Scientists find way to reverse ageing process using compound

Scientists in the US and Australia have found a way in which they can reverse the process of ageing.

The team at the department for genetics at Harvard Medical School and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) conducted performed tests on mice and uncovered a method which can transform the equivalent muscle of a 60-year-old to that of someone 40 years younger.

However, there was improvement in muscle strength.

Their method involved using a chemical called NAD. It is found in all cells naturally, but its levels gradually decrease with age.

This fall disrupts mitochondria, the cells power stations, and cause ageing as well as fall in energy production.

By boosting a two-year mouse's NAD levels for one week, its muscles became similar to those of mice aged just six months.

Dr Ana Gomes, who led the study, said she feels the team has made an important finding and muscle strength could even return if they treatment was run for a longer period.

However, she pointed out that ageing is influenced by a number of factors, such as telomeres shortening and DNA damage, so this discovery in itself is not a complete cure to getting older.

"I believe there is a lot of cross-talk in cells and energy is very important in a cell and likely to be a very big component of ageing that might cause some of the other things that happen with ageing," she added.

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Professor Tim Spector from Kings College London, said the study is "intriguing", but he feels that any real anti-ageing effects are a long way off.

The cost of getting younger would also make it prohibitive for the majority of people.

Dr Nigel Turner, senior research fellow at the UNSW, explained to the Guardian that at present the compound costs around $50,000 a day

A clinical trial will be carried out on the findings during 2015.

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