I thought you all might find this entertaining and somewhat hopeful! lol
Best to all,
EB
** CLIP **
Study: Fat, boozing mice stay healthy
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Huge amounts of a red wine extract seemed to help obese mice eat a high-fat diet and still live a long and healthy life, suggests
a new study that some experts are calling "landmark" research.
The big question is, can it work the same magic in humans?
Scientists say it's far too early to start swilling barrels of red wine.
But they are calling the latest research promising and even "spectacular."
The study by the Harvard Medical School and the National Institute of
Aging shows that heavy doses of red wine extract lowers the rate of
diabetes, liver problems and other fat-related ill effects in obese mice.
Fat-related deaths dropped 31 percent for obese mice on the supplement,
compared to untreated obese mice, and the treated mice also lived long
after they should have, the study said.
Astoundingly, the organs of the fat mice that got the wine extract looked
normal when they shouldn't have, said study lead author Dr. David Sinclair
of Harvard Medical School. And Sinclair said other preliminary work still
being done in the lab shows the wine ingredient has promise in lengthening
the life span of normal-sized mice, too.
For years, red wine has been linked to numerous health benefits. But the
new study, published online in the journal Nature on Thursday, shows that
mammals given ultrahigh doses of the red wine extract resveratrol can get
the good effects of cutting calories without having the pain of actually
doing it.
"If we're right about this, it would mean you could have the benefit of
restricting calories without having to feel hungry," Sinclair said. "It's
the Holy Grail of aging research."
Resveratrol, produced when plants are under stress, are found in the skin
of grapes and in other plants, including peanuts and some berries.
The resveratrol-treated 55 obese mice on a high-calorie diet (one
scientist called it a "McDonald's diet") are not only about as healthy as
normal mice, they are as agile and active on exercise equipment as their
lean cousins, showing what can be considered a normal quality of life,
higher than usual for obese mice, said study co-author Rafael de Cabo of
the National Institute on Aging.
"These fat old mice can perform as well on this skill test as young lean
mice," Sinclair said.
The only major body measurement that didn't improve -- aside from weight
-- was cholesterol and that didn't seem to matter in the overall health of
the mice, Sinclair said.
The study is so promising that the aging institute this week is strongly
considering a repeat of the same experiment with rhesus monkeys, coming
the closest to humans, after succeeding in using resveratrol on yeast,
worms, fruit flies and now mice, said institute director Dr. Richard
Hodes.
Hodes cautions that it's too early for people to start taking
non-regulated resveratrol supplements because safety issues haven't been
addressed adequately. He pointed to past hyped medical treatments, such as
estrogen, that turned out to cause more harm than good.
Sinclair has a financial stake in the research. He is co-founder of a
pharmaceutical firm, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.,
which is in the middle of a study testing the safety of using the extract
on humans for treatment of diabetes.
Sirtris is working on a high-dose resveratrol pill that unlike unregulated
supplements on the market now, would be used as a drug and require Food
and Drug Administration approval, said company chief executive officer Dr.
Christoph Westphal. And that development and federal approval is about
five years away, he said.
Sinclair's results are so promising that he rushed the study into the
science journal while the obese mice are still alive, not waiting several
more weeks or months until they die. That raises some issues, including
specific figures about mortality, but is understandable, said outside
experts.
Even would-be competitors are praising the study.
"It's a fairly spectacular result," said University of Wisconsin medical
professor Dr. Richard Weindruch, who co-founded another biotech company
that looks at the genetics of aging and drugs that could expand life
spans. "People will go to McDonald's and afterwards they'll do super-sized
resveratrol."
"This is fantastic," said Brown University molecular biology professor
Stephen Helfand, who was the first reviewer for the journal Nature and not
part of the team. "This is a historic landmark contribution."
Helfand said he won't be taking red wine extract supplements -- but he has
put his elderly mother on them. He said he's waiting to see if there are
long-term ill effects for humans. Mice, he said, are good initial test
subjects for human drugs because their bodies function more similarly to
humans than differently. However, he added that those differences can
prove crucial.
Sinclair said he takes resveratrol supplements, but doesn't recommend it
for others. Sinclair's mice took such high doses of resveratrol that it
would be the equivalent of an adult drinking 100 bottles of wine daily.
Resveratrol works by spurring activity and regrowth in cells'
mitochondria, which Sinclair called "the energy powerhouses of the cell."
Some scientists, such as Weindruch and Hodes, worry that the research may
encourage people to forget about their diets and wait for a red wine
cure-all that may never come.
