Resveratrol in wine prevents aging of the heart, bones, eyes and muscles

Scientists found that resveratrol - a component of red wine and grape peel - during normal meals can slow down the aging process as well as impair the function but does not increase life expectancy.

Conducted and funded in part by the National Institute of Aging (NIA) with the National Institutes of Health, this is the next study of the results obtained in 2006 that resveratrol can enhance health as well as age. life of old, obese mice. The study confirms previous results that a compound in natural foods such as grapes and nuts can mimic some of the benefits of a calorie-restricted diet. This is also the most effective way to alleviate aging-related diseases in mammals today.

According to NIA scientists, the results of the study, published in the June 3, 2008 issue of Cell Metabolism, may increase people's interest in resveratrol as a potential interfering agent in the process. old. However, the authors emphasize that their research results are based on experiments conducted in mice and not humans; Therefore, the study is not directly meaningful to health people affected by many different factors except those that appear in animal studies.

According to a new study, drinking a lot of red wine can avoid many signs of aging in mice that have lived half their lives.(Photo: iStockphoto / Peter Zvonar)

The study received a collaborative support from the lab of Dr. Rafael de Cabo, Gerontology Laboratory at NIA, Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Glenn Aging at Harvard Medical School, together with with Dr. David A. Sinclair and a group of other international researchers. To investigate the effects of resveratrol on aging and health, experts compared mice that were given the standard diet with a high-calorie diet; In addition, they were given meals alternating with or without resveratrol in high or low doses. In previous studies, dietary restrictions, including alternating meals, have been shown to improve health indicators.

NIA director Richard J. Hodes said: 'We are trying to understand the aging process to determine the impact of intervention on it. Restricting diets also brings many health benefits to mammals. Research on substances that mimic limited diets like resveratrol is of great interest. Resveratrol has significant effects on animals, including laboratory rats. It mimics a few uses but not all of calorie restriction. Its effects on humans are still in the process of research '.

The important result of the main study is that resveratrol can prevent aging and obesity-related cardiovascular dysfunction in mice identified through several parameters. The cholesterol rate decreased significantly in 22-month-old non-obese mice after 10 months of resveratrol treatment, although triglyceride levels only tended to be slight, insignificant. Furthermore, the aorta of 18-month-old obese and non-obese mice treated with resveratrol functioned relatively better than untreated mice. Resveratrol also mitigates the inflammation of the heart.

In addition to cardiovascular function support, scientists found that resveratrol has a lot of positive effects on aging-related phenomena in mice:

- Rats treated with resveratrol have stronger bones, determined by their thickness, volume, mineral content as well as higher density and flexibility than untreated control mice.
- For 30-month-old rats, resveratrol-treated mice had a lower incidence of cataracts - a disease with a high rate of age and age in the control group of mice.
- Resveratrol enhances balance as well as the ability to coordinate activities in old mice. The scientists found a significant improvement in activity in mice 21 to 24 months of age compared to 15-month-olds treated with resveratrol but this phenomenon did not occur in untreated mice.
- Resveratrol partially mimics the effect of dietary restriction on gene expression data of adipose tissue, skeletal muscle tissue and liver tissue in mice.
- Along with determining the effectiveness of resveratrol on the health of mice, the scientists also studied the effects of resveratrol on longevity.

De Cabo said: 'We found that while quality of life was improved by resveratrol, this compound did not have a significant impact on the survival or maximum length of life in mice with meals. standard, compared to those with the same diet without resveratrol '.

Resveratrol has no significant effect on the lifespan of animals with a standard diet; This suggests that the intervention of resveratrol does not affect the aging process substantially. Mice with a high-calorie diet without resveratrol have the shortest lifespan while mice with alternating diets live the longest regardless of whether resveratrol is treated or not. However, for mice with a high-calorie diet, average and maximum life expectancy increased in those treated with resveratrol compared to the control mice.

The researchers found that resveratrol's effect on life expectancy was not accompanied by changes in body weight, suggesting that mice with a high-calorie resveratrol diet did not necessarily need to lose weight but had Longer and healthier lifespan than babies and high calorie diets without resveratrol. They considered that improved cardiovascular status as well as reduced fat in the liver could contribute to an increase in the lifespan of resveratrol-treated mice.

There is still a lot to study before resveratrol is recommended for human use. The eternal question of safety and biological effectiveness for humans still needs to be thoroughly researched. Sinclair said: 'We are learning a lot about resveratrol's effect on the health and survival of mammals. Future studies of calorie restriction mimics such as resveratrol may point to a new way of studying pharmaceuticals to treat aging. '

Besides NIA scientists and Harvard Medical University, there are researchers from the following institutes and institutes: New York Medical University, Valhalla, New York; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; University of Sydney in Australia; Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia; University of California, San Diego, La Jolla; Special surgery hospital, New York; University of Cincinnati, Ohio; University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and Audie Murphy VA Hospital, San Antonio, Texas; Universidad Pablo de Olavide University, Sevilla, Spain; Pennington, Baton Rouge, La. Biomedical Research Center; University of Washington, Seattle; and Sirtris Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Mass. - the company was founded by author Sinclair and co-leader of Harvard University.

De Cabo is the scientist of the NIA's Internal Research Program. In addition, the study was also funded primarily by NIA, besides the National Institute of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Heart, Lungs, Blood, National Institute of Human Development and Child Health, National Eye Institute family, and the National Institute of Dermatology, Musculoskeletal and Arthritis. The Ellison Medical Research Foundation, the American Heart Association, the Australian Government, together with the Spanish Government, Paul F. Glenn and the Biological Mechanism Laboratory of Aging Paul F. Glenn also support the member of the research group.