GIBSONTON (FOX 13) -

Some people spend hours in the gym and watch their diet, all to look and feel better. But others say they're slowing the aging process by taking a simple pill, and the research behind it has ties to the Tampa Bay area.

Zebra Fish raised at Gibsonton's Segrest Farms were used to help researchers learn more about diseases affecting humans.

"Adult fish have a really impressive ability to regenerate not just injured cells, but neuro cells, like neurons, and that's come under the spotlight for Alzheimer's research and other degenerative diseases," says Marketing Director Mike Tuccinardi. "Their chromosomes are similar to humans."

That ability to regenerate comes from the tip of their chromosomes: protective caps like the ends of a shoelace secure each end. Those caps are called telomeres, and are the reason some patients swear by a supplement called TA-65.

Dr. Marvin Lagstein, 65, says, "I feel good. I think that I look better than my age, and to me -- I just have a sense that it's working."

Lagstein, 69, is a dentist. Every day, he pops a capsule filled with an energy boosting herb used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Dr. Florence Comite also buys it and says, " It's not quite the fountain of youth in a pill -- but what it does do, is it protects the DNA ."

As babies, we also have protective caps on our chromosomes. As we age, they unravel. Telomeres shorten, possibly exposing cells to damage.

TA-65 supporters claim the supplement not only stops the telomeres from getting shorter, it actually grows them back.

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Anti-aging supplement research has Tampa bay ties