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A Plant to Keep Us Young

Melinda Wenner
creosote bush.jpg

Scientists have been on the hunt for anti-aging medicines since time eternal. A newly tested compound derived from a desert plant appears to be the most promising yet, according to new research.

Richard Miller, a pathologist at the University of Michigan, and his colleagues are in the midst of testing up to two dozen potential anti-aging medicines on mice. One compound they have recently started studying, called NDGA, seems to have a magical effect: male mice fed NDGA in addition to a normal diet survive in greater numbers than other mice. (For some reason,the compound has no effect on females.)

This compound is derived from the desert creosote bush that Native Americans have used as a healing remedy for many years.

The mice being studied haven't yet reached "old age," so the key question will be whether the mice fed NDGA will survive to be a lot older than the other mice, in addition to being more healthy at a younger age.

 

 

 

 

Comments

Ponce de Leon would be proud

Submitted by Talat Jonathan Phillips on Tue, 06/05/2007 - 15:07.
Who knew the fountain of youth might be desert brush. Know if we could just find that "quality of life" medicine plant in the Sahara.

AKA Chaparral

Submitted by Jennifer Flynn on Tue, 06/05/2007 - 16:29.
Creosote Bush is the same as Chaparral, an herbal ally that is best known for its possible anti-carcinogenic properties. There are side effects on the kidneys of internal use if done so in massive doses, as some cancer patients may use. I would recommend if you are seeking the fountain of youth here, do so wisely and with some further education. Don't you think most plants just in their presence are 'quality of life' medicine? I do!

Signs of the Times

Submitted by The Hermit on Thu, 06/07/2007 - 08:02.
Thanks for the interesting post. In recent years more and more of this traditional knowledge and wisdom has been coming forth from indigenous peoples. In many cases the information is being shared and given quite freely, in an effort (I suspect) to wake the rest of us up to the many values of the natural world that we are destroying. Unfortunately, more often than not our "advanced" civilization fails to see the forest for the trees, and views this information with strictly a profit motive in mind. Some years ago the San people of the Kalahari Desert in Africa shared their traditional knowledge of a plant used as an appetite inhibitor - which they used to help survive desert crossings with little to no food. A major drug company (for legal reasons I won't mention the name, but I hear it rhymes with Mizer) screwed the San over by stealing this knowledge for use in a diet pill, and in so doing threw a patent over this plant claiming that the San were dead and no longer in need of this information. In fact, the San had merely moved to another area due to their nomadic nature and were rather bewildered that their plants were being taken away and they were no longer "entitled" to use them. As wonderful as it is that this knowledge is coming forward, the danger is that the resulting popularity will create sufficient demand, profit motive and black markets to render these plants extinct in no time.