Is Resveratrol the key to longer living?

An amazing revelation in the scientific world has displayed a substance in red grapes and thus red wine, is attributed to increasing life span. The compound called resveratrol could eliminate the need for harmful anti aging chemical and surgical treatments. For years the French have been unknowingly benefitting from resveratrol, by consuming red wine.

Now pharmaceutical giants are rushing resveratrol supplements into production with great speed. The studies so far on resveratrol have been limited to flies, mice and worms. The studies revealed that flies live 30% longer, and fish and worms by 60%.

Dr Rafael de Cabo, from the National Institute of Aging at Harvard Medical School, US said that after six months, resveratrol essentially prevented most of the negative effects of a high calorie diet in mice. In essence the mice who where over eating actually did not damage their life expectancy. They actually increased it.

Resveratrol is not only of interest to the anti aging market. It has also been linked to the combat of diabetes and cancer. Although all research is still in its infancy, natural antioxidants like this may be the only way to effectively treat aging, cancer and diabetes in the future.

When you look at the research in more detail, reservatrol may actually treat a common burden to society. All the mice in the study where fed highly saturated fats. In essence they were obese. It did not damage their life expectancy at all.

Another study by the University of Rochester revealed that the natural antioxidant resveratrol can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells from reaching the cell’s core energy sources called mitochondria. As the cancer has nothing to feed on, it therefore cannot grow.

Is resveratrol another fad supplement? Well actually the French have been consuming it for years via their ponchant for red wine. Their nation has actually a lower rate of heart disease than the US, even though they consume a high calorie diet which includes a fair portion of saturated fats.

Is resveratrol the elixir of life? It remains to be seen, or exploited even, without more substantial research. At least it sounds promising so far. In an era where the boundaries of medical science are delving into unethical territories, such as the human genome, it’s refreshing to think that resveratrol, a compound found naturally in red grapes could provide many benefits to human existence.