Resveratrol Linked to
Longer Life
July 19, 2004
The red wine compound resveratrol, thought to be responsible for the drink’s
protective effects on the heart, may also extend lifespan, report American scientists.
They have discovered that resveratrol had the
same effect on fruit flies and worms as the use of caloric restriction, one
of the few methods demonstrated in several studies to retard aging and promote
lifespan among animals, as well as improve cardiovascular health. The findings
appear to suggest that people could take a pill to achieve the same benefits
as strict dieting to live longer. However while supplement makers are already
beginning to market the antioxidant resveratrol in capsules, to allow consumers
to gain the health benefits of the compound without the alcohol, the new research
has not yet been tested on people.
A resveratrol based compound extending the life span: Resvert
Writing in an early online edition of Nature
(14 July 2004; doi:10.1038/nature02789), David Sinclair from Harvard Medical
School and colleagues at the University of Connecticut and Brown University
in Rhode Island reported that resveratrol activated proteins called sirtuins
in fruitflies and worms, extending their lifespan without reducing fertility.
Last year, Sinclair reported that the red wine
antioxidant extended the life of yeast.
LIFESPAN EXTENSION
COMPLEX™: a compound reversing aging
Meanwhile in June a different group of researchers
reported that resveratrol significantly increased the activity level of a gene
called SIRT1 in mice. Also found in humans, this gene has essentially the same
function as SIR2 (that studied by Sinclair in the current study) and the same
reaction to stimulus by resveratrol.
SIRT1 was found to increase the use of fat and
reduces the formation of new fat cells.