Scientists at King's College London have found that urolithin A, a natural compound produced in the body after eating pomegranates, walnuts and certain berries, can significantly improve heart function in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. The results of the study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, were published in the journal Science Advances, according to infohub.kz.
In this condition, the heart still pumps blood but loses its elasticity: it cannot fully relax and fill with blood between beats. In animal experiments, urolithin A improved measures of heart function by 80% compared with the control group.
The researchers found that the compound activates the protein PKGlα, which is responsible for relaxing the heart muscle and regulating blood vessels, and also reduces tissue scarring (fibrosis) and cell hypertrophy. The relaxing effect was also confirmed in a model of heart tissue grown from human stem cells.
The study's lead author, Dr Joseph Burgoyne, and Professor James Leiper note that urolithin A has already shown safety in human clinical trials. At the same time, the scientists stress that this is still laboratory testing, so eating pomegranates is no substitute for proper treatment, and clinical trials involving patients will be needed before the approach can be put into practice.