An ingredient found in Red Wine the resveratrol has provided a new insight for scientists on the reason for aging. Health and lifespan of laboratory mice are known to improve with resveratrol.
There is a compromise in the integrity of chromosomes with age. A protein known as sirtuin is activated by resveratrol which in turn restores the health of the chromosomes.
Harvard Medical School’s group led by David Sinclair published this finding online in the Journal Cell on Wednesday.
Biologists have been trying to identify and understand powerful agents like sirtuins which have a say in the metabolism of the cell. They control the living cell’s settings, respond to insulin and handle fats.
There is an increasing effort by researchers to find out means to retard aging and increase resistance to diseases by figuring out the way of working and manipulation of these agents.
Dr. Sinclair’s company Sirtris has developed chemicals resembling resveratrol which can be used as drugs. They are more suitable for this purpose as lower doses of these are sufficient to activate sirtuins as compared to resveratrol.
Similar to resveratrol, one of these chemicals increased the laboratory mice’s endurance level on the treadmill and protected them from getting fat even when put on fatty diets as much as resveratrol did. This finding was published in the Journal Cell Metabolism.
Since it was discovered that sirtuin is activated by resveratrol five years ago, Dr. Sinclair has been taking large doses of resveratrol on an everyday basis. Dr.Sinclair says though it may be too early to confirm if his looks defy his age, he feels great.