"It's not an excuse to overeat," Sinclair said. But he added that for mice
at least, this shows you can be "fat, happy, healthy and vigorous."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best to all,
EB
** CLIP **
Study: Fat, boozing mice stay healthy
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Huge amounts of a red wine extract seemed to help obese mice eat a high-fat diet and still live a long and healthy life, suggests
a new study that some experts are calling "landmark" research.
The big question is, can it work the same magic in humans?
Scientists say it's far too early to start swilling barrels of red wine.
But they are calling the latest research promising and even "spectacular."
The study by the Harvard Medical School and the National Institute of
Aging shows that heavy doses of red wine extract lowers the rate of
diabetes, liver problems and other fat-related ill effects in obese mice.
Fat-related deaths dropped 31 percent for obese mice on the supplement,
compared to untreated obese mice, and the treated mice also lived long
after they should have, the study said.
Astoundingly, the organs of the fat mice that got the wine extract looked
normal when they shouldn't have, said study lead author Dr. David Sinclair
of Harvard Medical School. And Sinclair said other preliminary work still
being done in the lab shows the wine ingredient has promise in lengthening
the life span of normal-sized mice, too.
For years, red wine has been linked to numerous health benefits. But the
new study, published online in the journal Nature on Thursday, shows that
mammals given ultrahigh doses of the red wine extract resveratrol can get
the good effects of cutting calories without having the pain of actually
doing it.
"If we're right about this, it would mean you could have the benefit of
restricting calories without having to feel hungry," Sinclair said. "It's
the Holy Grail of aging research."
Resveratrol, produced when plants are under stress, are found in the skin
of grapes and in other plants, including peanuts and some berries.
The resveratrol-treated 55 obese mice on a high-calorie diet (one
scientist called it a "McDonald's diet") are not only about as healthy as
normal mice, they are as agile and active on exercise equipment as their
lean cousins, showing what can be considered a normal quality of life,
higher than usual for obese mice, said study co-author Rafael de Cabo of
the National Institute on Aging.
"These fat old mice can perform as well on this skill test as young lean
mice," Sinclair said.
The only major body measurement that didn't improve -- aside from weight
-- was cholesterol and that didn't seem to matter in the overall health of
the mice, Sinclair said.
The study is so promising that the aging institute this week is strongly
considering a repeat of the same experiment with rhesus monkeys, coming
the closest to humans, after succeeding in using resveratrol on yeast,
worms, fruit flies and now mice, said institute director Dr. Richard
Hodes.
Hodes cautions that it's too early for people to start taking
non-regulated resveratrol supplements because safety issues haven't been
addressed adequately. He pointed to past hyped medical treatments, such as
estrogen, that turned out to cause more harm than good.
Sinclair has a financial stake in the research. He is co-founder of a
pharmaceutical firm, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.,
which is in the middle of a study testing the safety of using the extract
on humans for treatment of diabetes.
Sirtris is working on a high-dose resveratrol pill that unlike unregulated
supplements on the market now, would be used as a drug and require Food
and Drug Administration approval, said company chief executive officer Dr.
Christoph Westphal. And that development and federal approval is about
five years away, he said.
Sinclair's results are so promising that he rushed the study into the
science journal while the obese mice are still alive, not waiting several
more weeks or months until they die. That raises some issues, including
specific figures about mortality, but is understandable, said outside
experts.
Even would-be competitors are praising the study.
"It's a fairly spectacular result," said University of Wisconsin medical
professor Dr. Richard Weindruch, who co-founded another biotech company
that looks at the genetics of aging and drugs that could expand life
spans. "People will go to McDonald's and afterwards they'll do super-sized
resveratrol."
"This is fantastic," said Brown University molecular biology professor
Stephen Helfand, who was the first reviewer for the journal Nature and not
part of the team. "This is a historic landmark contribution."
Helfand said he won't be taking red wine extract supplements -- but he has
put his elderly mother on them. He said he's waiting to see if there are
long-term ill effects for humans. Mice, he said, are good initial test
subjects for human drugs because their bodies function more similarly to
humans than differently. However, he added that those differences can
prove crucial.
Sinclair said he takes resveratrol supplements, but doesn't recommend it
for others. Sinclair's mice took such high doses of resveratrol that it
would be the equivalent of an adult drinking 100 bottles of wine daily.
Resveratrol works by spurring activity and regrowth in cells'
mitochondria, which Sinclair called "the energy powerhouses of the cell."
Some scientists, such as Weindruch and Hodes, worry that the research may
encourage people to forget about their diets and wait for a red wine
cure-all that may never come.
"It's not an excuse to overeat," Sinclair said. But he added that for mice
at least, this shows you can be "fat, happy, healthy and vigorous."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
