An international team of scientists has discovered that taking large doses of a red wine ingredient in mid life can ward off symptoms of aging in mice. The effect was to extend quality rather than length of life.
The study is the work of researchers based at the National Institute of Aging (part of the National Institutes of Health) in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and others, and is published in the 3rd July online issue of Cell Metabolism.
The chemical resveratrol, which is present in red wine, reduced a number of symptoms generally associated with aging, bringing such benefits as improved cardiovascular function, greater motor coordination, reduced cataracts and better bone density.
Corresponding co-author Dr Rafael de Cabo of the National Institute on Aging said that rather than extending lifespan, resveratrol extended the length of productive independent living during that lifespan.
“From a health point of view, the quality of life of these mice at the end of their days is much better.”
David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School, the other corresponding co-author of the study, said he was surprised at how broad the effects were in the mice, adding that:
“Usually, you focus on slowing down or ameliorating one disease at a time. In this case, resveratrol influences a whole series of seemingly unrelated diseases associated with aging.”
Sinclair, de Cabo and colleagues also found that resveratrol mimics the beneficial effects of eating fewer calories by triggering gene activity similar to that which occurs during restricted diets or when mice are only fed every other day.
The authors suggested that should the chemical prove to have the same impact in humans, the benefits should be greater, because unlike people, mice don’t usually suffer from weakening bones or die from heart disease.
Previous research has already revealed that eating a nutritious daily diet or reducing calorie intake by 30 per cent, can delay the start of a range of age-related diseases, increase stress resilience, and slow down decline of functioning. However, while calorie restriction would work in humans, it is unlikely to be taken up by many, and may even present risks, for instance to the elderly or critically ill.
So the next best thing is to find something that mimics the effect of calorie restriction, and that’s how the researchers in this study came up with the idea of resversatrol because it stimulates SIRT1, a protein known to be associated with longevity in many living things, including yeasts and mammals. In this study Sinclair, de Cabo and colleagues pinpointed the mechanism involved.
They put one year old mice into four groups: two groups had the standard control diet one with and one without resveratrol, and two groups had the every other day feeding diet, one with and one without resveratrol.
The results showed that:
- The mice on resveratrol experienced changes in gene expression for important metabolic tissue such as liver and muscle that were similar to changes induced by restricted calories.
- Overall, regardless of diet, the health of the mice on resveratrol improved, as reflected by reductions in osteoporosis, cataracts, and vascular dysfunction, and improvements in motor coordination.
- However, as expected, the mice lived longer only when fed on a high calorie diet.
The authors concluded that:
“Long-term resveratrol treatment of mice can mimic transcriptional changes induced by dietary restriction and allow them to live healthier, more vigorous lives.”
“In addition to improving insulin sensitivity and increasing survival in [high-calorie fed] mice, we show that resveratrol improves cardiovascular function, bone density, and motor coordination, and delays cataracts, even in nonobese rodents,” they added.
The authors suggested their findings confirmed it was now feasible to pursue an oral form of “dietary restriction mimetic”.
Clinical trials testing the resveratrol for treatment of type II diabetes are already in progress, said the authors, and other chemicals with similar effects are also being developed.
“Resveratrol Delays Age-Related Deterioration and Mimics Transcriptional Aspects of Dietary Restriction without Extending Life Span.”
Kevin J. Pearson, Joseph A. Baur, Kaitlyn N. Lewis, Leonid Peshkin, Nathan L. Price, Nazar Labinskyy, William R. Swindell, Davida Kamara, Robin K. Minor, Evelyn Perez, Hamish A. Jamieson, Yongqing Zhang, Stephen R. Dunn, Kumar Sharma, Nancy Pleshko, Laura A. Woollett, Anna Csiszar, Yuji Ikeno, David Le Couteur, Peter J. Elliott, Kevin G. Becker, Placido Navas, Donald K. Ingram, Norman S. Wolf, Zoltan Ungvari, David A. Sinclair, and Rafael de Cabo.
Cell Metabolism Published online 3rd July 2008.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2008.06.011
Source: Journal abstract and press release.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD