Resveratrol: The Latest Anti-Aging Tool?

From the Washington Post:

... To examine for the first time whether resveratrol could also extend longevity in mammals, Sinclair and his colleagues studied year-old mice, which are the equivalent of middle-aged humans. One third of the mice were fed a standard diet. Another third ate the equivalent of a junk-food diet -- one very high in calories with 60 percent of the calories coming from fat. The last third lived on the unhealthy diet combined with resveratrol.

After a year, the researchers found that both groups of mice that ate the junk food diet got fat, and those that did not get any resveratrol experienced a host of health problems, including the early signs of diabetes and heart disease. They tended to die prematurely.

But the mice that got resveratrol remained healthy and lived as long as the animals that ate a normal diet and stayed thin -- adding the equivalent of about 10 or 20 human years to their lifespan. Moreover, the hearts and livers of the animals getting resveratrol looked healthy, the activity of a host of key genes appeared normal and they showed some of the biological changes triggered by caloric restriction. They also appeared to have a better quality of life, retaining their activity levels and agility.

"It is really quite amazing," Sinclair said. "The mice were still fat but they looked just a healthy as the lean animals."

... "I'm usually a very cautious person," said Cynthia Kenyon of the University of California in San Francisco. "But I'm seriously thinking about taking resveratrol myself. It seems pretty wonderful."

"I actually told my mother she should take it," Helfand said. "I even went out and got her some."

Here is the Wikipedia entry. Now I know why I need to drink Red Wine regularly.