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A fountainette of youth
Aug. 25th, 2003 07:26 amLife-Extending Chemical Is Found in Some Wines
Biologists have found a class of chemicals that they hope will make people live longer by activating an ancient survival reflex. One of the chemicals, a natural substance known as resveratrol, is found in red wines, particularly those made in cooler climates like that of New York.
The finding could help explain the so-called French paradox, the fact that the French live as long as anyone else despite consuming fatty foods deemed threatening to the heart.
Besides the wine connection, the finding has the attraction of stemming from fundamental research in the biology of aging. However, the new chemicals have not yet been tested even in mice, let alone people, and even if they worked in humans, it would be many years before any drug based on the new findings became available.
The possible benefits could be significant. The chemicals are designed to mimic the effect of a very low-calorie diet, which is known to lengthen the life span of rodents. Scientists involved in the research say that human life spans could be extended by 30 percent if humans respond to the chemicals in the same way as rats and mice do to low calories. Even someone who started at age 50 to take one of the new chemicals could expect to gain an extra 10 years of life, said Dr. Leonard Guarente of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the pioneers of the new research.
The new result was announced last week at a scientific conference in Arolla, a small village in the Swiss alps, by Dr. David A. Sinclair of the Harvard Medical School.
The new development has roused the enthusiasm of many biologists who study aging, because caloric restriction, the process supposedly mimicked by the chemicals, is the one intervention known for sure to increase longevity in laboratory animals.
A calorically restricted diet includes all necessary nutrients but has some 30 percent fewer calories than usual. The diet extends the life span of rodents by 30 to 50 percent, and even if it is started later has a benefit proportionate to the remaining life span. Scientists hope, but do not yet know, that the same will be true in people.
A similar mechanism exists in simpler forms of life, making biologists believe that they are looking at an ancient strategy, formed early in evolution and built into all animals. The strategy allows an organism, when food is scarce, to live longer, postpone reproduction and start breeding when conditions improve.
( Read more... )
Biologists have found a class of chemicals that they hope will make people live longer by activating an ancient survival reflex. One of the chemicals, a natural substance known as resveratrol, is found in red wines, particularly those made in cooler climates like that of New York.
The finding could help explain the so-called French paradox, the fact that the French live as long as anyone else despite consuming fatty foods deemed threatening to the heart.
Besides the wine connection, the finding has the attraction of stemming from fundamental research in the biology of aging. However, the new chemicals have not yet been tested even in mice, let alone people, and even if they worked in humans, it would be many years before any drug based on the new findings became available.
The possible benefits could be significant. The chemicals are designed to mimic the effect of a very low-calorie diet, which is known to lengthen the life span of rodents. Scientists involved in the research say that human life spans could be extended by 30 percent if humans respond to the chemicals in the same way as rats and mice do to low calories. Even someone who started at age 50 to take one of the new chemicals could expect to gain an extra 10 years of life, said Dr. Leonard Guarente of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the pioneers of the new research.
The new result was announced last week at a scientific conference in Arolla, a small village in the Swiss alps, by Dr. David A. Sinclair of the Harvard Medical School.
The new development has roused the enthusiasm of many biologists who study aging, because caloric restriction, the process supposedly mimicked by the chemicals, is the one intervention known for sure to increase longevity in laboratory animals.
A calorically restricted diet includes all necessary nutrients but has some 30 percent fewer calories than usual. The diet extends the life span of rodents by 30 to 50 percent, and even if it is started later has a benefit proportionate to the remaining life span. Scientists hope, but do not yet know, that the same will be true in people.
A similar mechanism exists in simpler forms of life, making biologists believe that they are looking at an ancient strategy, formed early in evolution and built into all animals. The strategy allows an organism, when food is scarce, to live longer, postpone reproduction and start breeding when conditions improve.
( Read more... )