The Latest Anti-aging Strategies  

As medical and health science has evolved, more and more anti-aging strategies have come into vogue. This trend will only continue as the baby boomers come closer to retirement age, which will start to happen shortly after 2010. Expect the number of people who seek anti aging treatments to dramatically increase. Although woman have traditionally been more inclined to seek anti-aging treatments and programs, men will increasingly seek this avenue as well. Some antiaging strategies are more cosmetic while other focus primarily on longevity.

Not all baby boomers discern between longevity and the appearance of youthfulness, but most seek treatments that are based on aesthetic concerns. After all, he Baby Boomers are starting to get wrinkles, losing their hair (or at least suffering from greying hair) wear reading glasses and experiencing stiffer joints and a reduction in stamina. And they desire anti-aging treatments more than any previous generation. It has generally been accepted that the baby boom generation was more appearence-focused that the preceding generation and this is obviously an extension of that self awareness.

One item that people have reached for as an anti-aging formula called Botox, which is derived from the same botulin toxin that is found in spoiled various foods. A sterile version of this, called Botulinum toxin type A is what physicians use to eliminate or at least improve wrinkles. While Botox is one way of fighting aging of the skin, a number of other skin care products on the market are designed to combat the fact that the body loses it's ability to produce new collagen and elastin as it ages and the cells in the different layers of our skin thin over time, loosing their inherent ability to adequately maintain moisture. One such skin care treatment is Hyaluronic acid, sometimes called Hyaluronan. Usually taken orally, HA is found naturally in the body as part of the connective tissue which is used to cushion as well as lubricate.

However, we lose natural HA in our bodies as we age. It was used previously to inject in the knees or joints of athletes who lost cartilege in the affected area but only recently has it been taken orally. ABC News has focused on the possible benefits of HA with a report called, "The Village of Long Life: Could Hyaluronic Acid Be an Anti-Aging Remedy?". It was revealed that there exists a small coastal town in Japan called Yuzuri Hara where people often live a long time and often have flawless skin well into their eightees or even ninetees. Since that newscast, several companies have put HA products on the market. HA can also be found naturally in a few foods.
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