[nutritionfacts.org]

"A whole new hypothesis has arisen to explain the mystery as to why so many plant molecules interact with and modulate key regulators of our physiology in ways that are beneficial to our health, a hypothesis called xenohormesis.

I touched on hormesis in my liquid smoke video. Basically, it's the biological principle of no pain, no gain. Mild stresses like exercise can trigger a protective response that leads to strengthened defenses in the short run. But instead of exposing ourselves to the stressor to trigger our bodies’ defenses and shore up protection against future stressors, why not just let plants take the hit? Let the plants get stressed because, incredibly, the stress response molecules in plants may activate the same protective responses in humans. Xenohormesis explains how environmentally stressed plants produce bioactive compounds that can confer stress resistance and survival benefits to animals that consume them. We can then piggyback off of their sophisticated stress response.

Indeed, the majority of known health-beneficial effects of edible plants are attributable to the pharmacologically active substances of plants’ stress response.

Hormesis may be why dietary restriction can lead to lifespan extension. The mild stress placed upon the body by not eating enough may activate a wide variety of protective pathways within the body, a whole cascade ramping up anti-inflammatory and antioxidant defenses. Our body is preparing itself for the coming famine it thinks is about to occur.

So is there a way to exploit the benefits of dietary restriction to prevent chronic disease? Obviously, chronically restricting food intake is not a realistic health strategy for the majority of people—it’s hard for most people to even cut food intake 10 or 20%, given the powerful evolutionary drive to eat. As a more feasible alternative, we may be able to activate dietary restriction induced stress response pathways by other means. In other words, xenohormesis.

If you starve plants, they do the same thing: activate preservation pathways. So let's let the plant face the adversity to create the molecules that trigger cell stress resistance, altered metabolism, and disease resistance, then just come along and appropriate them for the same uses in our own bodies.

The reason phytonutrients like resveratrol in grapes, curcumin in the spice turmeric, and ECGC in green tea are called dietary restriction mimetics, is that they mimic the physiological effects of dietary restriction. And this may be no coincidence, because that's why the plants produced these compounds in the first place, to save their own green butts from scarcity. So instead of having to walk around starving all the time, thanks to xenohormesis, we may be able to let the plants bear the brunt and enable us to harness other species' hardships as a means to promote our own health."

Well thanks Panchito.

That was an interesting little video. It seems to fit within the context of epigenetics.

I guess the adage that says "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" applies to plants too. Quit honestly, it makes quite a bit of sense.

Less is more!

For many plants, if you chop off the top of them or even most of them and leave the roots in the soil, they will grow back even stronger. I think this is especially true with weeds.