Lead researcher Johan Auwerx, from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, said: “We believe this research is a milestone in current anti-ageing efforts… and illustrates the opportunity of rigorously tested nutritional bioactive agents that we consider to have outstanding potential for human health”. “It is a completely natural substance, and its effect is powerful and measurable”, said Patrick Aebischer from EPFL as researchers tested their hypothesis on the nematode C elegans.
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The scientists discovered that urolithin A, or UA for short, is responsible for re-establishing a cell’s ability to salvage and restore its failing mitochondria. The degradation affects nearly all tissue including muscles consequently degrading and weakening over time. We still don’t know what effect this compound will have on humans, but there’s good reason to believe it will work, at least to some degree. It is a favourite test subject among ageing experts, because after just 8-10 days it is already considered elderly, they said.
Researchers also found that feeding urolithin A to roundworms increases its eight-to-day lifespan by over 45 percent, Express noted. With mice, there was similar evidence that a robust cellular recycling process took place.
In the rodent studies, older mice, around two years of age, exposed to urolithin A showed 42 per cent better endurance while running than equally old mice in the control group. That molecule is converted into urolithin A by the microbes that inhabit the intestine.
However, the pomegranate fruit does not help directly but it has the “miracle molecule” that can act as a precursor.
Because of this, the amount of urolithin A produced can vary widely, depending on the species of animal and the flora present in the gut microbiome. Some people may not be able to produce any UA at all, regardless of how many pomegranates they consume.
Those microbes living in your stomach are the ones with the power to convert pomegranates’ ellagitannins into urolitihin A. If you don’t have the right combination of gut bacteria needed to process pomegranates’ ellagitannins, chances are you won’t enjoy the fruit’s anti-ageing capabilities. Early human clinical trials are expected to begin in 2017.
“This clinical study also evaluates the safety of different doses of urolithin A. Additionally, we are evaluating certain biomarkers of mitochondrial function in this study”.
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Cris Rinsch, co-author and CEO of Amazentis, adds that precursors to urolithin A are found not only in pomegranates but also in smaller amounts in many nuts and berries. When, via digestion, a substance is produced that is of benefit to us, natural selection favors both the bacteria involved and their host.
