Out With The Old…

Fisetin is a flavonoid (specifically, a flavonol), but it’s a little different than most. While it has the usual antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties you might reasonably expect from flavonoids, it has an extra anti-aging trick up its sleeve that most don’t.

❝Fisetin is a flavonol that shares distinct antioxidant properties with a plethora of other plant polyphenols. Additionally, it exhibits a specific biological activity of considerable interest as regards the protection of functional macromolecules against stress which results in the sustenance of normal cells cytoprotection. Moreover, it shows potential as an anti-inflammatory, chemopreventive, chemotherapeutic and recently also senotherapeutic agent❞

~ Dr. Grynkiewicz & Dr. Demchuk

Let’s briefly do some due diligence on its expected properties, and then we’ll take a look at its bonus anti-aging effects.

The flavonol that does-it-ol

Because of the similar mechanisms involved, there are three things that often come together, which are:

• Antioxidant
• Anti-inflammatory
• Anticancer

This list often gets expanded to also include:

• Anti-aging

…although that is usually the last thing to get tested out of that list.

In today’s case, let’s kick it off with…

❝Fisetin (3,3′,4′,7-tetrahydroxyflavone) is a dietary flavonoid found in various fruits (strawberries, apples, mangoes, persimmons, kiwis, and grapes), vegetables (tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers), nuts, and wine that has shown strong anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-tumorigenic, anti-invasive, anti-angiogenic, anti-diabetic, neuroprotective, and cardioprotective effects❞

~ Dr. Harish Pal et al.

Read more: Fisetin and Its Role in Chronic Diseases

Understanding its anticancer mechanisms

The way that fisetin fights cancer is basically “all the ways”, and this will be important when we get to its special abilities shortly:

❝Being a potent anticancer agent, fisetin has been used to inhibit stages in the cancer cells (proliferation, invasion),prevent cell cycle progression, inhibit cell growth, induce apoptosis, cause polymerase (PARP) cleavage, and modulate the expressions of Bcl‐2 family proteins in different cancer cell lines (HT‐29, U266, MDA‐MB‐231, BT549, and PC‐3M‐luc‐6), respectively. Further, fisetin also suppresses the activation of the PKCα/ROS/ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK signaling pathways, reduces the NF‐κB activation, and down‐regulates the level of the oncoprotein securin. Fisetin also inhibited cell division and proliferation and invasion as well as lowered the TET1 expression levels. ❞

~ Dr. Muhammad Imran et al.

Read more: Fisetin: An anticancer perspective

There’s also more about it than we even have room to quote, here:

Fisetin, a Potent Anticancer Flavonol Exhibiting Cytotoxic Activity against Neoplastic Malignant Cells and Cancerous Conditions: A Scoping, Comprehensive Review

Now For What’s New And Exciting: Senolysis

All that selectivity that fisetin exhibits when it comes to “this cell gets to live, and this one doesn’t” actions?

It makes a difference when it comes to aging, too. Because aging and cancer happen by quite similar mechanisms; they’re both DNA-copying errors that get copied forward, to our detriment.

• In the case of cancer, it’s a cell line that accidentally became immortal and so we end up with too many of them multiplying in one place (a tumor)
• In the case of aging, it’s the cellular equivalent of “a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy” gradually losing information as it goes

In both cases…

The cell must die if we want to live

Critically, and which quality differentiates it from a lot of other flavonoids, fisetin has the ability to selectively kill senescent cells.

To labor the photocopying metaphor, this means there’s an office worker whose job it is to say “this photocopy is barely legible, I’m going to toss this, and then copy directly from the clearest copy we have instead”, thus keeping the documents (your DNA) in pristine condition.

In fisetin’s case, this was first tested in mouse (in vivo) studies, and in human tissue (in vitro) studies, before moving to human clinical studies:

❝Of the 10 flavonoids tested, fisetin was the most potent senolytic.

The natural product fisetin has senotherapeutic activity in mice and in human tissues. Late life intervention was sufficient to yield a potent health benefit.❞

~ Dr. Matthew Yousefzadeh et al.

