Revealed: the super fruit that's your anti-ageing best friend

They were a food of the gods in ancient times, and those gods sure knew what they were doing with a new study revealing pomegranates may work wonders when it comes to anti-ageing.

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Far from being something to just fancy up your salad, a “milestone” finding by Swiss researchers claims pomegranates contain a chemical that can be transformed by bacteria in your gut to form the molecule urolithin A.

It’s this molecule that helps replace old cells and maintain youthful muscles. When fed to mice it helped increase their lifespan by more than 45 percent.

"We believe this research is a milestone in current anti-ageing efforts," said lead researcher, Professor Johan Auwerx.

There’s a catch though: you need to have the “right” kind of gut bacteria for it to work.

"If you're one of the unlucky ones, it's possible that pomegranate juice won't do you any good," say researchers.

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