Janelle Tam, Canadian Teen, Discovers Anti-Aging Properties In Tree Pulp

We've seen teens devise potential cures for cancer, build nuclear reactors and use musical instruments as inspiration for the creation of low-cost landmind detectors -- all before receiving their high school diplomas. And now, the latest in a line of unbelievable teen scientists has made another major breakthrough. Sixteen-year-old Janelle Tam has discovered that cellulose, a material found in trees that helps them stand up straight, is an antioxidant with potent anti-aging properties.

Tam's study of minute particles in tree pulp known as nano-crystalline cellulose (NCC) led to an "a-ha"! moment for the young innovator -- she had unearthed a super-durable material that had the power to fight disease and prevent aging. This unbelievable discovery won Tam the 2012 Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada, a national competition for young scientists.

Click here for more information about the Santofil BioGENEius Challenge Canada.

NCC is similar to antioxidants Vitamin C and Vitamin E in terms of its ability to fight damaging free-radicals, but it may even be superior insofar as it is more stable and therefore potentially longer-lasting.

"It would be really nice to commercialise this," Tam told AFP. "I envision it more as an ingredient that would be added to existing formulations, so it could be added to tablets or bandaids for a wound dressing or it could be added to cosmetic cream."

Her game-changing innovation -- which could literally shape the face of the anti-aging product industry -- earned Tam a a $5,000 award from the National Research Council of Canada.

In addition to Tam, 12 other bright high school juniors and seniors total were selected to competed in the national finals, with experiments guided by the competition's theme, "How will you change the world?" Second-place winner Rui Song developed advances into the creation of more nutritious lentils, and third place was awarded to Alexander Tigert and Zelun Zhang, who used genetically-modified baker's yeast to test the effects of drug treatments for depression and anxiety.

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Comments

[picMic]

02:29 AM on 08/26/2012

How do you know that it was not her dad

[Ralph Lyndes Daughter]

10:21 PM on 05/13/2012

To one Canadian from another, Congratulations. How very proud your parents must be of/for you to have put action behind thought and onto improving theory. May you have a long fulfilled life in whatever career path you choose. Well done Ms Tam.

[JubieJewels]

08:19 AM on 05/11/2012

There goes all our trees!
Very smart girl, though!

[humaneisfact]

10:27 AM on 05/14/2012

you may be more right than you think :( But I'm sure they have tree farms and renewal programs in mind(we can hope).

[wilddogg]

11:47 PM on 05/10/2012

good work!!! any anti-aging discovery helps us all!

[omegasseekerr]

06:56 PM on 05/10/2012

There must be some reason why Beavers and Termites don't live amazingly long lives. Our distant ancestors, just as Chimps do today, ate Termites which ate tree pulp all the time. Termites actuually would be a good source of protein if we could get past the "yuck!" factor. . But did we live longer then we would have otherwise back then because of that diet?

[psandysdad]

04:04 PM on 05/10/2012

Not to rain on any parades, but humans don't eat wood or leaves from trees. That's 'cellulose'.

However, the manufacturers of cheap Parmesan cheese-----the kind you shake out of the plastic jar onto your spaghetti sauce-----stuff it with cellulose to 'prevent caking'.

So they're putting wood in your cheese. How appetizing. But if it helps me live longer because of the cellulose, maybe I should go out and binge on the stuff.

[mario andretti]

05:30 PM on 05/15/2012

Actually we take in a lot of cellulose from plants and the small intestine has bacteria to break it down as it passes through the large intestine nearly untouched.