Why Age?

Why Don Medea’s Robe?

October 15, 2007 – 8:55 am | by admin

“Alas! The bride had died in horrible agony, for no sooner had she put on Medea’s gifts than a devouring poison consumed her limbs as with fire…“

The messenger in Medea, a Greek tragedy by Euripides 431BC

In Greek mythology Medea was a sorceress infuriated at being replaced in her husband Jason’s affections. Yes, he of Golden Fleece fame. She gave his new bride a robe with special powers. That special power was instant death to the person who put it on.

Our modern world is awash with dangerous chemicals that, while not administering instant death, can accumulate in body tissues over time and cause premature ageing and eventual disease and death.

Prior to World War 2, insecticides were inorganic: based on naturally occurring mineral and plant sources like arsenic, copper, lead and pyrethrum derived from the chrysanthemum flower. Nicotine sulphate was derived from relatives of tobacco and rotenone from an Asian legume.

The research into chemical warfare before and during World War 2 produced an unheralded bonanza: organic pesticides. Boffins tinkering in labs noticed that the compounds they were experimenting with for human destruction had a dramatic effect on insects: killed ’em dead - stone dead, just like the old TV ad promised.

Old chemicals like DDT, first synthesized in Germany in 1874, were looked at anew. Paul Muller of Switzerland won the Nobel Prize for his 1939 discovery of DDT’s powerful insecticidal properties.

The use of the term organic here is in the chemical sense. It means carbon-based. All life forms on Earth are based on carbon. Unlocking the intricacy and interdependence of carbon molecules in the lab has ironically given rise to a huge range of synthetic pesticides.

What has all this to do with ageing?

It’s all about the liver.

This remarkable organ, the body’s largest, has huge responsibilities. Let’s look at them:

• Production of bile for the digestion of fats
• Metabolism of foods we eat. The liver is fed blood supply directly from the digestive tract.
• Storehouse of energy. The liver converts sugar and stores it as glycogen.
• Regulator of energy. The liver carefully releases glycogen as glucose when needed in a way that maintains correct blood glucose levels.
• Builds proteins. These include plasma elements responsible for blood clotting.
• Serum cholesterol maintenance. It’s up to the liver to keep cholesterol in the blood at correct levels.
• Control hormone levels.
• Nutrient storehouse. Vitamins are stored here against future deficiencies.

Phew! No wonder advertisers focus on a tired, overworked or toxin-laden liver as the hook for sales of myriad health products.

• However it is in de-toxification that the liver excels. Human metabolism produces many toxic elements and the liver neutralizes them by removing their nitrogen. Even environmental pollutants are dealt with by this venerable organ.

Take malthion for instance. This chemical pesticide is widely used on food crops such as citrus, grapes, stone fruits and vegetables. All grains in storage in Australia have been sprayed with it since 1960. It is regarded as a “safe” pesticide for use against aphids, scale, mites, and all the other critters that like to share our tasty foods because the human liver can cope with it and break down its dangerous elements.

What isn’t known is what effect pairing of malthion with other dangerous pesticides has on the liver’s ability to de-toxify. It’s likely that the many other chemicals in our environment give supposedly harmless garden poisons like malthion a new and harmful profile and impair the liver‘s ability to deal with it.

I can hear chairs scraping as many of you leap to your feet to check garden sheds and cupboards for malthion and other poisons. That innocuous dust we are encouraged to sprinkle in cracks to “control” ants, for instance. What about the cockroach sprays, and for that matter the stuff we spray and rub onto our skins to keep mozzies away?

Now we are getting to the crux of my story.

It’s time we anti-agers took a good look at the Medean robe we put on and around our bodies because it is up to the poor old liver to deal with all this toxic stuff. While it is doing that it is struggling to perform all its other functions optimally with the result that our cells are undernourished and in decline.

I have no evidence for this but it is my view that petro-chemical stress is a big factor in ageing.

I flinch when I walk down the street behind someone who has washed their hair that morning. Normally, a woman’s tonsorial beauty gets my attention but not when it emits a harsh, toxic chemical plume.

The cleaning and detergent aisle at the supermarket has the same effect on me.

I usually hold my breath as I rush through and grab the one or two items I use for cleaning at home.

As for the cosmetics aisle, forget it.

We can’t control environmental pollutants but we can control the things we put in and on our bodies. And we should, because they age us.

• Food. You’d think I would eat organic foods only but I usually don’t. Independent surveys such as those conducted by the consumer magazine Choice show organic foods vary widely in levels of pesticides and in some cases, have more than regular foods. Until there is one certifying body applying universal standards I will continue to take my chances with regular produce but rinse and scrub them well to reduce pesticide intake. Invest in a salad spinner - it washes thoroughly and you can use the water for plants. I do buy organic canned beans and eggs, however. It’s necessary to support organics or they will disappear from our shelves. If you avoid processed foods with many ingredients you eat lower on the pesticide food chain.
• Domestic cleaners. You don’t need a dozen different products. A bucket of warm water with a bit of eucalyptus oil and possibly some methylated spirits is almost all you will need. There are cleaners based on citrus oil and sugar that are powerful and aromatic for tougher jobs. Bicarbonate of soda mixed with water makes an effective paste cleaner. Chemical cleaners leave a shiny surface residue that might make things seem cleaner but they are not.
• Personal grooming. Read labels. I tried to find a moisturizer that was not based on mineral oil and couldn’t until I found a tea tree based product at the health food store. Likewise a shampoo without 50 harsh chemical ingredients. My search led me to the same tea tree-based brand. As for face scrub, I use almond meal bought cheaply at the supermarket and keep in small quantities in a waterproof jar in the shower. Astringent? Lavender oil, tea tree oil, witch-hazel, and rosewater all work well in any combination mixed with water. Just add a capful of one or each to a screw cap container of water. Moisturizer? My anti mineral oil search led me to the branches of the tea tree and a product that is vegetable (glycerine) based. I do lash out on a more expensive face moisturizer that is plant based and does not have a list of ingredients you need a chemical engineering degree to understand.

Too much trouble?

Remember Medea’s robe. If you want to slow or prevent ageing, reduce the stress petro-chemicals place on the liver by not donning a toxic cloak.