Resveratrol Popularity Warranted?

Resveratrol, a compound found in grape skins and red wine, is a hot anti-aging product that promises to turn back the biological clock. Supplements of the compound are sold in health food stores, the Internet and it is even showing up in antiwrinkle creams. According to an article in the Boston Globe, all the hype may not be warranted. Despite the fact that Harvard University molecular geneticist David Sinclair found resveratrol appeared to dramatically extend the life span of yeast and fruit flies in 2003, scientists have yet to demonstrate the substance can extend the life of creatures bigger than a mouse. However, that hasn’t stopped manufactures from supplying and consumers from buying. The article says two health food stores, At Good Health Natural Foods in Hanover and the Vitamin Shoppe in Harvard Square, claim resveratrol to be their best-selling anti-aging supplements.

Since his fruit fly discovery, Sinclair has started his own company to research resveratrol. Resveratrol has been shown to switch on sirtuins, genes that trigger enzymes that repair and prevent cell damage. Rats on severe diets have high sirtuin activity, which is believed to help them live longer. Scientists are interested in finding a supplement that could trigger the same effect in humans without severely restricting the diet.

Whinle Sinclair has predicted that an anti-aging supplement will be proven to work within five years, other experts, like Steve Austad, a professor of cellular and structural biology at the University of Texas, say it would be more like 30 years before scientists can prove any anti-aging claims of resveratrol.