The ruby red key to longer life

Pomegranates slow down the ageing process by prompting cells to recycle and rebuild themselves, Swiss researchers have shown. The ruby red fruit was revered by the ancients as a “food of the gods”, but it has taken until now for scientists to identify the precise chemical that holds the key to staying youthful. Researchers in Switzerland have now alighted on a single molecule — urolithin A — which they believe drives a process called mitophagy, allowing parts of the cell that become defective to be cleared away, making way for replacements. However humans can only benefit from the anti-ageing chemical if they possess the rig sort of bacteria in their gut. The microbes are needed to convert the fruit’s raw ingredient into urolithin A. Researchers investigating the molecule fed it to mice as part of their diet and found it increased their eight-to-10-day lifespan by more than 45 per cent. The scientists have already set up a company, Amazentis, to exploit the discovery, and early clinical trials testing finely calibrated doses of the molecule in human patients are underHwoawyeinvear,nhuumbaenrsofcEaunronpley-benoeffihteafrltohmbtehnefiatnsthi-avge an hospitals. The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine. A host ainlrgecahdeymical been linked to pomegranates with varying degrees of evidence. The fruit is pacinkepdowmitehgraanntaiotxeisdaifntthseaynpdois sess said to reduce the risk of heart disease and fight inflammation and arthritis, imthperorvigehmt esomrot royf, boaocstet reixaeirnctisheeir performance and combat prostate cancer.