Personal Injury Law

Wine, Calorie-Restricted Diet Slow Heart Aging

By Jane Akre

Wine enthusiasts everywhere will be delighted to know that popping the cork on their next bottle of red will not only taste good but is heart healthy.

A natural compound, found in red wine, grapes, pomegranates and certain other foods may help to protect the heart and slow down the effects of aging, according to new study findings.

The study, published in the online Journal of the Public Library of Science, suggests that resveratrol slowed signs of aging in mice as effectively as a calorie-restricted diet, already proven to slow the decline in heart function associated with aging. 

Daily high doses of the compound, equal to what is in 1,000 bottles of wine, has previously shown the ability to extend the lives of laboratory animals.

The mice were fed a small amount of resveratrol, a restricted calorie diet, or a normal diet.

The experiment concluded that the genetic changes that signal bone and heart aging were lower in mice getting the supplement or limited amounts of food, and they appeared to have less age-related heart dysfunction.

The study began when the mice were 14 months old and followed them until 30 months.

The discovery of compounds could have a profound public health impact by reducing disease incidence and quite possibly extending the quality and length of human lifespan, said co-senior author, Tomas Prolla, of the University of Wisconsin's Medical Genetics Department in Madison. 

Madison, Wisconsin-based LifeGen Technologies, a genomics company that Prolla helped found, took part in the research. LifeGen is trying to develop nutrients and pharmaceuticals (nutraceuticals) that help us live longer.

Before you open a bottle, recent studies show a link between consumption of alcohol and the increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

184,000 women were part of the investigation by the National Cancer Institute which found that women who had two small drinks a day faced a 32 percent increase in the risk of developing a hormone-sensitive tumor.  Up that to three or more drinks and the risk rose by 51 percent.

Drugmakers are also jumping on the bandwagon and researching the use of resveratrol supplementation to fight diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cancer.

DSM Nutritional Products provided funding for the study. The Swiss company produced a resveratrol product called Resvida. 

Scientist at Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc., which GlaxoSmithKline Plc, recently said it would buy for $720 million, are working on a reseveratrol-like compound of its own.  #

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on June 05, 2008 (boomark / email).