Reprinted from a synopsis of an article which appeared on ABC's 20/20 show, featuring Connie Chung.
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.
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.”
