Monk fruit has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat gastritis, sore throats, and whooping cough for many years, and it is claimed to be responsible for the increased longevity in the people of the Guangxi Province. In this study the researchers assessed its anti-aging effects in animal studies, findings were published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine.
Mice were fed with monk fruit for 10 months to investigate its anti-aging corresponding mechanisms, results showed those mice fed monk fruit exhibited a slower aging process, the effect occurred due to the enhanced function of hematopoietic stem cells that give rise to other blood cells. Monk fruit consumption was also observed to increase the ability of hematopoietic stem cells to self renew via in vitro clonogenic assay.
The treated mice maintained quiescence of LSKs, decreased levels of ROS, reduced amounts of senescence associated proteins, and enhanced functions of HSCs to slow the aging process.
