Anti-Aging Drug Stories Get Tipsy.

By Brandon Keim
July 07, 2008 | 10:31:27 AM

Research on the anti-aging effects of resveratrol was widely reported last week, but headline writers and some journalists misled the public by emphasizing the compound's presence in red wine.

Resveratrol, which -- at least in mice -- rejuvenates mitochondria and produces the same cell-level changes as longevity-enhancing calorically restricted diets, is indeed found in red wine (not to mention knotweed and white hellebore.)

But to receive an ostensibly therapeutic dose from wine, you'd have to drink yourself to death. A liter of wine contains about three milligrams* of resveratrol; the mid-range mouse dose in last week's study was 30 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

Scale that up to a 165-pound human, and you've got a daily dose of 2.25 grams. If you want to get this from wine, tell your friends and family first: you'll need to drink 750 bottles.**

Nevertheless, the resveratrol-and-red-wine reportage rolled on. "Compound in Red Wine Fights Ravages of Age," declared HealthDay News. The Press Association announced that "Red wine 'wards off ageing signs.'" The IndependentReuters and the Telegraph fell off the wagon. duly noted that resveratrol extended health rather than life, but told readers to "Drink red wine for a better life." Even

Needless to say, the researchers -- among them David Sinclair, co-founder of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, for whom resveratrol is only the first and possibly least-potent anti-aging drug -- used a synthesized, highly purified resveratrol formulation. Wine wasn't part of the equation, and after several years of resveratrol coverage, it's ridiculous for media producers to keep conflating them.

After all, when's the last time anyone called aspirin a "willow bark drug"?

Image: Dr. Wendy T.L.

* A liter of red wine contains anywhere from 0.2 to 5.8 milligrams of resveratrol; I went with a middle figure.

** And that's assuming, for sake of convenience, a one-liter bottle; most wine bottles contain three-fourths of a liter.

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