There is New Evidence Supporting the Ability of Resveratrol to Fight Aging

Resveratrol is a powerful antioxidant found in grapes, pine trees, peanuts and other plants. It is produced naturally by these plants when they are attacked by pathogens such as bacteria and fungi. It can also be produced by chemical synthesis and manufactured as a nutritional supplement primarily from Japanese knotweed. For years scientists have been fascinated by the "French Paradox", which is the high fat diet that the French have and the low incidence of heart disease. There has been much research on this and it has been concluded that the answer lies in the wine that the French also drink and the high levels of resveratrol found in the grapes that go into producing it.

There has been research at Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging that have found resveratrol in high doses let mice eat a high fat diet and somehow avoid the problems associated most commonly with obesity. The liver and other systems of these mice remained healthy and related deaths dropped by 31%.

These reports have led to a new interest in studies on longevity compounds. Recently Sirtris, a startup in 2004 completed its sale to GlaxoSmithKline for $720 million dollars. Sirtris is developing drugs known as sirtuins. Dr. David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Sirtris stated that "The upside is so huge that if we are right the company that dominates the sirtuin space could dominate the pharmaceutical industry and change medicine".

These drugs work by triggering a ancient biological survival mechanism which switches the body's available resources from fertility to tissue maintenance. This improved tissue maintenance is believed to be responsible for extending life by cutting down on diseases that are commonly associated with aging such as heart disease, some forms of cancer and diabetes caused by free radicals.

This research was actually started more than 20 years ago by Dr. Leonard Guarente from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A famine induced diet is responsible triggering to tissue preservation and actually triggered the production of sirtuins. His work also showed that sirtuins in the body can be triggered by naturally occurring substances like resveratrol.

Although further research is getting underway on humans, studies on animals have shown very positive results. An interesting study concluded that mice that were feed high levels of resveratrol along with high fat diets showed less weight gain, greater physical endurance and better insulin sensitivity.

Many benefits are related to resveratrol being a most powerful antioxidant. It has been quoted as "one of the best free radical scavengers". Free radicals in the body are produced by naturally occurring environmental stress and damage healthy cells in the body. These stresses include air pollution, smoking and natural environmental factors.

Resveratrol shows promise in a number of human age related health studies focusing on diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. A recent 60 Minutes interview highlighted some of the research going on today. There are several clinical trials already underway on this subject. The research being done now is focusing on resveratrol as being a substance which can increase longevity by eliminating or postponing some of the diseases associated with growing older such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and heart associated diseases. To do this, they believe it can slow done the aging process. Scientists have long known that one way to live longer and healthier is to always be hungry, although for many people this is not a reasonable option. Reduced caloric intake seems to trigger a gene known for its "survival instinct", through the production of sirtuins. This someday may allow an 80 year old man to have the health of a 50 year old today. When we have the ability to prevent or delay the onset of serious diseases this would have an enormous effect on the quality of human life as you can well imagine.

The amount of red wine one would have to drink to realize the benefits of resveratrol would make it impracticable. The American Heart Association doesn't recommend that you start drinking alcohol just to prevent heart disease or any other illness. Alcohol can be addictive and causes many other problems. Too much increases your risk of high blood pressure, high triglycerides, liver damage, obesity, and certain types of cancer, accidents and other problems. In addition, even small amounts of alcohol can cause cardiomyopathy - weakened heart muscle - and heart failure in some people. If you have heart failure or a weak heart you should avoid alcohol completely. The safest and most effective way of taking resveratrol would be as a dietary supplement. This gives you the advantages of benefitting from this very important substance as well as avoiding the problems associated with alcohol.