Why do plants live such long lives? And could the cure to many illnesses be found in their secrets?

One of the underlying reasons behind research into the life spans of living things is that researchers hope to find out how to extend human life. It is widely accepted that the fundamental biochemical and metabolic workings of aging are encoded in the human genome, some lines of which we are familiar with. For example, we know that reducing calorie intake extends life, vegetarians outlive non-vegetarians (on average), and the shortening of telomeres at the ends of chromosomes parallels aging. It should still be remembered that there are many unknowns about human life span.

Many plants live far longer than animals. Herbaceous plants, which are generally annuals or biennials, have soft anatomical structures. As can be understood from their lack of woody tissues, they are not given a long life. Still, there are controversies about the life spans of certain herbaceous species. For example, the plants presumed dead after withering in autumn have roots underground which blossom again in the spring. Is this blossoming the creation of a new plant or is it the re-emergence of the plant whose roots were hidden underground?

When the life spans of shrub-like plants, whose roots run deeper, are examined, it can be seen that annual flowers are not created individually, as are animals. Rather, some of their parts wither during the winter, while the plant as a whole, which has retreated for a while, simply re-blooms.

Summer flowers and vegetables are annual plants, living from spring to autumn. Plants with tubers, such as turnips and certain orchids, can live two years or more. Although their roots may remain underground for several years, the visible flowers remain alive for the summer only.

Trees, on the other hand, are hardwired both anatomically and physiologically to live long lives. They have stems made of strong wood tissues and root systems that can spread across a wide area. Yet there are considerable differences between tree species. They have to obey the life spans dictated by their genetic programming.

Plants that have long life spans

The oldest known tree was a spruce discovered in Sweden in 2004 by Leif Kullmann. Radioactive carbon isotope testing showed that it was 9,550 years old. There is also Pinus aistata, a pine species living in California that has withstood the test of natural elements. Longaeva is 5,066 years old. The ages of certain trees cannot be confirmed, such as that of the Tamrit cypresses in Algeria, which are considered to be 4,000-5,000 years old, and the Japanese cedar, some of which are thought to be 7,000 years old.

Why is it that some plants can only live five to eight years, including the life of their seeds? In contrast, the beech (Fagus) can live 500-1,000 years; the common yew (Taxus baccata) for 100-3,000 years; the oak (Ouercus) for 500-1,300 years; the Bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata) for 4,900 years; the great sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) for 4,000 years; the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) for 2,100 years; the cedar (Cedrus) for 1000 years; and the cypress (Cupressus) for 2000 years.

Scientific studies into the Huon pines (Lagarostrobos franklinii), which grow on a mountain northwest of Tasmania, show that they have descended from a parent tree through cloning to form the group of trees in the area. The oldest of this group of Huon pines is estimated to be 2,000 years old, and the group to be 10,500 years old. As the root system has developed since the ancient times, those that reached the age of 2,000 have died, but the descendants – which have the same genetic structure – have maintained the existence of these trees.

In 2009, a research team led by Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra of the University of California stumbled upon a shrub oak called Quercus palmeri that has survived by cloning from the same root for 13,000 years. The researchers claimed that the plant, which has survived since the ice age, was now accustomed to heat and drought. New sprouts that develop slowly from the stems of this plant can grow higher than 20 meters. This tree can be even 10,000 years older than the oldest California sequoia tree.

The genome is the book where our biological codes for the color of our eyes, shape of our ears and noses are written. The same goes for plants, too. It is more likely that a plant will live longer if it is equipped with the genetic hardware that can withstand factors such as cold, heat, and disease.

Durable plants need only water, minerals, and air to survive. The physiological processes that are activated according to the genetic codes give rise to mind-boggling strategies for protection against the harshest weather conditions. These strategies are very complex and imply so high a level of consciousness that needs to take environmental conditions into account and develop tactics to stay alive against any harm that may come from insects or to prevent them from cracking open in the cold. If a plant cannot get water, it coils slowly, withers, sags, and loses its leaves. None of these, however, means the immediate death of the plant, which can maintain life for a long time through numerous metabolic changes. When it finds water, it comes back to life.

Plants lie at the heart of life on Earth. Plants function like laboratories in which the carbon dioxide in the air is converted into basic foodstuff like sugar, and then into fat, protein, or starch by using sunlight. They also release oxygen into the air and help animals and humans breathe.

