You look just dynamite, darling

24.10.34: A NEW STUDY has revealed an explosive approach to staying young: taking regular doses of nitroglycerine, the chemical once used to make dynamite.

Over a 20-year period, 1,000 patients were given the nitroglycerine-based drug Oxivite. It was found that those taking part in the trial suffered far less from inflammatory diseases, such as arthritis, and lived far longer than was typical for their age group.

The makers, the international biotech company NBT, had hoped to persuade the former actress Kate Moss to take part in new trials of the compound, with a view to becoming its global face when it is launched in two or three years' time. But Moss, 60, who was a supermodel at the turn of the century, has recently become a Buddhist and prefers, she says, "to age naturally".

Moss did, however, endorse the anti-ageing drug Elixir, which she is thought to have been using since it was introduced on to the market in 2015.

Oxivite is not, in fact, a pharmaceutical drug. Dr Pietro Churniewicz, of the William Harvey Research Institute in London, explains how it works: "We age because our antioxidants become less effective in fighting off the effects of free radicals. Oxivite simply encourages the body's natural protective systems."

Nitroglycerine plays a crucial role in overcoming the ageing process by jump-starting these systems. It stimulates an enzyme called heme oxygenase, which in turn triggers the release of one of the body's own antioxidants, called bilirubin, as well as anti-inflammatory chemicals. JB