Resveratrol Supplements and Anti-Aging

Resveratrol, an ingredient found in the skin of red grapes and red wine, has been proven to both reverse the effects of obesity in mice and extend their lifespan. More recent studies are showing that resveratrol also increases their endurance.

Ordinary mice will typically run approximately one kilometer on a treadmill before collapsing in exhaustion. However, mice given a resveratrol supplement will run twice as far before showing any evidence of tiring. In addition, tests show that these mice have enhanced muscular energy and a significantly reduced heart rate, similar to the qualities found in trained athletes.

Doctors at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Illkirch, France have completed initial human experiments that demonstrate that similar results can be obtained in human test subjects that are placed on a program of high quality resveratrol supplementation.

Resveratrol Generates Energy

The key to resveratrol's effects on the body are in the substances ability to work at a cellular level to increase the production of mitochondria. Mitochondria are the organisms in the body that generate energy. The extra mitochondria in the treated mice resulted in the ability to burn more fat and to optimize muscle functions.

Dr. Ronald M. Evans, a scientist at the Salk Institute and an expert on the hormonal control of metabolism, said the report by the French genetics team had "shown very convincingly that resveratrol improves mitochondrial function" and wards off metabolic disease. Evans described the study as "very important, because it is rare that we identify orally active molecules, especially natural molecules, that have such a broad-based, positive effect on a problem which is as widespread in society as metabolic disease."

A drug that prevents degenerative disease, prolongs life, and can reshape an individual into a champion athlete sounds almost too good to be true. But doctors are convinced that their work into the effects of resveratrol have led to some surprising advancements in the area of anti-aging. They now believe that the body's ability to utilize sirtuins, enzymes that protect and energize our systems, declines with age. This is the process that is reversed by resveratrol.

The growing evidence supporting the power of resveratrol has infected scientists who do research on the aging process, several of whom are already taking resveratrol. Dr. David Sinclair, a scientist at the anti-aging drug research company Sirtris, has been swallowing resveratrol supplement capsules for three years and has claimed that his parents and half the members of his laboratory do the same.