Scientifically known as Daucus Carota, carrots categorically are in the same family as fennel, cumin, dill, celery and parsley. They mainly originated in geographies of Central Asia and Middle East and their original flavor were somewhat different to the contemporary ones. The carrot as a plant stores its foodstuff in its roots. Besides their common use for consumption, they can be juiced or grated. They bring a distinct flavor when used in salads and meals. Although generally considered to be orange, yet carrots’ color can be as diverse as green, red, white and even purple.

Some astounding medical benefits

Created rich in Vitamin A carotene, carrot is an excellent source of antioxidant for the treatment of cancer and protection from some cardiovascular diseases. They are also instrumental for the regulation of sugar in our blood. The findings of a survey conducted on 1,300 patients, reveal those who eat carotene-rich foods such as carrot or squash, at least once a day, have about 60% less risk of cancer than those deficient in their carotene intakes. In specific terms, while the regular consumption of carotenoid reduces the risk of post-menopause breast cancer by an estimated 20%; on the other hand esophageal cancer, bladder cancer, uterine cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, throat cancer and lung cancer are believed to reduce the risk by an astounding 50%.

Scientists state that the risk-reducing influence of the carrot comes not only as a result of its beta-carotene ingredient but also from its alpha-carotene and some other elements.

How does carrot improve the quality of vision?

Unsurprisingly carrots are known for the goodness they bring to the eyes; particularly valuable for improving night vision. The beta carotene has been made to play a pivotal role in this respect. An incredibly sophisticated process eventuates as Vitamin A is converted in the liver into beta-carotene and is then carried to the retina of the eye. It is here when beta-carotene is converted to rhodopsin, imperative pigment that aids night vision. It is with rohdopsin that vision is sharpened and sight becomes possible in darker environments. On the contrary however, when there is Vitamin A deficiency in the body, night sight is adversely impacted. Moreover the antioxidant in beta-carotene has been equipped with an additional protective role against macular degeneration as well as cataract.

Carrot’s falcarinol and colon’s well being

The natural pesticide (falcarinol) found in carrots is believed to reduce the risk of cancer. In order to ascertain this relationship between falcarinol and cancer risk reduction, the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, conducted an experimental study on the subject. Three different groups of laboratory animals had been given precancerous colon lesions. The first group was fed with standard diet, the second group with freeze-dried carrots that contained a natural level of falcarinol while the third group was exclusively fed falcarionol/g derived from carrots. After 18 weeks period, the number of lesions which were given to potentially increase the class size, significantly decreased in those rats fed with one of the two experimental treatments. The finding demonstrated that dietary treatments with carrot’s falcarinol caused delay and in some cases the retardation in the development of large tumors.

This established a significant relationship between those critical endowed carrot contents and the risk-reduction of cancerous tumors.

Carrots and lung protection

Overtime a number of studies have been conducted and research have established direct link between Vitamin A and its role in the protection of lungs. The scientifically established relationship between Vitamin A, pneumonia and emphysema, found that the benzo(a)pyrene, the main carcinogen in cigarette smoke causes the Vitamin A to diminish. This is especially true when long term smoke addicts who have also had poor Vitamin A diet, causes more cancer-related diseases and emphysema.

Earlier studies have also demonstrated that a diet poor in Vitamin A causes emphysema. Subsequent studies have further substantiated that a diet rich in Vitamin A can help reduce emphysema. Indisputably carrots are rich in their Vitamin A reserves. Carrots have been also made with the capacity to aid and protect our lungs.

Experts are therefore of the opinion that carrot is stomach and intestines’ close friend. It can be said that their overall benefits can range from blood-formation, to strength, from diarrhea control, to being laxative, to their help with bile discharges and the strengthening of the liver brings to attention the remarkably latent benefits within carrots and makes them an indispensable vegetable beyond the immediate value of taste and color.

This discovery about carrots, amongst innumerable other vegetables, virtually makes the earth a mighty pharmacy which is orderly fashioned with numerous therapeutic qualities in the form of vegetables and herbs spread out in abundance. Quite substantially it appears that not only do they attract with their beauty and color the gazes of our eyes; not only do they afford us with innumerable varieties of tastes and flavors but in addition with the use of their innate given potentials they work extraordinarily and in remedial manner whilst in our bodies.

All this appropriately recalls to mind the Might and Power of God Almighty as eloquently expressed in the Quran “Who is it that provides for you from heaven and earth?” (Quran Al-Yunus, 10:31)