The role of nutritional supplementation for health
Nutritional supplementation is a fundamental pillar in the management of health, based on the observation that many active ingredients needed for the functioning of fundamental cellular mechanisms are often lacking in the diet, however rich and balanced it may be. And that is not all. Over the years our body loses the ability to process the active ingredients found in foods — an ability essential for keeping numerous biological mechanisms in balance.
A widely studied example is that of a molecule called NADNAD (Nicotinamide adenindinucleotide ) is a co-enzyme essential to the metabolism of the cell, intervening in the activity of more than 200 enzyme proteins that govern the energy process of the cell itself. With age, one becomes deficient in this co-enzyme by altering cell catabolism., which is produced in cells from precursors such as Vitamin B3 and is needed for more than 500 enzymes to function. With age, the ability to generate NAD from Vitamin B3 declines substantially, creating the conditions for a functional impoverishment of our cells. By providing the right amounts of Vitamin B3, or of two other similar molecules, the problem can be overcome very simply. For correct calibration of the therapy, however, it is essential to be able to measure NAD and its derivatives — something that has not been easy so far because reliable tests are lacking.
Nutraceuticals: what are they?
In recent years a new generation of dietary supplements has emerged, called “nutraceuticals”. What is meant by nutraceuticalNutraceutical is a syncratic neologism from "nutrition" and "pharmaceutical" coined by Stephen de Felice in 1989. Nutraceuticals are those nutrients contained in foods that have beneficial effects on health, their effectiveness has been proven by clinical trials.? Simply a dietary supplement that has followed development and validation protocols similar to those used for drugs, which, as we all know, are subject to rigorous safety and efficacy controls.
A requirement for defining a nutritional supplement as “nutraceutical” is the possibility of verifying its efficacy with tests that measure either the presence of the active ingredients in the blood of the subjects taking it, or the presence of other molecules — belonging to known biochemical/biological circuits — derived from taking the supplement.
SoLongevity research
At the congress of the Italian Society of Nutraceuticals (SINut), SoLongevity Nutraceuticals presented the first results obtained with a brand-new monitoring system that uses a technology called LC/MS-MS (liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrophotometry). The system makes it possible to detect, on a simple drop of capillary blood (finger-prick sampling), a series of molecules involved in oxidative stress and in the energy metabolism of cells, such as Glutathione and NAD.
The study analyzed, in a group of healthy volunteers, the antioxidant efficacy of a nutraceutical (CellFasting) containing the precursors of three active ingredients: Glutathione, NAD and ResveratrolActive ingredient of natural origin with recognized antioxidant capacity (stilbene polyphenol). It is found in plants such as vines and in fruits such as cocoa and blackberries.. To measure its efficacy, three capillary blood samples were taken before, after one month and after three months from the start of supplementation. The compounds analyzed were selected on the basis of current knowledge of the biochemical mechanisms triggered by taking the nutraceutical.
The results showed, on the one hand, a remarkable sensitivity of the diagnostic method (which detects subtle variations in the blood concentrations of the molecules analyzed) and, on the other, a substantial efficacy of the nutraceutical, which brings all the parameters analyzed back to normal values after just one month of intake. The results showed that taking CellFasting is sufficient to rebalance the blood levels of reduced Glutathione, NAD and Cysteine (the three most important molecular species in oxidative metabolism).
The importance of the study lies in the demonstration of the precision, sensitivity and analytical accuracy of the test used and of the efficacy of CellFasting in controlling oxidative stress. This opens a new frontier for nutraceuticals, with the future availability of a simple capillary blood test to be performed periodically to verify the efficacy of nutritional supplementation.
