In news that has just brightened up our day no end, scientists have confirmed what we have long hoped: red wine and dark chocolate really could be anti-ageing…
Oh, yes!
A team from the Universities of Exeter and Brighton have discovered that compounds called reversatrol analogues – found in dark chocolate, red wine, blueberries (aka all our favourite things) – can actually make older cells look and behave like younger ones.
After previous research had shown that cells stop dividing and therefore rejuvenating as they age, the team wanted to investigate whether reversatrol analogues could help switch this mechanism back on.
And, after applying the compounds to cells in the lab, researchers found that it worked…
Within hours of treatment, the older cells started behaving like young ones, dividing and rejuvenating.
‘When I saw some of the cells in the culture dish rejuvenating I couldn’t believe it,’ said researcher Dr Eva Latorre in the journal BMC Cell Biology.
‘These old cells were looking like young cells. It was like magic.
‘I repeated the experiments several times and in each case the cells rejuvenated. I am very excited by the implications and potential for this research.’
The team now hope their discovery could lead to therapies designed to help people age better without the degenerative effects of getting old.
Study leader Professor Lorna Harries added: ‘This is a first step in trying to make people live normal lifespans, but with health for their entire life. Our data suggests that using chemicals to switch back on the major class of genes that are switched off as we age might provide a means to restore function to old cells.’
Either way, we are taking this as full licence to wash some dark chocolate down with a glass of red wine tonight!
