If red wine's good, are resveratrol pills even better?

To date, its most exciting possibilities have been demonstrated only in experiments conducted in petri dishes, on organisms such as yeast and roundworms and in mice. A single study on rhesus monkeys is almost a year from completion. A dozen human trials on resveratrol (or on drugs derived from it) are currently underway or have recently been completed. But only two are in the third and final phase of testing, in which an agent's effectiveness in treating or preventing a specific disease is measured.

Meanwhile, only two small studies -- neither of which has been published in a scientific journal -- have pointed to the possibility that resveratrol might improve exercise endurance and regulate blood sugar in diabetics. And scientists are likely years away from establishing the safety of using large quantities of resveratrol for long periods of time.

The drug giant GlaxoSmithKline, having paid $720 million last year for the commercial rights to some of the earliest research on resveratrol, is seeking ways to mimic its broad spectrum of effects in a compound created in the lab rather than grown on a vine.

Sinclair, who heads the company's efforts, calls resveratrol "an interesting proof-of-concept molecule" -- a crude but useful vehicle to activate a class of enzymes called sirtuins, which influence the cellular aging process in organisms ranging from yeast to humans. But Sinclair says his research now focuses on some 4,000 synthetic versions of resveratrol that may more powerfully engage the sirtuins, blunting inflammation, blocking tumor growth and boosting the removal of toxins and cellular debris. "The drugs in trials now will hopefully make resveratrol look like ancient history," he says.

But science is slow. Sinclair said in an interview that it could be five to seven years before a drug based on resveratrol could get a nod from the Food and Drug Administration.

For the purveyors of vitamins, minerals and herbal remedies, that is a five- to seven-year opportunity not to be missed. Consumers' dreams of forestalling the ravages of age have been engaged, and they will buy and swallow anything that gleams with the luster of science. While they wait for science to flesh out resveratrol's promise, consumers' demands for the stuff can be built, tapped and satisfied with products that offer plenty of promise but tread lightly around the preliminary state of the scientific evidence.