According to a recent published study, eating plenty of foods high in a compound called Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) such as broccoli, cabbage and avocado maybe able to slow down the aging process among older people.
Studies on older mice that were given the compound slowed down physical aging and gave the mice increased metabolism. It helped strengthen their muscles and bones, improving liver and eye sight function and reducing body weight and increasing their physical activity levels.
Health in humans depends on our ability to be able to manufacture and use energy but as we age our cells' ability to produce energy decreases. Although scientists are unsure why this occurs they suspect the steady decline in the body's energy supply is a key driver of the aging process.
In this study it showed that NMN helped in compensating for this loss of energy production.
Mice of different ages were given NMN but only the older mice showed noticeable improvements. This is because in young mice they still produce plenty of NMN on their own so don't need anymore. However in older mice as their body's ability to produce NMN declines then getting this important compound from another source becomes much more important and the benefits show up.
Dr Shin-ichiro Imai, of the Washington University School of Medicine in the U.S. said, "We have shown a way to slow the physiologic decline that we see in aging mice. This means older mice have metabolism and energy levels resembling that of younger mice. Since human cells rely on this same energy production process, we are hopeful this will translate into a method to help people remain healthier as they age."
The study also discovered that those mice given NMN gained less weight with aging even when consuming more food probably due to the increase in their metabolism which in turn gave them more energy to perform physical activity.
Those behind these findings hope that this will path the way to clinical trials for a human study and a stepping stone to help slow down or even halt the aging process.
The study was published in the journal Cell Metabolism.
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