For age with strong musclesand tonics, eat pomegranates. The message is a little trivial but illustrates well the challenge of the discovery made by researchers from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne in Switzerland and the Amazentis company. The study published in the journal Nature Medicine attributes the anti-aging “power” of pomegranate to a molecule in the fruit, ellagitin. Once the pomegranate has been absorbed, the consumer’s intestinal bacteria transform this molecule into urolithin A. This compound resulting from metabolism helps preserve the proper functioning of mitochondria, the “energy factories” of the cells of our body, as well as the muscles. The rest of the equation is simple: the age-related decrease in muscle mass (sarcopenia) and subsequent decline in physical ability.
The anti-aging effects of pomegranate through urolithin A have been identified in worms and rodents. The grenade made it possible to lengthen the lifespan of the worms by 45%. The mice displayed “42% higher running endurance than the control group,” explain the study authors.
“A new way against muscle degeneration”
These results leave researchers wondering who imagine one day that the pomegranate constitutes a natural lead for prevent loss of muscle mass and slow cellular aging without therapeutic intervention. “The EPFL researchers’ approach opens up a radically new avenue for combating muscle degeneration and, possibly, other effects of aging,” the study concludes.
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