Resveratrol - A Super Health Compound of the Future?

Resveratrol has been under observation or study for a few years now, but in the last couple of years, the level of scientific interest has soared. Publicity levels for resveratrol took another quantum leap after the release of the results of a study by The Harvard Medical School back in November 2006, the results of which are still reverberating around the medical and health food worlds.

When you consider some of the results of the study, it is little wonder that such great interest has been aroused. talk of The Fountain of Youth are way too premature; but first of all, what is resveratrol?

Resveratrol is a compound found in red grapes and red wine, also peanuts, a plant called Japanese Knotweed, blueberries, bilberries, rasberries and a few other plants. It can now also be found in food supplements in varying strengths, although there is no scientific evidence, as yet, that the benefits revealed in studies on mice, yeast and worms can be replicated in humans.

However, back to the latest Harvard study on resveratrol, using mice. The results, released in November 2006, make for some fascinating, and encouraging, reading. Three main findings emerge in the opening of the Harvard News Release:

1. The resveratrol compound used in the study was found to increase the lifespan of obese mice. There is no final figure yet, as some mice are still alive, but the median increase in lfie expectancy was running at about 15%.

2. Risk of death cut by 31 Percent for obese mice treated with the resveratrol compound.

3. In obese mice, the molecule reversed nearly all pathways activated in mice by high calorie diets.

Those findings have significant implications for some chronic diseases in humans, and on a broad front, the report states:

"Findings Suggest Broad Implications for the Treatment of Age-related Diseases, Including Diabetes and Heart Disease."

There is a vast amount of study yet to be done, with clinical human trials following at a fairly rapid pace. This trial was carried out with mice, not humans, so it would be premature to start jumping up and down thinking we will all now live to 140. However, it would be no surprise to see the mice resident in the Harvard area clamoring to get into the next resveratrol study. After all, those were some amazing results for mice.