Red wine and killies

[budak]

A red wine-derived ingredient is reported to prolong life in killies.....

From New Scientist magazine

Red wine's anti-ageing ingredient does it again

11 February 2006

IF RED wine holds the key to a longer life, fish are the latest creatures that can drink to it. Those fed resveratrol, a component of red wine already known to prolong the life of yeast, flies and nematode worms, can live up to 60 per cent longer than usual. And if resveratrol works in fish, there is a fair chance that it will prolong the lives of other vertebrates, including humans.

Alessandro Cellerino of the Italian Institute of Neuroscience in Pisa gave three different doses of resveratrol to Nothobranchius furzeri, a fish native to Zimbabwe that lives for an average of 9 weeks. The lowest dose had no effect, but fish on the medium dose lived a third longer, and those on the highest dose lived 60 per cent longer. At 12 weeks, by which time all untreated fish were dead, the fish on the highest dose were still fertile and had the physical and mental agility of a young fish (Current Biology, vol 16, p 296).

Resveratrol also appeared to protect the fish's brain cells against age-related degeneration, suggesting that it could potentially help the elderly stay alert.

"As far as I'm aware, this is the first major demonstration that you can extend lifespan in a vertebrate with a single molecule," says David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School, who in 2003 extended the survival of yeast cells by exposing them to the compound.

Previous studies suggest that resveratrol might slow ageing by preventing chemical damage to DNA in mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of cells. Alternatively, it could stabilise DNA by activating a gene called SIRT1, and so prevent cells and tissues from being sapped of energy and deteriorating to produce the symptoms of old age.

Several companies are now developing resveratrol supplements, but in the meantime the substance can be found in grapes, grape juice and red wine. "It wouldn't hurt to drink one or two glasses of wine a day," says Cellerino.

However, other researchers cautioned against using his results as an excuse to overindulge. Paul Kroon of the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, UK, calculated that the highest dose of resveratrol given to the fish equated to a person drinking 72 bottles of red wine per day. And the compound's effects in humans might be further diluted because around 95 per cent of resveratrol is destroyed by our digestive systems before it makes it into the blood.[/b]

[stormhawk]

Hmm.. I think Tyrone was part of the research team along with Cellerino and others. Perhaps he should give a short summary of the team's work.

[TyroneGenade]

1) Resveratrol (RESV) is also found in peanuts and any fruit or veg with a dark reddish skin. RESV serves as a natural sun block for plants. It is a very strong anti-oxidant.

2) Almost ZERO resveratrol is taken up out of the digestive system of any organism. It is almost totally metobolized into one of two possible conjugates. These are probably the active ingedients. The human body is very efficient at absorbing these resveratrol conjugates. The quanitity absorbed seems dependant on the length of the gut. N. furzeri has a very short gut (as does C. elegans and Drosophila). The equivalent (mg RESV/kg organism) resveratrol dose in man would probably kill him. Also the carrier, bloodworm, probably adsorbed a large fraction of the RESV that the fish could not extract in the digestion process. No quantitative assays have been done to see just how much RESV the fish are taking up from the bloodworm they ingest.

3) What is not reported is that RESV dosing increased early life mortality (slightly). Young fish were more likely to die, while older fish lived longer... but I would not be so optimistic as to say 60%. I would say closer to about 24% on average. As much as 100% for maximum lifespan but this was 1 fish out of an experimental group of what must now be 50 fish and I consider that 1 fish rather suspect...

My opinion: eat more fruit, veg, peanuts and drink a glass or wine or two per day and hope for the best.