Interestingly, like people with Down syndrome, they also have hyaluronic acid abnormalities and tend to be low in magnesium. While it may make for a good TV show, I doubt that the answer to long life is as simple as just hyaluronic acid. It is interesting to note, however, that hyaluronic acid abnormalities are a key feature of many of the premature aging syndromes, indicating that they may well be a factor in the disorder. People with Down syndrome, who, as noted above, usually have have hyaluronic acid abnormalities, also tend to be afflicted with both premature aging syndromes and mitral valve prolapse . Perhaps defective hyaluronic acid is the common link as to why people with Down syndrome develop both conditions, and perhaps their low levels of magnesium and zinc are causative factors in their hyaluronic acid abnormalities.
Science is the knowledge of consequences, and the dependence of facts upon one another.
Thomas Hobbes Return to top Rheumatic Fever and Mitral Valve Prolapse People often develop mitral valve prolapse and other heart ailments after contracting rheumatic fever. It may be in part because the bacteria that cause rheumatic fever emit an enzyme called hyaluronidase. Hyaluronidase breaks down hyaluronic acid . By dissolving the associations between the hyaluronic acid cells in connective tissue, bacteria can move through tissues that would otherwise pose a barrier to the spread of the organism. So if bacteria enter the body by breaking down hyaluronic acid in heart valves, perhaps that is why the valves then become defective.