Molecular bases for the use of functional foods in the management of healthy aging: Berries, curcumin, virgin olive oil and honey; three realities and a promise

Abstract

As the number of older people has grown in recent decades, the search for new approaches to manage or delay aging is also growing. Among the modifiable factors, diet plays a crucial role in healthy aging and in the prevention of age-related diseases. Thus, the interest in the use of foods, which are rich in bioactive compounds such as functional foods with anti-aging effects is a growing market. This review summarizes the current knowledge about the molecular mechanisms of action of foods considered as functional foods in aging, namely berries, curcumin, and virgin olive oil. Moreover, honey is also analyzed as a food with well-known healthy benefits, but which has not been deeply evaluated from the point of view of aging. The effects of these foods on aging are analyzed from the point of view of molecular mechanisms including oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, genomic stability, telomere attrition, cellular senescence, and deregulated nutrient-sensing. A comprehensive study of the scientific literature shows that the aforementioned foods have demonstrated positive effects on certain aspects of aging, which might justify their use as functional foods in elderly. However, more research is needed, especially in humans, designed to understand in depth the mechanisms of action through which they act.

Keywords:

• Dietary fat
• hydroxytyrosol
• monounsaturated fatty acids
• nutraceutics
• strawberry
• turmeric

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding support of FEDER/Junta de Andalucía-Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento, Grant B-AGR-193-UGR18. Also grant PID2019-106778RB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 FEDER “Una manera de hacer Europa.” We acknowledge Ms. Monica Glebocki for her assistance with the English edition of the manuscript.

Declaration of interest statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

María D. Navarro-Hortal and Jose M. Romero-Márquez are FPU fellows with grant reference FPU2017/04358 and FPU2018/05301, respectively, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FSE “El FSE invierte en tu future.” Tamara Forbes-Hernández is supported by a JdC-I post-doctoral contract with grant reference IJC2020-043910-I, funded by NextGenerationEU.