Red Wine = Fountain of Youth?

Posted June 4, 2008, 3:58 pm by Growing Bolder


It's been a mythical dream for some. The idea of wiping away wrinkles, adding years to life or popping pills to stop the aging process.

In a galaxy far, far away, right?

Wrong.

According to an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, drugs that treat aging are on their way to our medicine cabinets within the next 10 years or less. And it's all, somewhat, thanks to red wine.

These medicines will help ease some of the problems that come along with aging, as well as, extend peoples' lifespan. Harvard Medical School professor David Sinclair is leading the way with his breakthrough research of the benefits of a substance in red wine, resveratrol, that he discovered.

The company he co-founded, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, was bought for $720 million by GlaxoSmithKline, according to the article. Sinclair says he believes the road to treating aging is a short one.

"It's not an if, but a when," he said in the AJC article.

As baby boomers get older, the topic of aging is becoming more and more popular among researchers and society, but it's still a sore spot for some.

But Sinclair aims to making the plight of aging even easier. His research on lab mice that were given resveratrol shows promise. He says that the mice don't get diabetes, cancer or Alzheimer's as much and that the substance "delays the diseases of aging."

While boomers wait anxiously for the "cure" to aging, the best way to live right now, Sinclair says, is by keeping exercise in your life.



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