Medicinal plant researcher This root extract has a life-prolonging effect

Vielblütiger Knöterich: Live longer by root extract from Chinese medicinal plant

The root of the many-flowered knotweed has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries as a medicinal plant. Also in this country extracts and powders of this plant are offered as dietary supplements. The funds should have a rejuvenating effect. In one study it has now been shown that the extract from the plant can actually lead to a longer life - at least for worms.

Increase life expectancy through healthy lifestyle

Health experts repeatedly point out that life expectancy can be significantly prolonged by a healthy lifestyle. It can help to follow some simple rules: not smoking, avoiding overweight, avoiding regular exercise, a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, low in red meat and excessive consumption of alcohol. Maybe even exotic medicinal plants could help to prolong life. At least for worms this works, as it was shown in a study.

Healthy living increases life expectancy. Maybe a root extract from a Chinese medicinal plant could contribute to a longer life. At least with worms this works. (Image: Robert Kneschke / fotolia.com)

Rejuvenating and especially beneficial to health

The many-flowered knotweed has been enjoying great popularity for a long time.

Numerous suppliers sell extracts and powders of this plant as a dietary supplement and advertise so that the funds are supposed to rejuvenate and especially beneficial to health.

Scientifically-based studies on the effects, however, have so far only a few.

"Most of the studies focused only on the main active ingredient of the plant extract," explained nutritionist Prof. Dr. med. Wim Wätjen from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in a statement.

"In fact, it is made up of many different substances, but their combined effectiveness has not yet been much explored," says the expert, whose research group has been researching the plant, its ingredients and their potential effects for several years.

Longer life by root extract of the Vielblütige Knöterichs

As the scientists from Halle have now been able to show in a new study, a root extract of the multi-flowered knotweed allows the threadworm C. elegans to live longer and protects it from oxidative stress.

The research team thus provides scientifically sound evidence for the efficacy of this extract, which is mainly used in traditional Chinese medicine and as a dietary supplement.

At the same time, the experts describe for the first time molecular signaling pathways that could underlie the action of the extract.

The study was recently published in the international journal "Plants".

Checked anti-aging effects

The researchers had examined in the study whether the often advertised anti-aging effects can actually be detected.

For this they administered a high amount of the extract to the roundworm C. elegans, a commonly used model organism in the biology and life sciences.

"Most studies so far have examined the effects of the plant on isolated cells or in a test tube, and we wanted to study them in the living organism," Wätjen explained.

For the highest concentration, 1,000 micrograms per milliliter, the scientists were able to observe various effects: The lifetime of the worms extended by almost 19 percent. For C. Elegans that's an increase of about three days.

In two further short tests, the researchers investigated to what extent the agent also protects the worms from oxidative stress or heat stress.

It showed that the extract does not improve the survival rate of worms in heat, but reduces the formation of harmful oxygen radicals and protects the animals significantly better from increased oxidative stress.

In the next step, the tests were repeated with worms whose genetic material had been deliberately altered at certain points. This has eliminated the function of special proteins that are central to aging.

"If the genes for the formation of the proteins DAF-16 or Sir-2.1 were defective, the positive effects of the root extract were significantly lower," summarized Wätjen. By the way, longer lifetimes could only be observed if all proteins were functioning properly.

"This confirms that aging is a complex process that depends on many factors," says Wätjen.

New insights can not be transferred directly to humans

As stated in the communication, the results of the new work fit well into the current study situation: a main component of the root extract is a substance that has a similar structure to resveratrol.

"This substance is found in grapes, for example, and he is known to activate a special class of enzymes called sirtuins. These have long been among the most important substances that control aging processes in the body, "explains Wätjen.

The new study provides evidence on the interventions of herbal ingredients in basic mechanisms and signaling pathways of aging that can serve as a basis for further research.

However, the findings can not be transferred directly to humans.

According to Wätjen, the basic principles and signaling pathways in other organisms may be similar, but whether the effects observed in C. Elegans can also be detected in other living things, should be clarified in subsequent studies.

In Halle, the protective effect of the extract in relation to the development of plaques in the context of Alzheimer's disease will also be investigated in the future. (Ad)