The Washington Post by Christa Sgobba
by Christa Sgobba
If you enjoy dark chocolate or coffee, or both, you may be benefiting from a substance found in these products that is linked to a reduction in cellular aging.
A study published this month in the journal Aging found that people with higher blood levels of an alkaloid called theobromine seemed to have slower cellular aging as measured by “epigenetic clocks,” models that estimate aging based on molecular biomarkers. Most abundant in cocoa, theobromine is also found in smaller amounts in coffee and tea.
But before you start eating more dark chocolate and drinking more cups of coffee, know that the study found an association, not a causal link, and that it didn’t suggest how much you would have to eat or drink to potentially derive an aging-related benefit.
The facts:
• The researchers used data from participants in two groups: 509 women from the TwinsUK cohort; and 1,160 men and women from the KORA group in Germany. Both groups had an average age of 60.
• They measured the amount of theobromine in the participants’ blood and analyzed their DNA using models that estimate aging based on molecular biomarkers.
• The researchers discovered that higher levels of theobromine in the blood was associated with a reduced pace of aging, as seen by two of these “clocks.”
• When the team investigated whether other substances in dark chocolate had that effect, they found the link persisted only with theobromine.
Can dark chocolate really affect cellular aging?Much of how we age is determined by our genes. But epigenetic factors such as our behaviors, environments and diets can turn some genes on or shut others off through different processes. One such mechanism is DNA methylation, the focus of the new study.
“What we were looking for here are the chemical ‘tags’ that can be added onto your DNA,” said Jordana Bell, a professor in epigenomics at King’s College London and the lead author of the study.
Consider it the “grammar” of your genome, said José M. Ordovás, a senior scientist and leader of the Precision Nutrition & Healthy Aging directive at Tufts University who was not involved in the study. These markers don’t alter the fixed sequence of your DNA, but the tags (like punctuation marks) affect how they are expressed, he said.
DNA methylation patterns also shift with age, allowing for the development of epigenetic clocks that estimate biological (rather than chronological) age.
More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/diet/ar-AA1T4kXB
