Multivitamins didn’t help ward off chronic disease in two new clinical trials, adding to a large body of evidence that has shown the supplements to have no health benefits – and even some risks in certain cases. Jeanne Whalen reports. Photo: AP.

Multivitamins Found to Have Little Benefit

AUSTRALIAN researchers have found what could become the elixir of life - a chemical compound that can reverse ageing.

The discovery of nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) by University of NSW researchers could lead to new treatments for ageing, cancer`, type 2 diabetes and muscle wasting and inflammatory diseases within five to ten years.

Human trials of the compound that turns back ageing by improving communication between parts of a cell could start as early as next year.

The only hiccup is the cure is unaffordable for most people because it costs $1,000 per gram.

The research used the equivalent of 500mg of NMN for every kilogram of body weight per day.

This means the substance would cost the average 86 kilogram man $43,000 a day and the average 71 kilogram woman $35,000 a day.

Lead researcher University of NSW Professor David Sinclair says he soon hopes to find a way to produce it more cheaply.

The compound is fast acting and could also benefit healthy people by making them super charged.

Just a week after older mice were injected with the compound they had improvements in their muscles that made them indistinguishable from younger animals.

"It's something like a 60 year old being similar to a 20 year old on some measures," says University NSW pharmacologist and co-author Dr Nigel Turner.

Very old mice that were the equivalent of a human aged 85 also benefited from the substance with their body improving to be like that of a 40 year old.

"If those results stand, then ageing may be a reversible condition, if it is caught early", says Professor Sinclair who is based at Harvard Medical School.

Underpinning the breakthrough is the discovery that when there is a communication breakdown between the mitochondria, the battery pack of a cell, and the nucleus of the cell ageing accelerates.

A chemical called NAD is central to kick starting this cellular communication process but it begins to decline as we age.

The only way to combat the decline in NAD is excessive calorie restriction and intensive exercise.

In a research paper published in the journal Cell today the researchers report they have found that NMN injected into an animal body transforms into NAD to repair the broken communication channels.

This compound mimics the effect of diet and exercise.

"It was shocking how quickly it happened," says Dr Nigel Turner.

"If the compound is administered early enough in the ageing process, in just a week, the muscles of older mice were indistinguishable from the younger animals," he said.

The research is also examining another molecule called HIF-1 that also interferes with cellular communication and has a role in cancer.

This molecule is switched on in many cancers and researchers have now found it also switches on as we age.

"We become cancer-like in our ageing process," says Professor Sinclair.

"This may explain why the greatest risk of cancer is age," he says.

Professor Sinclair has previously been behind research that found resveratrol a substance found in red wine and certain nuts, made an anti-ageing gene SIRT1 run faster.

This new compound, NMN, activates all seven of the sirtuin genes implicated in longevity.

Further studies will test whether NMN leads to mice living longer lives, whether it helps them lose weight or has any side effects.

Professor Sinclair stresses that although NMN is a naturally occurring "I wouldn't advise anyone to take it until we know it is safe, we wouldn't want any surprises".

*NMN could also have a role in treating and preventing:

CANCER

TYPE 1 and 2 diabetes

MUSCULAR dystrophy

MUSCLE wasting diseases

INFLAMMATORY diseases

RARE mitochondrial diseases