Forget shady drugstore creams and lotions with questionable ingredients — if you’re looking for antiaging effects, look no further than your diet. According to a new study, a compound created in the stomach after eating certain types of fruit and nuts has an antiaging effect on humans. The compound, called urolithin A (UA), is produced in the gut from biomolecules called ellagitannins, found in a number of fruits and nuts. Researchers found ellagitannins are converted to UA in the gut, which was found to slow down the mitochondrial aging process. There is one catch: Not everyone naturally produces the compound during digestion.
![antiaging]()
To conduct the study, researchers gave 60 healthy elderly participants various doses of synthesized UA. Single doses up to 2,000 mg per day for 28 days showed no negative impacts on health, but were found to stimulate mitochondrial biogenesis — the same benefit that results from regular exercise. According to the study, UA is the only known compound that can restore the ability of the body’s cells to recycle defective mitochondria, which offers a potential way to reverse the skeletal muscle mass loss and general tissue weakening that often comes with age.
Unfortunately, you need certain gut bacteria to accomplish this, which not everyone has. If your gut doesn’t produce UA, you may not experience the same mitochondria-recycling benefits from eating pomegranates and other fruits and nuts. Researchers hope to market a UA product in the near future. But you can load up on ellagitannins by adding strawberries, black raspberries, walnuts, pomegranates and almonds to your diet.
Even if your gut doesn’t produce UA, there are plenty of other benefits to adding pomegranates to your diet. The tropical fruit offers three times the antioxidant activity of both red wine and green tea. It’s been shown to lower blood pressure, help prevent atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease and even help prevent prostate cancer. The powerful antioxidants in pomegranates can also help prevent inflammation and naturally reduce pain. When you add pomegranates to your diet, you’re also providing your body with vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, potassium, copper and manganese. Together, these nutrients can help protect your cells against damage, including damage caused by aging.