Red wine no fountain of youth after all? What new study says

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(CBS) A group of scientists who thought they found the fountain of youth may be all wet. New research from England suggests the red wine compound called resveratrol may not extend lifespan at all.

The scientists, including Dr. Leonard Guarente, professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were excited by studies that seemed to show that resveratrol could "activate" longevity-promoting proteins called sirtuins. Alas, that doesn't seem to be the case.

"We have re-examined the key experiments linking sirtuin with longevity in animals and none seem to stand up to close scrutiny," study author Dr. David Gems, professor of aging at the University of London, said in a written statement. "Sirtuins, far from being a key to longevity appear to have nothing to do with extending life.

For the study - published in the September 22 issue of Nature - scientists genetically manipulated worms to produce more sirtuin. The worms did live longer than their normal counterparts, as the earlier studies showed.

But the scientists behind the new study say the original research may have been flawed. When they controlled for other factors - so the only difference between worms was sirtuin levels - the longevity effect vanished. The scientists also tried to use resveratrol to activate sirtuins in fruit flies, and were unable to do so.

Guarente had been one of the scientists whose research seemed to suggest that lots of sirtuins lead to longevity. What does he say about the new study?

"We agree there is a glitch in one of the worm strains used in the 2001 paper," Guarente told the New York Times. "We absolutely do not agree that there is a serious question about whether sir2 extends life span in worms," he said, using the name for worm's sirtuin. "I think the whole thing is a tempest in a teapot."

Count Dr. Richard A. Miller, professor of pathology at the University of Michigan, among those who question longevity benefits from resveratrol and sirtuins.

He told CBS News of red wine, "If it is good for you, it's almost certainly not because of the resveratrol."

Miller said it may sell more bottles, but the idea that resveratrol turns on sirtuins, and sirtuins help people live a long time is "hopelessly oversimplified."The amount of resveratrol in red wine is far lower than the amounts given to animals in these studies, he said, and the newest study showed resveratrol didn't even activate sirtuins.

Said Miller, "People who bought the story for the last 10 years have been fooled."

[amerilatino]

Who gives a crap about any damn study? If a couple of cups of wine when I get home help me unwind from work, forget about my boss so I can get some sleep and thereby defer notions of aggravated assault and social downfall or even murder, what the hell is safe for my health anyway? Considering the alternatives, the least of which is stress-induced illness and premature aging in these God-forsaken times, a regular snort or two can be a lifesaver.

[erasmus111]

If you need a couple of cups of wine, or whatever, when you get home, everyday, to deal with LIFE, then you are an alcoholic. There are other things you can do to relieve stress. Only the very weak use alcohol for a crutch.

[erasmus111]

I'm not at all surprised by this. It seems like this has been the case for most studies that have been done. One minute they say that something is good for you, that it stops this or that, and the next thing you know, it has been proven wrong. They all just need to shut up.

[erasmus111]

What happens when they do these studies, where they say that red wine is good for you? It makes people over-indulge. All the lushes think that is an "OK" for them to keep over-indulging. They don't hear the "only one glass a day" part.

[amerilatino]

erasmus, if it weren't for the therapeutic qualities of alcohol, many of us would be dead or in prison by now, not the bums, alkies or deadbeats but the hard-working responsible ones who are fed up in desperation at all the B.S. wizards who run the country and our workplaces and who have stolen our national estate or blasted it away on miserable wars of profit gone wrong, so go preach in a church.

[bsardi]

The newly published studies had nothing to do with red wine or red-wine resveratrol. The studies showed anti-aging researchers targeted the wrong gene, not the wrong molecule. Resveratrol pills are still a strong candidate to mimic the effects of a limited-calorie diet and promote super longevity.