Resveratrol concentrate increases life span 20%, provides virtual imunity to obesity

[Bluenoise]

A recent breakthrough has shown that resveratrol (A red wine extract) seems to improve life span 15-20%. Makes obese mice virtually as healthy as normal mice. It seems that it also has preventative effects agains diabetes and prevents organ damange.

 

These effect were recently observed in mice, and published in Nature. However the team from Harvard that published this study started with work in yeast, then fruitflies and worms, which all seem to have the same effect. So it seems virtually impossible that a simular effect wont be found in humans.

 

Resveratrol is involved in increasing the expression of a gene involved in mitrochondrial development that has been previously linked to lifespan. (It's also an antioxidant but I highly doubt this is what is causing the effect.)

 

But don't start drinking too much red wine. These mice were given the equavalent of 100 bottles of wine resveratrol a day!!

 

CBC news update - http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/11/02/red-wine.html

 

Nature news update - http://www.nature.com/news/2006/061030/full/444011a.html

 

Original nature paper's (will need access) -

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nature05354.html

[psynapse]

That's very interesting. Have they isolated just the resveratrol and, do they plan on making it available to the public or do you have to drink red wine to attain it?

[Bluenoise]

Yes, it's been available for a while, and no they weren't getting mice drunk.

Unfortunatley most suppliment companies haven't caught ontot this. doing a search online shows that most provide a level of Resveratol too low (~30mg per tablet) to have an effect. (100-500mg per tablet probable).

 

Resveratol has been in the media alot in the past 10 years with claims for and against, but nothing nearly as substantial as this.

[psynapse]

Are there any unwanted side effects? How is it broken down and metabolized?

[insane_alien]

/me opens a bottle of redwine.

 

w00tage lets drink to resveratol. until we find out it causes cancer or something like that

[usascholar]

You guys may want to check Resveratrol out in the online encyclopedia, as it has info on foods, supplements, and the science behind it. So yeah, there are supplements... but not all of them are good.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resveratrol

 

thanks

Anthony

[craig20]

I saw this on Oprah the other day..

 

Thanks for the info.

[SkepticLance]

Exercise does the same thing. Fat people who are physically fit live longer, and have fewer health problems, than fat people who are couch potatoes.

 

There is a long history of chemicals that work on mice and do nothing for humans. This is especially true in cancer research, in that a number of chemicals have been found to fight cancer in mice, but fail in humans.

 

That said, I would love for the resveratrol findings to be confirmed, and for a suitable pure resveratrol supplement to be made available. We have a long way to go in fighting the effects of ageing, and this could be a good start.

 

In the mean time, I will just go open that bottle of red wine ......

[iNow]

In the mean time, I will just go open that bottle of red wine ......

Resveratrol would have the health benefits of drinking like a thousand bottles of red wine per day, without the stress on your liver and kidneys. I'm just sayin', it's a "bang for your buck" issue, and the results thus far have been rather promising.

 

 

A good story back in January here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752354n

Edited March 31, 2009 by iNow

[SkepticLance]

iNow

Red wine has always been good for my sense of well being. If one glass does not work, then I operate on a dose response philosophy.

[cameron marical]

. Fat people who are physically fit live longer

 

fat people arent physically fit. ?

[SkepticLance]

To Cameron

Re fat people and physical fitness.

I guess my use of the word 'fat' was not very precise. Let me rephrase. People who are classified 'overweight', meaning a BMI of more than 25 and less than 30, may be physically fit or not.

 

Those who are physically fit live lives as long and as healthy as thinner people who are also fit. It is the overweight who are also unfit who suffer from 'fatness' related health problems.

[cameron marical]

ahh. i see, thanks. i thought it was just a typo.

 

 

im not sure if anyone knows much about this, but a while ago i was talking to a doctor and he said that body building, especially upper torso and pectorals, is bad for the heart, because the heart has to then pump all this extra muscle it has acquired{it gets buff}. but, then wouldnt that mean that this buff heart could push out more and faster, and with more ease, so why wouldnt it be healthier heart? its like a small skinny person and the hulk, id say the hulk could go for a jog alot longer than the skinny person, even against his body mass and weight, because of his muscle.

[SkepticLance]

Cameron

Re exercise bad for the heart.

It depends on the kind of exercise. At one stage, there was a fashion fad for isotonic exercise, meaning tensing muscles against a load. This definitely built muscle mass, but was not good for the heart.

 

These days, exercise generally involves movement rather than simply tensing muscles. When the body moves, the heart beats faster and the lungs pump more air. In other words, the heart and lungs are exercised also, and become fitter. If you carry out the correct exercise, it is very good for the heart, and good for lung function also.

 

For body builders, there is another factor - steroids. If taken, definitely bad for the heart.

[YT2095]

I have a glass of Port (it doesn`t get much Redder than that) just before my dinner every evening, looks like I`d better up the ante!

