科學家報告了首份證據表明食用蘋果中的一種有益健康的抗氧化物質能夠延長試驗動物的平均壽命大約10%。從果蠅——每年許多科研項目使用果蠅代替人類——身上獲得的這些新結果支持了其他動物試驗中關於蘋果抗氧化劑的類似發現。這項研究發表在了美國化學學會(ACS)的《農業與食品化學雜誌》(Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry)上。
Zhen-Yu Chen及其同事指出,人體產生的具有破壞性的物質——稱為自由基——導致了一些不受歡迎的變化,這些變化被認為參與了衰老和一些疾病的過程。稱為抗氧化劑的物質能夠應對這種破壞。飲食中的水果和蔬菜,特別是西紅柿、西蘭花、藍莓和蘋果等顏色鮮豔的食物,是抗氧化劑的優秀來源。此前對其他實驗動物的研究提示,一種蘋果的抗氧化劑可能延長平均壽命。在當前的這份報告中,這組科研人員研究了蘋果的稱為多酚的各種抗氧化劑是否能夠對果蠅起同樣的作用。
這組科研人員發現,蘋果多酚不僅延長了果蠅的平均壽命,還有助於保存它們的行走、攀登和移動的能力。此外,蘋果多酚逆轉了老年果蠅的多種生物化學物質的濃度,這些生物化學物質被視為與年齡有關的惡化和接近死亡的標記物。Chen及其同事指出,這些結果支持了來自其他研究的發現,包括一項常吃蘋果的女性的心臟病風險降低了13%-22%的發現,並且刷新了蘋果作為一種健康食品的公眾形象。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推薦原文出處:
J. Agric. Food Chem., 2011, 59 (5), pp 2097–2106
Apple Polyphenols Extend the Mean Lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster
Cheng Peng?, Ho Yin Edwin Chan?, Yu Huang?, Hongjian Yu#, and Zhen-Yu Chen*
AbstractApple polyphenols (AP) are an excellent source of dietary antioxidants. The present study investigated the effect of AP on the lifespan of fruit flies and their interaction with gene expressions of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), methuselah (MTH), Rpn11, and cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) subunits III and VIb. Results showed the mean lifespan was significantly extended by 10% in fruit flies fed the AP diet. This was accompanied by up-regulation of genes SOD1, SOD2, and CAT and down-regulation of MTH in the aged fruit flies. Paraquat and H2O2 challenge tests demonstrated that AP prolonged the survival time only for Oregon R wild type flies but not for SODn108 or Catn1 mutants, in which either SOD or CAT was knocked out. Chronic paraquat exposure could shorten the maximum lifespan from 68 to 31 days and reduce the climbing ability by 60%, whereas AP could partially reverse the paraquat-induced mortality and decline in climbing ability. AP could up-regulate Rpn11 at day 30, whereas it appeared to have no significant effect on gene expression of ubiquitinated protein, CcO subunits III and VIb. These AP-induced changes were unlikely associated with caloric restriction as the gustatory assay found no difference in average body weight and stomach redness index between the control and AP fruit flies. It was therefore concluded that the antiaging activity of AP was, at least in part, mediated by its interaction with genes SOD, CAT, MTH, and Rpn11.
Keywords: apple polyphenols; lifespan; fruit fly; antioxidant; paraquat; climbing ability