Long Live the Mice!
The data that have been published about mice is for resveratrol, a compound
found in grape products, particularly red wine. The news reporters seemed to be
entirely naïve to the fact that this compound is available as a supplement, and
has been previously studied.
Here’s the rest of the story:
The amount of resveratrol given
to the ageless mice in this study would be the equivalent of drinking about 300
glasses of wine a day for a human, given that a glass of wine contains in the
range of 0.5 to 1 mg. of the substance. Therefore, it will probably be quite
some time before we slow aging in humans with wine alone. The supplement form
of resveratrol, available right now in the health food stores, can contain
widely varying amounts. The most potent one I have found is actually an extract
of red wine, standardized to the resveratrol amount, and contains 125 mg. per capsule of resveratrol.
Three of those per day puts us in the ball park of the dose the mice took,
adjusted for human weight.
Resveratrol is also found in very small amounts in peanuts and peanut butter
(about 0.25 mg per cup), red grapes (0.25 to 1.25 approximately per cup), and
in similar low amounts per 5 ounce glass of other wines (rose, pinot noir,
white wines).
Clearly these amounts aren’t enough to stop aging, but they do seem to be
enough to create some of the other benefits of resveratrol that have been much
better studied. In fact a more recent study with fish showed that a really
short lived breed of fish lived more than 50% longer when fed a somewhat lower
dose than the mice got. Human studies (and aren’t we really more interested in
those?) abound for the lower doses. The doses in these studies vary hugely, but
many of them are studies based on the benefits of red wine, so are using the
types of doses one would get in a glass of red wine — namely about 1 mg. And
don’t forget, more than one glass of wine a day has other health risks,
including increased risk for stroke.
Resveratrol is mildly antidepressant, in that it has the same action on the
neurotransmitters in the brain as many of the currently prescribed
anti-depressants.
It promotes the production of nitric oxide, which helps lower blood pressure
and promotes proper blood flow in the small blood vessels in the body, allowing
them to dilate and stay open. At the same time it helps keep the circulation
from clogging by stopping the oxidation of the “bad” LDL cholesterol, a primary
cause of plaque formation in arteries. Actually this is a common reason I
recommend it as a supplement, is to lower LDL. Oxidized LDL can be considered
in some ways a marker for the amount of free radical damage the body is
suffering overall, so giving a potent free radical fighter like resveratrol
makes sense, to protect the whole body from oxidative stress.
Along the same vein, resveratrol helps prevent the oxidation of dietary fats,
another enormous source of free radicals in the body. This study from 2002,
looked at red wine consumed with meals. Ordinarily when we eat a meal
that contains a lot of fat, some of those fats turn into free radicals in
the digestive tract. Of course, some have already become free radicals in the
cooking process, like foods fried in vegetable oil. These fatty free radicals are
then absorbed into the blood stream, where they are free to spread through the
body and wreak havoc. The polyphenols in red wine, of which resveratrol is one,
reverse the oxidation by a chemical process called reduction, and also stop
further oxidation in the gut. Thus when red wine was taken with a meal, the
flood of oxidized fats into the blood stream after eating did not occur.
Homocysteine is also a risk factor for heart disease, altogether independent
from cholesterol issues. Lowering homocysteine has been proven to lower the
risk for heart disease of 33%. Resveratrol now is shown to be yet another
compound, in addition to folic acid, B-12, B-6 and betaine, which lowers this
risk factor.
When you put all of the above together, it becomes easier to explain the French
Paradox — the fact that the French eat foods that are quite high in fats, have
a high rate of smoking that should be causing heart problems, yet they have a
42% lower rate of heart disease than the USA. I would add, since the French
also eat very slowly, as well as sipping red wine with their food, that part of
the French paradox is simply the time they
take to enjoy their food. They also eat a lot of whole grains and high fiber
foods.
Resveratrol has also been studied in cancer. It appears to be able to reduce
the initial formation of cancer, perhaps by its free radical fighting ability.
But additionally, it helps kill off cancer cells that do occur, reduces blood
vessel growth into the cancer, and helps stop metastatic spread. Specific
studies have been done to show that it is helpful as an adjunct in the
treatment of prostate cancer, as well as breast, colon, lung, esophagus, skin,
lymph node, brain and testicular cancer, and others. Many of these are human
studies. Some of the skin cancer studies have been done in mice, and the
resveratrol was actually applied topically, not taken internally, and still
helped.
Resveratrol is also anti-inflammatory, reducing inflammation by means of the
same enzyme that aspirin and most NSAID’s inhibit, the cyclo-oxygenase enzyme
(COX-1, 2 and 3). At first resveratrol was thought to work
primarily with COX-1, but now more recent studies show it also suppresses
COX-2. It was powerful enough in animal studies to reduce the damaging
effects of arthritis on the cartilage in joints.
Lastly, resveratrol also helps protect neurons from the toxicity of
beta-amyloid, the agent believed to be the main cause of Alzheimer’s Disease.
This was studied in mice, and I for one would surely like to see some human
studies done. Nevertheless, resveratrol is non-toxic, safe, and compared to
many drugs out there, not horribly expensive. I see no reason not to try it for
our own health, for those of us with inflammation, heart disease or Alzheimer’s
risk.
Alice R. Laule, M.D.