Does Red Wine Fuel the Fountain of Youth?
Research tests on mice show that a substance found in red wine may let humans enjoy a long and healthful life — even if they are overweight. But the Harvard study shows that being healthy is not as simple as a sip of wine every day. The substance, resveratrol, is found in red grapes and other foods. Previous studies have found that it seems to extend the lives of worms, flies, and fish. David Sinclair, who is part of a Harvard team that gave concentrated quantities of resveratrol to some mice on a high-fat diet, says the mice put on a lot of weight. But they remained much healthier than fat mice on the same diet — but who didn’t get resveratrol. “The chance of dying was reduced about 30 percent,” Sinclair says. “And the reason I can’t tell you exactly how much longer they lived is the study is still going. We rushed it to publication because it was so dramatic.” The Harvard study was published online by the journal Nature. Sinclair says the fat mice getting resveratrol — and a diet tha
