The vitamin that reverses ageing could make a trip to Mars a reality

AUSTRALIAN scientists have found a vitamin that reverses the ageing process. Human trials are to start and the scientists are taking the drug.

A DRUG that could reverse the ageing process and make space travel possible will be trialled on humans this year and could be on the market in 2020.

Australian scientists have found a vitamin, nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), that helps cells repair DNA damage and it’s so good they are taking the pill themselves.

Middle aged mice given the vitamin lived 20 per cent longer and were able to run faster.

“The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice, after just one week of treatment,” said Professor David Sinclair of UNSW School of Medical Sciences and Harvard Medical School Boston.

“This is the closest we are to a safe and effective anti-ageing drug that’s perhaps only three to five years away from being on the market if the trials go well.”

In a paper published in Science today, the researchers identify a critical step in the molecular process that allows cells to repair damaged DNA.

Research by University NSW scientists Prof Sinclair and Dr Lindsay Wu into the substance won NASA’s iTech competition in December last year because of its potential use in the planned 2025 mission to Mars.

The vitamin could help astronauts survive the trip to Mars. Picture: Thinkstock

Accelerated ageing caused by cosmic radiation, mental impairment and increased risk of cancer are pitfalls of space travel.

On a trip to Mars five per cent of the astronauts’ cells will die affecting their mental and physical capacity.

It’s hoped this vitamin might be able to reverse that damage says Dr Wu.

Back on earth the medicine promises to help every human defy the ageing process and stay healthy and it has potential to overcome the terrible side effects of cancer radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

It’s also been found to treat Type 2 diabetes and restore vision following eye damage in animals.

University NSW researcher Dr Lindsay Wu, pictured in his laboratory, is taking the anti-ageing pill. Picture: Stephen Cooper

A separate Japanese study showed mice given NMN gained less weight with ageing even when they consumed more food perhaps because their boosted metabolism used more energy.

Dr Wu, aged 33, is not old but says he has been taking the vitamin pill for a year.

“I am using it, I’m not supposed to take it but I feel just fine, there are no side effects,” he said.

“I take it out of intellectual curiosity.”

However, he said the general population should not use it until it has been property tested in clinical trials.

The drug will be trialled on humans later year and could be on the market in three years’ time. Picture: Thinkstock

And when clinical trials are complete it won’t be on the market to treat ageing, instead it is likely to be used as a therapy to treat the side effects of cancer radiotherapy.

“The big problem is that regulatory authorities don’t recognise ageing as a disease even though you lose memory, you lose movement and it gives you cancer,” he says.

To get approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration NMN will have to be registered to treat a recognised disease like the side effects of radiation.

Things could be about to change though. A US trial is underway to test whether the diabetes drug metformin can extend human life and prevent cancer because of evidence it expands lifespan in animals.

“The makers of Metformin will be the first to push the FDA to recognise ageing, change is in the air,” says Dr Wu.

The discovery of the vitamin developed out of research into the famed life extending qualities of the molecule resveratrol found in red wine.

Research into the molecule resveratrol found in red wine started the anti-ageing discovery. Picture: ThinkStock

HOW IT WORKS

NMN works on the same biological pathway as resveratrol.

Every time we go out into the sun our DNA is damaged but our body repairs the damage, however as we age our body’s ability to do the repairs declines, Dr Wu explains.

A vitamin Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) present in every cell boosts the body’s ability to repair cells but it declines by 60 per cent as we age or when we are exposed to radiation.

“If you can boost NAD+ you can boost DNA repair,” he says.

The research found that if you treated mice with a NAD+ precursor, or “booster,” called NMN it improved their cells’ ability to repair DNA damage caused by radiation exposure or old age.

Originally published as The vitamin that reverses ageing could make a trip to Mars a reality