The herbal extract of a yellow-flowered mountain plant long used for stress relief was found to increase the lifespan of fruit fly populations by an average of 24 percent, according to UC Irvine researchers.
But it’s how Rhodiola rosea, also known as golden root, did this that grabbed the attention of study leaders. They discovered that Rhodiola works in a manner completely unrelated to dietary restriction and affects different molecular pathways.
This is significant, said Mahtab Jafari, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, because dietary restriction is considered the most robust method of improving lifespan in laboratory animals, and scientists have been scrambling to identify compounds that can mimic its effects.
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A new herbal extract found to increase the Fruit Fly's lifespan by almost 25 percent
