11.21.06
Resveratol and endurance
Check out this article (registration required) on the nytimes about the compound resveratol found in red wine.
He believes that activation of the sirtuins is what keeps the body healthy in youth, but that these enzymes become less powerful with age, exposing the body to degenerative disease. That is the process that he says is reversed by resveratrol and, he hopes, by the more powerful sirtuin-activator drugs that his company is developing, though many years of clinical trials will still be needed to demonstrate whether they work and are safe to use.
heres more info:
Besides these uncertainties over what a safe and effective dose of resveratrol might be, the science underlying the field is still in full flux. Many central details are still unclear. The principal theory developed by Dr. Guarente and others is that the sirtuins somehow sense the level of energy expenditure in living cells and switch the body’s resources from reproduction to tissue maintenance when food is low.
This is an ancient strategy, Dr. Guarente believes, that allows an organism to live through famines and postpone breeding until good times return. The switch to tissue maintenance involves specific action to stave off the major degenerative diseases of aging, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and neurodegeneration.
and a little more:
Dr. Bruce Spiegelman, a Harvard Medical School expert on fat metabolism, said Dr. Auwerx’s paper was “pretty good.†Dr. Auwerx believes resveratrol activates sirtuin, which in turn activates a factor known as PGC1-alpha in a manner first described by Dr. Spiegelman and his colleagues last year. Subsequent actions by PGC1-alpha then stimulate cells to produce more mitochondria.
and then the article ends with a puzzling thought:
Dr. Bruce Spiegelman, a Harvard Medical School expert on fat metabolism, said Dr. Auwerx’s paper was “pretty good.†Dr. Auwerx believes resveratrol activates sirtuin, which in turn activates a factor known as PGC1-alpha in a manner first described by Dr. Spiegelman and his colleagues last year. Subsequent actions by PGC1-alpha then stimulate cells to produce more mitochondria.