Researchers have demonstrated that a compound made in the gut, produced by consuming foods like pomegranate and walnuts, can rejuvenate the immune system in middle age, shielding us from cell damage, inflammation and chronic diseases, including cancer.
Researchers at Germany’s Georg-Speyer-Haus, Institute for Tumor Biology and Experimental Therapy, have spent years investigating the metabolite urolithin A (UA), a natural compound that’s produced by gut bacteria in response to ingested ellagitannins from foods such as pomegranates, almonds, walnuts and some berries.
The new study follows on from a breakthrough in 2022, when the team found that UA induced a biological pathway that rejuvenates the cellular power plants – mitochondria – in T cells, equipping these immune cells with more cancer-fighting might. But it goes far beyond cancer.
“Three years ago, we discovered that urolithin A could powerfully expand a special population of long-lived, anti-tumor T cells in our laboratory models,” said principal investigator Dr Dominic Denk, a physician-scientist at University Medicine Frankfurt. “Our goal was always to translate our findings from the lab into the clinic.”
Natural compound boosts immune system in just 28 days
American Buddhist Net 