With a year which has shook many to their cores, making your health a priority has never been more important. Adding years to your life, helping with the ageing process and reducing your risk of many dangerous diseases could be as simple as sipping on a delicious beverage.
All our cells are filled with small energy generators called mitochondria – but when mitochondria become old, they become less-efficient, and even possibly toxic.
Old mitochondria are recycled by the cell into new mitochondria – and this, in turn, is mitophagy.
With age, this recycling progress slows down which can lead to muscle weakness.
Scientists have discovered pomegranates contain a substance called urolithin A.
This is the first and only known compound that can re-establish mitochondria.
It is a fact of life that skeletal muscles begin to lose strength and mass once a person reaches the age of 50, said Medical Xpress.
The health site added: “A recent clinical trial involving two EPFL entities—spin-off Amazentis and the Laboratory of Integrative Systems Physiology (LISP) – showed that urolithin A, a compound derived from biomolecules found in fruits such as pomegranates, could slow down this process by improving the functioning of mitochondria—the cells’ powerhouses.
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“Therefore, Urolithin A, a metabolite of biomolecules found in pomegranates and other fruits, could help slow the ageing processes.”
Drinking pomegranate juice has also been shown to provide a buffer against the world’s most life-threatening diseases.
The juice has been shown to offer protection against cancer and heart disease.
Take prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men in the UK.
From what is understood about the cancer, the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a blood marker for prostate cancer.
Men whose PSA levels double in a short period of time are at an increased risk of death from prostate cancer.
Studies have found that drinking eighty ounces (237 ml) of pomegranate juice per day slowed down the PSA doubling time from 15 months to 54 months, thereby reducing the risk of prostate cancer.
Source: Daily Express
