Plant polysaccharides with anti-aging effects and mechanism in evaluation model Caenorhabditis elegans

Aging in human evolution leads to function decline and immune weakening, causing severe problems. Plant polysaccharides, as a key source of dietary fiber, play vital roles in enhancing intestinal health, regulating blood glucose, lowering cholesterol, and offer promising strategies for aging prevention. This review begins by examining the characteristics and applications of polysaccharides and elucidates the mechanisms of anti-aging effect of plant polysaccharides. It focuses on nematodes as an ideal anti - aging model, expounding their aging indicator evaluation methods, highlighting key pathways and molecules for aging inhibition, and elaborating on related plant polysaccharides. As polysaccharide anti - aging research mainly focuses on plants, this study aims to support their use against aging. C. elegans provides new anti - aging insights, but limited understanding of plant polysaccharide structure challenges structure - activity analysis. The review presents C. elegans - based strategies and plant polysaccharide challenges for further research. In summary, this review proposes novel strategies developed by Caenorhabditis elegans in anti-aging research as well as the challenges facing plant polysaccharides, providing insights for further research on anti-aging plant polysaccharides.