hope to live longer, consider this: a new study published in the...journal Genetics casts doubt on the theory that oxidative stress to our tissues shortens lifespan. That's because researchers from McGill University in Canada have identified mutations in 10 different genes of worms (genes believed to have counterparts in humans) that extend their lifespan without reducing the level of oxidative stress the worms suffer. The results contradict the popular theory that production of toxic reactive oxygen species in tissues is responsible for aging.

"We hope that our study will help in tempering the undue emphasis put on the notion that oxidative stress causes aging and thus that antioxidants could combat aging," said Siegfried Hekimi, Ph.D, the senior author of the study from the Department of Biology at McGill University in Montreal.

You can put away the red wine and vitamins.

They have no idea what antioxidants really do to you.