Abstract: The concept of “medicine and food homology” means that some foods and medicines are derived from the same source. Medicinal and edible traditional Chinese herbs have both nutritional and medicinal value. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have been reported on the anti-aging activity of some medicinal and edible traditional Chinese herbs, which has been gradually accepted by people. Therefore, medicinal and edible traditional Chinese herbs have broad prospects for the development of anti-aging agents. This article reviews the medicinal and edible traditional Chinese herbs previously reported for their antioxidant and anti-aging activity to screen some of these herbs for further studies on their anti-aging activity. Furthermore, we summarize recent studies on the anti-aging mechanism of medicinal and edible traditional Chinese herbs, and we also discuss future research directions.

Key words: anti-aging, medicine and food homology, antioxidant, mechanism