In August 2003, when scientists first revealed the life-extending powers of trans-3,4,'5-trihydroxystilbene-- also known as resveratrol -- its earthly form had all the allure of an apple in the garden of Eden.
Ruby red, delicately fragrant, shapely in a rounded nest of glass, red wine can deliver as much as 1.5 milligrams of the plant compound resveratrol per four-ounce serving. At concentrations present in a person's blood after two glasses of red wine, resveratrol has been found to suppress the formation of blood clots and boost the efficiency of immune system cells.
Much larger doses of resveratrol increase the life span of yeast, flies, fish and roundworms, studies have shown. A feeding regimen that includes the good stuff found in red wine makes obese mice just as healthy, spry and long-lived as those who have been raised on near-starvation diets.
So leave it to American entrepreneurs to gin up a thriving market for a resveratrol supplement rather than urge consumers to enjoy the food -- or in this case, savor the drink -- linked to better health and longer life, says Dr. Gerald Weissmann, director of New York University's biotechnology study center.
In the blinking come-ons of some resveratrol pitches and in the subtext and testimonials of others, remarkable claims for resveratrol supplements abound: They will forestall or prevent such age-related scourges as cancer, diabetes, arthritis and Alzheimer's disease; they will restore vitality, endurance and strength to the middle aged and older; they will make aging brains sharper and more agile.
But the business of selling the supplement touted as an "anti-aging miracle" rests on a foundation of science that is as unstable and incomplete as it is promising. In fact, the marketing frenzy surrounding resveratrol is a prime example of how science can be distorted when it is mingled with hope, amplified for buzz and spun for profit.
"I am surprised at the interest, if you consider that the long-term effects in humans are not known," says David Sinclair, the Harvard Medical School pathology professor who has pioneered research on resveratrol and the family of genetic pathways on which the plant compound acts. "The short-term effects are fine. But we don't know what happens if you take this for two decades. There are thousands of people performing a massive experiment."
It's nice for mice
The research on resveratrol is still in its infancy.
