Amorepacific discovers amino acid that slows cellular aging via dietary restriction

10 Nov 2022 --- Amorepacific’s research and innovation center has found that threonine, an essential amino acid that can improve longevity and healthy life expectancy, can be leveraged through dietary restriction. The company is set to apply the discovery to its Vital Beauty’s range of products in the future, as a solution to slow down aging.

“If we properly understand and utilize aging-related metabolites, we will be able to increase our healthy life expectancy and efficiently change our metabolism. For this reason, there should be more studies,” says Dr. Kim Joo-won, research lead at Amorepacific. 

The company’s study is touted as the “first” to reveal a connection between aging and metabolic increase due to dietary restriction.

Applied biodata and research technologies of molecular biology were used to identify the effects of threonine on improving healthy life expectancy and its mechanism. The study was carried out by Dr. Kim’s research team with Professor Ryu Dong-ryeol of the graduate school of Basic Medicine Science at Sungkyunkwan University.

Slowing aging and increasing antioxidant activity
The researchers investigated metabolites that “unusually increased due to dietary restrictions.” The team administered threonine to a control group of C. elegans that has  65% similarity with the human genome.Amorepacific is touted as the first to reveal a connection between aging and metabolic increase due to dietary restriction.

The most elevated amino acid, threonine, delayed the aging process and extended the lifespan of C. elegans by 15% to 18%. The test group also showed significantly more antioxidant enzymes and reduced neutral lipid accumulation.

“Among the metabolites that were increased, including ribose 5-phosphate, creatinine and glutathione, several of these metabolites were already recognized to affect longevity, including nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide,” outline the authors.

This confirmed that threonine is not synthesized in the body and “greatly slows down” the aging speed and helps improve longevity, finds the research published this month in Nature Communications.

Searching for longevity
Amorepacific notes that research on longevity is going on in various fields to improve quality of life. 

Dietary restriction such as intermittent fasting has attracted attention as a way to live a long and healthy life, as they may increase energy consumption efficiency. However, there is no in-depth research on what metabolites are involved in this process.

The research is essential, flag the authors, as it suggests the role and importance of an amino acid in the aging process and uncovers its mechanism. Moreover, the study identified a specific stress-response factor in cells that can increase longevity. Activating this response with threonine can slow cellular aging and enhance a healthy life. 

The company will continue researching and identifying what happens in the skin and body to provide enhanced beauty and health solutions. 

Mapping Amorepacific
This week in related news, Amorepacific’s R&D center discovered RE.D flavonoid, a substance that inhibits the PDK1 (3-phosphoinositide dependent protein kinase) enzyme, which is crucial for slowing down aging skin.

The company also acquired Tata Harper, aiming to grow within the luxury skincare sector in the US, focusing on cleaner formulations and greener packaging.

In August, Amorepacific and professor Kim Jeehwan at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology unveiled the “world’s first” chip-less wireless wearable electronic skin that can transmit data and monitor the wearer’s skin.

By Venya Patel 

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