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The Village of Long Life
ABC News
 Could Hyaluronic Acid Be an Anti-Aging Remedy?
Like
many of his peers who routinely live into their 90s and longer, Tadanao
Takahashi, 93, is in good health. Japanese researchers think this
phenomenon may be connected to the local diet. (ABCNEWS.com)
Nov. 2 - Every morning, Hiroshi Sakamoto wakes up and farms his field, usually for about four or five hours a day.
Sakamoto,
who lives in the village of Yuzuri Hara, two hours outside of Tokyo, is
86 years old. But his age by no means makes him the elder statesman of
his village, nor is a daily routine like his uncommon among his peers.
More
than 10 percent of the population of his village is 85 or older - 10
times the American norm. The residents of Yuzuri Hara are not only
living longer, but they are also quite healthy. Rarely do they have any
reason to see a doctor, and they are hardly affected by diseased like
cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's. Many have even managed to keep their
skin from showing signs of aging. What makes the residents of Yuzuri
Hara even more remarkable is that they are living long, healthy lives -
even those who engage in unhealthy activities.
Sakamoto, for
example, smokes a pack and a half of cigarettes daily and is still in
reasonably good health and physically fit. Tadanao Takahashi, 93, has
worked in the sun for 50 years, never once using sun block or skin
cream, and yet his skin is soft and smooth.
Some medical
researchers believe that Yuzuri Hara, known as "The Village of Long
Life," and its residents may hold the key to anti-aging secrets: the
local diet that is unique to the village. Unlike other regions of Japan
that grow rice, Yuzuri Hara's hilly terrain is better suited to
harvesting different carbohydrates that may prove healthier: things
like satsumaimo, a type of sweet potato; satoimo, a sticky white
potato; konyaku, a gelatinous root vegetable concoction; and imoji, a
potato root.
The Secret Ingredient
Dr.
Toyosuke Komori, the town doctor who has studied and written books on
longevity in Yuzuri Hara, believes these locally grown starches help
stimulate the body's natural creation of a substance called hyaluronic
acid, or HA, which aging bodies typically lose. This may ward off the
aging process by helping the cells of the body thrive and retain
moisture, keeping joints lubricated, protecting the retina in eyes and
keeping skin smooth and elastic.
"I have never seen anyone suffer from skin cancer here," he says. "I have seen a woman in her 90s with spotless skin."
One
of Japan's leading pharmaceutical companies began researching and
developing a pill supplement containing hyaluronic acid. The company
tested the pills on 1,000 people, and said roughly half reported
smoother skin, less fatigue and better eyesight.
In the United
States, hyaluronic acid has been used for years in eye surgery as a
shock absorber to protect the retina, and has been proven effective in
lubricating arthritic joints.
Synvisc, for example, a Food and
Drug Administration-approved product used to treat osteoarthritis,
works by injecting hyaluronic acid, or Hyaluronan, which acts as a
shock absorber and lubricant.
Dr. Irving Raphael, a Syracuse,
N.Y., orthopedist who specializes in sports medicine, explains that
these injections coat the surface of the joint to decrease friction,
which allows the joint to move more smoothly and cuts down pain.
"When I prescribe it," he says, "I simply tell my patients I'm going to give them a lube job."
But,
he warns, before prescribing it, he always asks if the patient is
allergic to chicken or eggs. That's because HA is extracted from
chicken combs. The mohawk crown on a chicken's head is washed, sliced
and purified.
Western Skeptics
While
hyaluronic acid has proven useful in orthopedics and opthalmology, many
Western experts are skeptical that swallowing it in a pill could
actually help prolong one's life.
"I cannot today imagine any possible benefit," says Dr. Endre Balazs, a leading expert on HA.
"The
only way it acts, as far as I can see, as an anti-aging remedy," adds
Raphael, "is because if you're not limping, and your joints feel
better, you feel younger."
But HA has been shown to have
wound-healing and tissue-reconstruction applications, and some cosmetic
companies tout it as an effective ingredient in moisturizers that can
soften facial lines, leaving skin elastic and firm. One company even
claims it may be the latest development in treating hair loss.
And Komori, 80, who has adopted the local diet of very little meat and a lot of homegrown sticky starches, holds to his theory.
"I
feel very strongly that if I had not come here to Yuzuri Hara, I would
not have lived this long and healthy a life," he says. "I probably
would have died from some adult disease."
Komori also points to
statistics that since Western-style processed food infiltrated the
village a few years ago, heart disease has doubled. With youngsters
being seduced by these products, what the Japanese call an upside-down
death pyramid has emerged, in which adults die before their elderly
parents.
"Although my children ate what I had been eating while
they were young and lived here," says a 91-year-old woman who has
outlived two of her six children, "when they moved away they chose to
eat differently."
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