València (EFE).- Harmol, a compound present in foods such as coffee, improves metabolic parameters associated with quality of life during aging, according to a study in which the Incliva Health Research Institute of Valencia participated, led by the Imdea Food Institute.
The study, recently published in Nature Communications, concludes that harmol, a compound from the beta-carboline family, known for its neurological effects, and which is present in many foods including coffee beans, meat, fish or cereals, as well as tobacco leaves, improves skeletal muscle function.
At the doses used in the study, harmol did not show any toxicity and very few effects on the central nervous system, consistent with its poor ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and, therefore, reach the brain, sources from Incliva reported on Tuesday.
According to the study, harmol treatment significantly extended life expectancy in two invertebrate models; improved glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, and hepatic lipid accumulation in a prediabetes model; and among the changes at the neuromuscular level, a very significant reduction in frailty was observed in old animals.
Muscular aging is associated with an energetic collapse that is explained by an alteration in the mitochondria, one of the most relevant cellular components, since it is responsible for the energy production of the cells.
Mitochondrial dysfunction causes the appearance and progression of functional impairment associated with sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass and power that occurs during aging) and geriatric frailty syndrome, which affects more than 33% of the population over 80 years of age.
Frailty is characterized by a reduced ability to respond to minor stresses that affects activities of daily living and decreases the autonomy of those who suffer from it, which translates into a greater risk of disability, hospitalization and death.
In this way, according to Incliva sources, a frail elderly person, compared to a robust one, is more likely to end up being dependent and fatigue more easily than a young person, among other things, because their mitochondria stop being functional, they lose the ability to produce energy.
Harmol activates cells capable of improving mitochondria
Age-associated mitochondrial dysfunction can be modulated through different interventions aimed at maintaining mitochondria in good condition, and harmol activates signaling pathways in cells that, ultimately, are capable of improving mitochondria and metabolic parameters associated with quality of life during aging.
According to Imdea Alimentación researchers, “it is a mechanism very similar to the one activated by caloric restriction or exercise: they make the mitochondria work in a controlled manner, and that makes them stronger,” says researcher Luis Filipe Costa-Machado, first author of the article, in a statement.
Dr. Pablo J. Fernández-Marcos, the main person in charge of the project, also highlights that with harmol they have discovered that this mitochondrial improvement effect is carried out by cells “through mechanisms similar to those that make us feel happier, since they share the same target proteins. This opens up a very interesting field of research on the association between psychological state and aging”.
Dr. Gómez Cabrera, from Incliva, highlights the importance of this type of research aimed at contributing to healthy ageing, since life expectancy has been increased more in the last 100 years than in the previous 2,000 years, especially in Spain, which ranks next to Japan and Switzerland as the third country with the longest longevity.
“However, the aging of the population is also a great challenge because we have not been able to extend life expectancy in good health: it is estimated that we currently spend 20% of our lives sick, and in fact the main risk factor for almost all chronic diseases is aging”, he highlights.
Different international research groups have participated in the research, directed by the Biopromet Metabolic Syndrome Group of the Imdea Food Institute in Madrid.
