Astara Age Defying Complex has a number of amino acids and quite a few botanicals. All very nice, but none of them make this potion a stand out and I was about to give it a miss. Putting off my morning run, I went back to the ingredients list this morning. Right near the end, there is something called adenosine triphosphate. After a bit of research I think this ingredient is enough to make Astara Age Defying Complex worth getting to know.

Adenosine triphosphate (or ATP) is the main energy source for the majority of cellular - and muscular - functions. This includes the synthesis of DNA.Living things use ATP like a battery - storing and using energy when needed and, it seems, in complex ways (a sprinter will use ATP very differently from a marathon runner). The ATP molecule is composed of three components.  At the centrer is a sugar molecule, ribose(the same sugar that forms the basis of DNA).  There is a base (a group consisting of linked rings of carbon and nitrogen atoms); in this case the base is adenine. The third is a string of phosphate groups. These phosphates are the key to the activity of ATP.

Oral supplements of ATP are sold to bodybuilders. What of topical application? Topical use of adenosine for wound healing deficiencies and diabetes mellitus has produced promising results and in 2009 researchers found that direct intracellular delivery of ATP can accelerate the healing process of skin wounds at an “extremely fast” speed “never seen or reported in the past”.

Anyway, I can delay no more. I'm off to make use of my own ATP (neither as a sprinter or marathon runner, but as a humble jogger).