[cameron marical]

Cameron

Re exercise bad for the heart.

It depends on the kind of exercise. At one stage, there was a fashion fad for isotonic exercise, meaning tensing muscles against a load. This definitely built muscle mass, but was not good for the heart.

 

These days, exercise generally involves movement rather than simply tensing muscles. When the body moves, the heart beats faster and the lungs pump more air. In other words, the heart and lungs are exercised also, and become fitter. If you carry out the correct exercise, it is very good for the heart, and good for lung function also.

 

For body builders, there is another factor - steroids. If taken, definitely bad for the heart.

 

im on the swim team, so i think thats pretty good for my heart, but im also kind of a fan of weight lifting. should i be worried about this? what do you mean by tensing muscles agtainst a load? are push ups bad?

 

thanks for your help

[coke]

Nah, weight lifting is definitely not bad for the heart. Weight lifting is considered anaerobic, but still it stimulates blood flowing through your muscles, and does get you breathing harder and gets your adrenaline pumping. There is some cardiorepiratory training when lifting, so if anything it is good for your heart.

 

Yeah steroids can cause the heart to gain mass (many other internal organs also, thats why they get a 'turtle belly')

[cameron marical]

so its agreed that its safe to get buff?

 

thanks.

[iNow]

Depends on how you do it, but exercising is healthier than not exercising as a general rule. Care to get us back on topic now, guys?

[SkepticLance]

Just one final 'exercise' comment for Cameron.

Movement is the key. Pumping iron is OK, as long as it involves movement. The 'problem' exercises are those which involve heavy loads and little movement, such as raising massive loads above your head, where the muscle building comes from the weight rather than the amount of movement.

 

Heavy loads (and steroids) are best for muscle building, and hence popular with body builders. These can stress the heart. Lesser loads (and no steroids), and more repetitions and thus more movement, are good for the heart and lungs.

[cameron marical]

ok, cool thanks. although i do want to get buff, but ill also try and level it out with lots of jogging and swimming{im on the swim team, so thats no problem} and mix my heavy weightlifting evenly with light but longer weightlifing. would that cancel it out?

does the heart get more muscular? thats good right?

 

thank you all, so much.

 

Depends on how you do it, but exercising is healthier than not exercising as a general rule. Care to get us back on topic now, guys?

 

your right, that way my last q for that topic. my bad.

 

as for this one, arent there pills that contain this wich people claim to stop the aging process?

 

do they work?

 

i have heard that red wine can actually reverse the aging process, is that just wishfull lies people everyone wants to beleive so they spend loads on them, for nothing much?

[SkepticLance]

Cameron

Lots of things have been claimed to reverse the ageing process. Caloric restriction. Blueberries. Wolfberries. Resveratrol. To date, there is not a single thing that has been proven by proper scientific study to actually do that. Of the unproven things, caloric restriction and resveratrol are probably the best candidates for something that might, in the future, be shown to have the power to slow ageing. However, it is still too early to accept that as correct. Watch the results of future research.

 

In the mean time, there are a whole range of things which we know reduce your chances of dying early. Exercise, good genetics, good diet, not smoking, drinking in moderation, good medical care, good stress management, proper rest and relaxation, good social and family and marital relationships etc.

 

Average lifespan over the past 200 years has consistently increased. It is still getting longer, despite the increasing numbers of obese people amongst us. This has not happened because of any increase in potential lifespan. It has increased because fewer people die early. The main reason for this increase has been improvements in medical care. There are now excellent medications to counter high blood pressure, high LDL (bad cholesterol), arterial inflammation, and blood clotting. So many older people are now taking these regularly that the death rate from heart disease and strokes at an early age is dropping.

 

Cancers are getting more prevalent, purely because cancer is a disease of old age, and a lot more people reach this status. The next big step will be highly effective drugs for preventing cancers. Watch this space....

[iNow]

Additionally, caloric restriction has a huge benefit. Depending on your desire to argue semantics... It might not "reverse" aging, but it sure does have a tremendous impact on it (and there is scores of "proper scientific study" supporting this).

 

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=caloric+restriction+lifespan&hl=en&lr=&btnG=Search

Edited April 3, 2009 by iNow

[cameron marical]

ya, they have a thing that talks about caloric restriction on "pushing the body" that i watched, but it showed a guy that was doing it, and he just looked anorexic, surely thats not healthy, is it?they also talked about just food in general restriction, and said that was much of the same results as caloric restriction, or maybe they just had the tests doing both. i dont know.

[iNow]

Lots of things have been claimed to reverse the ageing process. Caloric restriction. Blueberries. Wolfberries. Resveratrol. To date, there is not a single thing that has been proven by proper scientific study to actually do that.

 

I suppose you missed the link in the OP (primarily the one to the journal Nature).