Read in full: Fisetin is a senotherapeutic that extends health and lifespan

There’s lots more science that’s been done to it since that first groundbreaking study though; here’s a more recent example:

Fisetin as a Senotherapeutic Agent: Biopharmaceutical Properties and Crosstalk between Cell Senescence and Neuroprotection

Want some?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon

Enjoy!

We wrote briefly about nori yesterday, when we compared it with well-known superfood spirulina. In nutritional terms, it blew spirulina out of the water:

Spirulina vs Nori – Which Is Healthier?

We also previously touched on it here:

21% Stronger Bones in a Year at 62? Yes, It’s Possible (No Calcium Supplements Needed!) ← nori was an important part of the diet enjoyed here

What is nori?

Nori is a seaweed, but that can mean lots of different things. In nori’s case, it’s an aggregate of several kinds of red algae that clump together in the sea.

When dried and/or toasted (which processes improve* the nutritional value rather than diminishing it, by the way), it looks dark green or dark purple to black in color.

*Effects of pan- and air fryer-roasting on volatile and umami compounds and antioxidant activity of dried laver (Porphyra dentata) ← this is nori, by another name

If you enjoy sushi, nori is the dark flat sheety stuff that other things are often wrapped in.

The plant that has animal nutrients

As established in the head-to-head we linked above, nori is a nutritional powerhouse. But not only is it very full of the perhaps-expected vitamins and minerals, it also contains:

Omega-3 fatty acids, including EPA, which plants do not normally have (plants usually have just ALA, which the body can convert into other forms including EPA). While ALA is versatile, having EPA in food saves the body the job of converting it, and thus makes it more readily bioavailable. For more on the benefits of this, see:

What Omega-3 Fatty Acids Really Do For Us

Iodine, which land plants don’t generally have, but seaweed usually does. However, nori contains less iodine than other kinds of seaweed, which is (counterintuitively) good, since other kinds of seaweed often contain megadoses that go too far the other way and can cause different health problems.

• Recommended daily amount of iodine: 150µg ← note that’s micrograms, not milligrams
• One 10g serving of dried nori contains: 232µg ← this is good
• Tolerable daily upper limit of iodine: 1,100µg (i.e: 1.1mg)
• One 10g serving of dried kombu (kelp) contains: 13,270µg (i.e: 13.3mg) ← this is far too much; not good!

So: a portion of nori puts us into the healthiest spot of the range, whereas a portion of another example seaweed would put us nearly 13x over the tolerable upper limit.

For why this matters, see:

• 8 Signs Of Iodine Deficiency You Might Not Expect
• Foods For Managing Hypothyroidism (incl. Hashimoto’s)
• Eat To Beat Hyperthyroidism!

As you might note from the mentions of both hypo- and hyperthyroidism, (which are exacerbated by too little and too much iodine, respectively) hitting the iodine sweet spot is important, and nori is a great way to do that.

Vitamin B12, again not usually found in plants (most vegans supplement, often with nutritional yeast, which is technically neither an animal nor a plant). However, nori scores even higher:

Vitamin B12-Containing Plant Food Sources for Vegetarians

Beyond nutrients

Nori is also one of the few foods that actually live up the principle of a “detox diet”, as it can help remove toxins such as dioxins:

Detox diets for toxin elimination and weight management: a critical review of the evidence

It’s also been…

❝revealed to have anti-aging, anti-cancer, anti-coagulant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-Alzheimer and anti-tuberculose activities.❞

~ Dr. Şükran Çakir Arica et al.

Read: A study on the rich compounds and potential benefits of algae: A review

(for this to make sense you will need to remember that nori is, as we mentioned, an aggregate of diverse red algae species; in that paper, you can scroll down to Table 1, and see which species has which qualities. Anything whose name starts with “Porphyra” or “Porphridum” is found in nori)

Is it safe?

Usually! There are two potential safety issues:

1. Seaweed can, while it’s busy absorbing valuable minerals from the sea, also absorb heavy metals if there are such pollutants in the region. For this reason, it is good to buy a product with trusted certifications, such that it will have been tested for such along the way.
2. Seaweed can, while it’s busy absorbing things plants don’t usually have from the sea, also absorb allergens from almost-equally-small crustaceans. So if you have a seafood allergy, seaweed could potentially trigger that.

Want to try some?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎

Enjoy!