Cellular longevity is governed by the length of telomeres, the DNA caps on the ends of chromosomes. Telomere length, in turn, is regulated by an enzyme called telomerase.

When telomerase activity is high, so is telomere length, and this delays cellular senescence. The discoverers of this principle won a Nobel Prize for Physiology & Medicine a couple of years ago, and opened up new therapeutic possibilities for preventing diseases of aging and promoting longevity.

But the ability to leverage telomere science has been somewhat limited because, while researchers had not been able to find substances that could reliably activate telomerase or augment telomere length.That changed recently with discovery of an astragaloside compound derived from Astragalus membranaceus, an herb used widely in traditional Chinese medicine. Read more.