Anti-aging effect of Resveratrol

An article published online on November 1, 2006 in the journal Nature reported the results of a study conducted by Rafael de Cabo, PhD, at the National Institute on Aging, David A. Sinclair, PhD, at Harvard Medical School, and an international group of researchers who found that resveratrol improved the health and survival of overweight older mice on high calorie diets.

Middle aged (one year old) mice were divided to receive a diet high in calories and fat, the same diet supplemented with resveratrol, or a standard diet. After six months, mice given resveratrol experienced greater insulin sensitivity and increased survival compared to mice on the high calorie diets that did not receive the compound. Livers of the mice that received resveratrol were half the size of those in mice on unsupplemented high calorie diets. Gene expression analysis of the liver found that resveratrol affected some of the metabolic pathways that are also influenced by calorie restriction. "We made a striking observation," stated Dr Sinclair, who is an associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and codirector of the Paul F. Glenn Labs for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging. "Resveratrol opposed the effects of high caloric intake in 144 out of 153 significantly altered pathways. In terms of gene expression and pathway comparison, the resveratrol fed group was more similar to the standard diet fed group than the high calorie group."

At 114 weeks of age, untreated overweight mice had higher plasma levels of insulin, glucose, and insulin-like growth factor compared to overweight mice who received resveratrol. Forty-two percent of the mice who received resveratrol or were on the standard diet had died at this point, compared to 58 percent of the mice on the high calorie diet who did not receive the compound. "The median lifespan increase we are seeing is about 15 percent at this point," stated Dr Sinclair. "We won't have final lifespan numbers until all of the mice pass away, and this particular strain of mouse generally lives for two-and-a-half-years. So we are around five months from having final numbers, but there is no question that we are seeing increased longevity.

"They are also living more active, better lives," he added. "Their motor skills actually show improvement as they grow older."

The team additionally found evidence of the activation of SIRT1, the mammalian version of the sirtuin enzyme Sir2, which is activated in yeast and other lower organisms by resveratrol.

"Mice are much closer evolutionarily to humans than any previous model organism treated by this molecule, which offers hope that similar impacts might be seen in humans without negative side effects," Dr Sinclair observed. "The 'healthspan' benefits we saw in the obese mice treated with resveratrol, such as increased insulin sensitivity, decreased glucose levels, healthier heart and liver tissues, are positive clinical indicators and may mean we can stave off in human’s age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, but only time and more research will tell."

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