Herb shown to slow ageing

A JAPANESE plant traditionally eaten by samurai warriors could hold the secret to anti-ageing, scientists claim.

The ashitaba plant has been used to aid wound healing and prevent infection, and is known as “tomorrow’s leaf” because it grows back so quickly after being cut.

Now, a unique natural compound in the plant has been found to help protect cells and delay ageing in various species and in human cells.

It works by encouraging a “cleansing and recycling” process in cells, removing unwanted cells that can cause disease if allowed to build up.

Researchers said it is a step towards identifying anti-ageing therapies which don’t require people to stick to beneficial but often loathsome diets and habits.

The ashitaba plant has been touted in traditional medicine for extending healthy life and now a study has shown natural compounds in the plant have been found to delay ageing.

The researchers at the University of Graz in Austria, led by Professor Frank Madeo, detected a compound called 4.4’-dimethoxychalcone, otherwise known as DMC, in the leaves of the plant.

Asian folk medicine has long attributed longevity and better health to the plant, full name

angelica keiskei koidzumi, and scientists suspect the chemical could play a role.

“This fuels the expectation that DMC may be therapeutically applicable in humans,” the authors wrote in the journal Nature Communications.

The team started by testing how the substance affected yeast cells, commonly used in experiments to complement animal testing.

They discovered it helped to protect the yeast cells from the effects of ageing, and that the substance performed as well – or even better than – other cell-protecting compounds like resveratrol, which is found in grape skin.

DMC, which has only been reported to possibly help in malaria and leukaemia studies, is not found in any other natural source to the researchers knowledge, making the ashitaba plant particularly special.