Water And The Aging Process
We found this excellent white paper on water and the aging process and its ability to slow down the aging process is very fascinating and we would like to share it with you, it was written by Bruce D. Curtis, MA and Marianne L. Curtis, CAMT, CFT. We will have this in two parts.
“Every function inside the body is regulated by and depends on water. Water must be available to carry vital elements, oxygen, hormones, and chemical massages to all parts of the body. Without sufficient water to wet all parts equally, some more remote parts of the body will not receive the vital elements that water supplies. Without sufficient water to constantly wet all parts, your body’s drought-management system kicks into action. The histamine-directed chemical messenger systems are activated to arrange a new, low quota of water for the drought-stricken area. When histamine and its subordinate “drought managers” come across pain-sensing nerves, they cause pain. This is why dehydration produces pain as its first alarm signal. If the dehydration persists and is not corrected naturally with water, it becomes symptom-producing and, in time, develops into a disease condition.”
–From Your Body’s Many Cries for Water by F. Batmanghelidj, MD
The oxidative theory of aging is so well established in the health sciences that it has become an accepted axiom. In fact, we trace its origin in 1954 to Dr. Denham Harman of the University of Nebraska who is recognized as the father of the Free Radical Theory of Aging (FRTA). This theory and subsequent clinical research has led to an explosive growth in specialized functional food products that tout their anti-oxidant qualities, to such an extent that one can even see the claim of anti-oxidant action on cans of Cherry 7-Up! None of the popular claims can diminish by one iota the foundational significance of anti-oxidant action for longevity.
More careful examination of biochemical processes, however, reveals a much more complex chain of reactions that leads to additional toxic by-products and oxidative radicals that result from the initial anti-oxidant reaction. Moreover, none of the miracle anti-oxidant foods seems to be presented with the understanding that achieving the desired effects of the food is entirely dependent upon a satisfactory intake of water. To re-iterate Dr. Batmanghelidj’s words: “Without water, this solid matter is absolutely useless.” Thus, health care practitioners must always consider the primacy of water in the protocol they recommend, no matter what the ailment. To prescribe supplements without considering the means of their uptake is not precise. On this point Dr. Hidemitsu Hayashi, pioneer in the clinical study of healthy water, has commented, “Any dietary recipe cannot be a scientific one if property of water taken by the patients is not taken into consideration.”
The Mitochondria Theory of Aging
Related to the Free Radical Theory of Aging (FRTA) is the Mitochondrial Theory of Aging (MTA), again proposed by Denham Harman in 1972. Critical in the MTA is the contrast between nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which lies in the lack of histone protein protection and various enzyme repair systems in mtDNA that are common in nuclear DNA. This leaves mitochondrial DNA much more subject to the vagaries of oxidative radicals, especially the particularly damaging reactive oxygen species (ROS). The finer details of the entire mitochondrial aging process can be learned by reading The Mitochondrial Theory of Aging.
How is water linked to aging in the Mitochondria?
Since water is governor of cellular activities, we need to better understand why and how intracellular water is so vital, but most importantly in the mitochondria. However, it is not a simple factor that is a consequence of aging, there is no formula for the loss of intracellular water. German studies indicate that the loss of water in the mitochondria is more significant than loss of water in the cytoplasm.
Dr. David Wheeler, DC writes: “The mitochondria is the energy supplying component of all the cells in the body, which allows the infinite array of biochemical mechanisms to take place properly that start at the foundation of DNA cell replication as well as immune system function as the primary defense against all disease. Therefore, as a person ages based on an ever increasing dehydration of the mitochondria there is an increase in the aging process of the cells. This in turn causes a breakdown of all the glands, organs and systems of the body. The body as a whole becomes more and more subject to disease based on a loss of potential longevity. If there is a way to counter the dehydration of the mitochondria then the aging process will slow down and a person will live longer.”
In fact, the production of ATP is dependent upon 2 functions of cell physiology: the Krebs cycle or “citric acid cycle,” and that of oxidative phosphorylation or electron transport chain (ETC). Lesser known, is that the reduction cycle depends upon hydrogen for the proton pump which supplies the protons to phosphorylate ADP into ATP. Without this hydrogen, ATP production would be impossible, and there would be no energy for any bodily function. This discovery led to the award of a Nobel Prize to Dr. Peter Mitchell in 1978 for his theory “Chemiosmosis.” To summarize, energy production for the entire human organism depends upon the flow of electrons and protons. The energy gradients formed by them are the essence of cellular biophysics. This confirms the fundamental insight of Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgi in 1937, in which he observed: “Hydrogen is the only fuel the body recognizes.”
Dr. Szent-Gyorgi also found that hydrogen pools in 6 major organ systems for ready availability for physiological needs. Specifically, he found that the order of hydrogen pooling is: Liver>Intestine>Kidney>Heart>Lung>Spleen. Liver tissues store the most hydrogen, while the spleen stores the least. This is interesting in view of the fact that the liver is your body’s first line of defense and needs a supply of the most antioxidants in order to do its work of detoxification.
To summarize, a primary task in supporting human longevity rests in helping protect the mitochondria from dehydration. But there is another energy factor at work with water that we must understand, and that is the quintessential role of hydrogen to maintain energy production which ensures proper cellular function, transcription accuracy for DNA, and thus proper cell replication. What’s more, additional energy means more vitality. Further, as we will see in the next section, hydrogen aids detoxification by removing harmful metabolic waste and protects the cells by reducing damaging free radicals. Hydrogen, the most prevalent element in the universe and in our body, is therefore, the hidden key to our youthful health and vitality.