Cure-all seeks FDA approval

November 16, 2006 3:25 PM

Not just for longevists anymore. In addition to prolonging lifespan by 30 percent, resveratrol apparently doubles endurance, giving you the reduced heart rate and energy-charged muscles of a trained athlete... if you're a rat. It's contained in red wine, and the health-food industry is claiming that resveratrol is the wine component responsible for the "French Paradox." If so, it'll be because of sirtuins, "the anti-aging enzymes." Are all these doctors quacks? (previously)
posted by anotherpanacea (33 comments total)

From the Times article:

Dr. Sinclair dosed his mice daily with 22 milligrams of resveratrol for each kilogram of weight, and Dr. Auwerx used up to 400 milligrams. No one could drink enough red wine to obtain such doses.

Resveratrol is now available in capsules that contain extracts of red wine and giant knotweed, a plant found in China. One manufacturer of such capsules is Longevinex, whose president, Bill Sardi, said today that demand for the product had increased by a factor of 2400 since Nov. 1. But even Longevinex’s capsules, which at present contain 40 milligrams of resveratrol each, would have to be gulped in almost impossible quantities for a human to obtain doses equivalent to those used in mice. “It’s like eating a whole bottle of Tums every day,” Dr. Evans said.
posted by anotherpanacea at 3:26 PM on November 16, 2006

It's the not-so-dirty secret of the Last Laugh Club.
posted by mistermoore at 3:31 PM on November 16, 2006

Eponysterical!
posted by Richard Daly at 3:32 PM on November 16, 2006

Eponysterical!

Yup.
posted by anotherpanacea at 3:38 PM on November 16, 2006

Wow. Imagine how long my uncle could have lived if his liver hadn't given out!
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:40 PM on November 16, 2006

Except by "rat," you mean "mouse."

P.S. The paper is available for free here [PDF] for the next few days, until the journal officially comes out.
posted by rxrfrx at 3:45 PM on November 16, 2006

I would not be at all surprised if the "French Paradox" were as much cultural and lifestyle oriented, than dietary.

A slower pace of living, far more cultural emphasis on enjoyment of life, longer, more frequent holidays, etc.

I would guess that these factors go a long way toward mitigating heart health issues.
posted by stenseng at 4:01 PM on November 16, 2006

Plus, more exercise, better, more frequent sex...=)
posted by stenseng at 4:01 PM on November 16, 2006

No one could drink enough red wine to obtain such doses.

A challenge, eh?
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:20 PM on November 16, 2006

That, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with this country. They see that the French are outliving us, so they extract something from red wine and feed it to rats.
posted by Huplescat at 4:34 PM on November 16, 2006 [9 favorites]

anotherpanacea is such an apt name for this post!

Does this mean I need to trade Guinness and single malt for red wine?
I mean, there are quality of life issues to consider here...
posted by nofundy at 4:54 PM on November 16, 2006

Even as a hardened 'there can be only doubt' skeptic I find my self strangely drawn to things like pycnogenol and this resveratrol. Never bought any of it, too expensive, I'd have to give up smoking to afford it. Huplescat thanks for the lol.
posted by econous at 5:43 PM on November 16, 2006

I would not be at all surprised if the "French Paradox" were as much cultural and lifestyle oriented, than dietary.

I think it's called ennuiatrol and red wine, cigarettes and sex only help to release it, ah, but for a fleeting moment.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:14 PM on November 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

Where's my Super-Anti-Gerasone?
posted by Matt Oneiros at 7:00 PM on November 16, 2006

From the first link: Dr. Sinclair has said that he has been swallowing resveratrol capsules for three years, and that his parents and half his lab staff do the same.

