I want Life, F****r!
October 6, 2004 6:02 PM   Subscribe

"We have [a substance] that extends the life of every species it's given to. We're 50 years ahead of where I thought we would be 10 years ago." While Harvard Medical School rules prevent David Sinclair from recommending product, "I know a number of scientists who think [it] is their best shot. Others satisfy themselves with a glass of red wine," which contains the compound. Too good to be true?
posted by stbalbach (20 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
It's more than $1 per pill of Longevinex... I think I'd rather drink wine.
posted by danny the boy at 6:13 PM on October 6, 2004


I wish these guys would work on making life better, and not just longer, but i know there's money in this. (Curing fatal diseases might be a start.)
posted by amberglow at 6:13 PM on October 6, 2004


What a relief. Between red wine and cinnamon I might just make it out of my 40s.
posted by lodurr at 6:23 PM on October 6, 2004


More fine products.
posted by xowie at 6:26 PM on October 6, 2004


From xowie link:

"Resveratrol, an extract that comes from grapes, vines and other plants, has been found by researchers to possess more details."

That's really good to know. Because, like, I always could use more details.

(And no, I haven't had my wine yet. But I did just refill my cinnamon jar. Now we just need to find something nice and specific to credit to garlic.)
posted by lodurr at 6:38 PM on October 6, 2004


From here:

The protein works on human cells growing in a test tube, but will it work on baby boomers trying to live the good life longer?

Please, God, NO!!
posted by contessa at 6:43 PM on October 6, 2004


I wish these guys would work on making life better, and not just longer, but i know there's money in this. (Curing fatal diseases might be a start.)

Yeah. No one would buy a cure for cancer or heart disease.
posted by Kwantsar at 6:52 PM on October 6, 2004


the article at the "better humans" site is written top to bottom as a pitch for the Longevinex brand pills. What a funny site!

Create the Future ™

Aiming to connect people to the future so that they can create it, Betterhumans is an editorial production company that's dedicated to having the best information, analysis and opinion on the impact of advancing science and technology. Betterhumans runs leading Website Betterhumans.com, connects advertisers with its Betterhumans.com audience, licenses editorial for syndication and republication and provides custom research and custom editorial services.

Striving for editorial integrity, accuracy and high journalistic standards, we also seek to be aesthetically, stylistically and conceptually cutting edge. We constantly explore and develop new ways of serving our audience, looking for fresh and unique angles and rethinking issues as new developments and insights emerge.

By getting more people thinking about the future, we hope to inspire people into assuming a proactive and participatory role in its creation. We aim to build, lead and support a community of informed forward thinkers.
posted by damehex at 7:32 PM on October 6, 2004


Two questions for poster/commenters--(1) if drinking red wine is good for you, what about eating red grapes if you do not like alchohol?
(2) the French may have fewer heart attacks, so this post claims, but is their longivity better or worse than countries where drinking wine often is not the norm?
posted by Postroad at 7:47 PM on October 6, 2004


Yeah. No one would buy a cure for cancer or heart disease.
You obviously don't realize that if something is cured you only make money on it once. See AIDS drugs for an example--why find a cure when you have people on multiple drugs for the rest of their lives? Which makes more money?

and Post: i think there's something about the fermentation but i'm not sure.
posted by amberglow at 7:54 PM on October 6, 2004


Postroad: Heaven forbid we get serious, but here goes.

Yes, red grapes are very rich in resveretrol. (I remember reading about this a couple of years ago.) Basically, rule of thumb is: The darker, the better. So dark, strong grapes like Concords, Muscadines and Mustangs should be very good, as should unpasturized grape juice.

Of course, resveretrol is metabolised (well, really, bound) so fast that you can't trace it in the bloodstream. I'm not sure what that means -- it might mean that you get no benefit at all from it, but I suppose it could also mean that it's doing its thing. So I guess I wouldn't buy the pills, but if you like dark grapes or red wine, what's the harm?
posted by lodurr at 7:58 PM on October 6, 2004 [1 favorite]


am I the only one who thought of the anti-agathic drugs in Cities in Flight, a 4 volume classic by James Blish. And then of boosterspice from Larry Niven's Known Space books?
posted by Grod at 8:08 PM on October 6, 2004


You can now stop roaming the internet to find alternative sources of red wine molecules.

Thank GOD! All this roaming is making my feet tired!
posted by ook at 8:32 PM on October 6, 2004


What. Now it is Metafilter accepting paid advertisements?!?!
posted by jmccorm at 9:51 PM on October 6, 2004


Pomegranate juice is also apparently very high in polyphenol, though it's not specifically resveratrol. The Pom brand juice is good - albeit a bit pricey ($3 a bottle at my local Whole Foods.) But I suppose it may be a reasonable alternative for those who don't want to drink wine.
posted by sixdifferentways at 10:42 PM on October 6, 2004


Question: do the people in, say, France's red-wine district now live to age 150?
posted by jfuller at 3:01 AM on October 7, 2004


The better question is how can French people possibly have decent lifespans (and low incidence of coronary illness) given the incredible quantity of saturated fats in their diet.

Also, yes, a common side effect of taking polyphenols is a better life, as well as a longer one, because they do tend to enhance one's overall health, cognition, mood and libido.

There are other life-extension supplements to consider besides resveratrol, of course, i.e., CoQ10, grape OPCs, omegas, tocotrienols, ginkgo, selenium, folic acid.

Since supplements are not well-standardized, buying by brand makes a difference. Solaray, Jarrow and Twinlabs are reliable manufacturers, in my experience. "Store" brands are often not worth buying.
posted by xowie at 6:07 AM on October 7, 2004


incredible quantity of saturated fats in their diet

The paradox is why US doctors continue to think cholesterol causes heart disease when there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The French "paradox" is the tip of the iceberg for any one who examines the history and evidence of the lipid hypothesis.
posted by stbalbach at 9:41 AM on October 7, 2004 [1 favorite]


No paradox there - the focus on cholesterol enables the sale of statin drugs such as Lipitor and Zocor. However, these are actually quite dangerous drugs.
posted by xowie at 10:21 AM on October 7, 2004


I'm in too much of a rush to check the link, but I sure hope the life extending substance involves peanut butter.
posted by troutfishing at 3:23 PM on October 7, 2004


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