Forever Young

By Einav Keet

People, it seems, never abandon the search for the elusive fountain of youth, forever remaining hot on the trail of anything that promises added longevity. While the inevitable end is just a fact of life, new research supports the claim that eating foods rich in polyphenols can slow down the aging process and—some older studies show—may even go so far as to reverse the effects of aging. Green tea, blueberries, and dark chocolate all contain these disease-fighting plant compounds, and now you can add wheat germ and buckwheat to the list.

French and Spanish researchers fed these two grains, which contain naturally high amounts of the anti-aging polyphenols, as supplements to separate groups of prematurely aged mice to see if they reduced oxidative stress, strengthened lagging immune systems, and, in turn, improved lifespan. Compared with the control groups, the mice who received the wheat germ or buckwheat exhibited significantly improved immune system activity—and the researchers found no difference between the two grains.

Enter a comment related to this article

---