In the early years of the 21st century, Dr. David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School and Christoph Westphal, a venture capitalist, co-founded Sirtris Pharmaceuticals to continue Sinclair’s research on anti aging resveratrol effects. Sinclair had discovered that the red wine ingredient resveratrol seemed to have life-extending powers in mice. This might explain, he thought, the so-called French Paradox, the fact that although natives of Southern France eat a diet very high in both calories and fat (cheese, cream, pastries), they nevertheless have significantly fewer heart attacks than people in other countries. The French, in general, also tend to live longer than people elsewhere and they drink red wine from the time they are children.
Sinclair was interviewed by Barbara Walters in a 2008 ABC News TV special that focused on new scientific discoveries with the potential for extending the human lifespan. Their brief discussion of the red wine ingredient resveratrol a phytonutrient that is present in the skins and seeds of grapes, peanuts, and blueberries revealed that mice given large doses of resveratrol did not get heart disease or cancer. They also lived up to thirty percent longer than the control mice. Humans, said Sinclair, have the exact same gene affected by resveratrol in the mice: a gene for anti aging resveratrol targets specifically, and then switches on.
Sinclair’s animal studies seemed to indicate that the protective benefits of resveratrol may include the generation of new mitochondria in the body. Mitochondria are the main source of power for our cells, converting nutrients into energy. As they produce energy, however, they also release free radicals, those unstable and highly reactive molecules that oxidize and cause damage to tissue and DNA at the cellular level. The destructive action of free radicals and the subsequent degradation of cells have been identified as one of the major causes of aging . Thus, producing new mitochondria to replace those deteriorated by free radicals may be one of the most important benefits of resveratrol.
Many of the diseases common to the aging process are believed to be caused by poorly- performing mitochondria. These include Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, adult-onset diabetes, stroke, cancer, and heart disease. If it’s not exactly a drug for anti aging, resveratrol may well turn out to be useful in the treatment of these and other diseases of aging. And aging without disease might be something to look forward to!
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