That explains how he got the paper out so quickly.
posted by alms at 7:12 PM on November 16, 2006

There's never been a better time to be a lab rat.
posted by jason's_planet at 7:50 PM on November 16, 2006

I'll drink to that. Oh, wait, I would have to do that about 2,000 times per day. There might be ill effects.
posted by caddis at 8:10 PM on November 16, 2006

Oooh, the temptation to start making snarky comments about the "French paradox". But I'll resist the urge.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 8:31 PM on November 16, 2006

So this is another magical long-life trick that will now allow us to live longer retired lives than working careers? Plus we get to be drunk constantly while doing so? And to think, those fools said we had "survival instincts" or some junk like that. Bring on the oldpocalypse!

(Need I say that I'm glad these "breakthroughs" are wildly impractical at best?)
posted by Saydur at 12:22 AM on November 17, 2006

Oooh, the temptation to start making snarky comments about the "French paradox". But I'll resist the urge.

You mean like, "he who turns and runs away lives to run another day?"
posted by Pollomacho at 2:37 AM on November 17, 2006

This French floozy serum is also the shameful, secret origin of Captain America.
posted by kid ichorous at 2:38 AM on November 17, 2006

What is never stated or suggested: if the ingredient that is effective can be found in red grapes and thus in wine, can it also be found and taken in grape juice so that I don't get drunk when I am 102 and at work?
posted by Postroad at 2:59 AM on November 17, 2006

That, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with this country. They see that the French are outliving us, so they extract something from red wine and feed it to rats.

I was just about to post something along these exact same lines. When did America get so screwed up, seriosuly?

America is busy banning foie gras and smoking on sidewalks and the French are laughing all the way to the morgue.
posted by atomly at 3:18 AM on November 17, 2006

Maybe the live longer because they eat less. They eat three meals a day, and we eat one meal...all day long!
posted by prodigalsun at 6:16 AM on November 17, 2006

There's a lot of bullshit assumptions about the "French Lifestyle" in here. I'd like to hear from an actual Frenchman because the few people I know who work for French corporations say that the American corporate lifestyle is actually much more relaxed than the French, particularly when it comes to taking vacation and personal time off. I'd also like to see some actual statistics on just how much longer these so called French are living.
posted by spicynuts at 6:37 AM on November 17, 2006

Postroad writes "can it also be found and taken in grape juice "

Not in apprecable quantities, no.
posted by orthogonality at 7:34 AM on November 17, 2006

And I always just thought I was a well-trained athlete. Who knew it came from sitting around drinking grenache?

can it also be found and taken in grape juice

It's in the stems and skins, with the tannins, I think. That's why white wine has none of it.

Once they figure out how to extract this shit, it's gonna blow up. Worried about PEDs in athletics? It's only beginning.
posted by mrgrimm at 8:03 AM on November 17, 2006

spicynuts:

Perhaps you could bother reading some of the links, or perhaps this Wikipedia entry on the French Paradox. Specifically that "in 1999, rates of death from coronary heart disease among males aged 35-74 years was 230 per 100,000 people in the US but only 83 per 100,000 in France," despite their eating vastly more saturated fat than Americans: "the average French person consumed 108 grams per day of fat from animal sources in 2002 while the average American consumed only 72. The French eat four times as much butter, 60 percent more cheese and nearly three times as much pork."

And as far as France and vaction, I'm not sure where you're getting your data. Examine, for example, this data. The French, on average, get 39 days a year vacation and only 17% of the workforce doesn't use all of their vacation days.
posted by atomly at 8:32 AM on November 17, 2006

Must be the engineering industry is an exeption. Duly noted.
posted by spicynuts at 8:34 AM on November 17, 2006

A more direct link to said vacation data.
posted by atomly at 8:34 AM on November 17, 2006

I wonder how much trans fat had to do with that?
posted by caddis at 8:43 AM on November 17, 2006

How come all winos look like shit?
posted by cedar key at 9:39 AM on November 17, 2006

It's because all the resveratrol in Mad Dog 20/20 is contaminated with impurities like C2H5OH
posted by caddis at 10:56 AM on November 17, 2006