The Pill of Youth?
Resveratrol might be what we’ve been looking for all these years
From the moment our eyes open in the delivery until they shut forever, we are all engaged in the process of aging. Aging is a universal trait that is observed across all evolutionary spectrum. For humans, at a certain point vision might start to be less sharp, hair turns gray, the mid-section expands. It happens, by definition, over time. As Marie Bernard, MD, deputy director of the National Institute on Aging puts it, “Aging, in and of itself, is a subtle, quiet process,” (Marill, 2011).
From a health prospective, aging is a critical risk factor for many diseases such as cardiovascular disease like stroke and heart attacks, different forms of cancer, metabolic disorders like type II diabetes, and, of course, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s have become prevalent in the elderly (Basaraba, 2016). Statistics have shown that about 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. One in 9 Americans over the age of 65 have the disease and one out of three elders dies with Alzheimer’s. (2016 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures, 2016).
“Aging … is a subtle, quiet process.”
Throughout history, humans have looked for ways to defy the inevitable process of aging. Dating back to 581 CE in ancient China, even emperors were on the hunt for the fabled elixir of life.
The ancient Chinese believed that ingesting long-lasting precious substances such as jade or gold would confer some of that longevity on the person who consumed them. The Emperors demand alchemists create these elixirs in hopes they would confer immortality. The potions would usually consist of either jade or gold, mixed with mercury, sulfur, and the salts of mercury and arsenic. Ironically, the concoctions were poisonous (Akasu, 2015) and would usually result in the emperor taking years off his life instead of extending it. A prime example was the Jiajing Emperor from the Ming Dynasty who died from ingesting a lethal dosage of mercury in the supposed “Elixir of Life” conjured by alchemists (Akasu, 2015).
Even back in the 1500’s, the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León and his crew set sail to find the Fountain of Youth, a magical water source supposedly capable of reversing the aging process and curing sickness (Greenspan, 2013). Although the Spanish explorers never found this magic fountain and the ancient Chinese never found the right mix for the Elixir of Life, today we might just have found the key to if not mortality, then approaches to staving off certain aging-related disearses.
To help delay and prevent these aging-related diseases, scientists are trying to understand the causes of these diseases by examining the cellular and molecular process of our body’s immune system. More specifically, scientist are looking at T-cells and how they play a role in the aging process.
T-cells are a type of white blood cell that circulate in our bodies, scanning for cellular abnormalities and infections, thus making them essential for human immunity (Cardiff University, 2009). However, due to the effects of aging, our bodies diminish the production of T-cells in the bone marrow and thymus. As a result, elderly individuals do not respond to immune disturbance as robustly as the young (Montecino-Rodriguez, Berent-Maoz, and Dorshkind, 2013). Although there are many reports of documented T cells changes in the elderly, it still remains unclear why these cellular changes occur and how they influence the many functions of the immune response. In recent research, scientist have being studying the natural compound resveratrol and research shows very promising results when tested in lab animals.
Resveratrol is a polyphenol compound that is found in certain foods like red grapes, peanuts and berries. It possesses antioxidant properties, thus protecting the body against damage that can cause cancer and heart disease (Resveratrol Supplements, 2016). Resveratrol is found most commonly in the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet emphasizes eating primarily plant-based foods, healthy fats, limiting red meat intake, drinking red wine in moderation, and getting plenty of exercise (Mayo Clinic, 2016). Many health experts believe that resveratrol intake via moderate red wine consumption may help explain the fact that French people have a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease in spite of consuming foods that have high saturated fat concentrations (Higdon et al., 2015). Not surprisingly, scientists are interested in the potential benefits that resveratrol has to offer in preventing cancer, delaying the development of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disease, improving glycemic control in type 2 diabetes, and extending lifespans.
Dr. David Sinclair, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and his colleagues conducted experiments that discovered resveratrol could increase cell survival and slow aging in yeast (and later in mice) by activating SIRT1, which is also known as the “longevity” gene. From there, scientists have learned that resveratrol can protect against high blood pressure, heart failure, heart disease and skin cancer in mice, as well as improve insulin sensitivity, reduce blood sugar, and blunt obesity induced by a high-fat diet in rodents, not to mention protect nerves and the brain in various lab animals (Godman, 2014). Since we know resveratrol has positive effects on rodents, the question is will this work on humans? At what concentration of resveratrol is safe for consumption? Will there be any long term side effects to taking resveratrol?
“The ultimate goal is to have a pill that can prevent or reverse all diseases of aging.” — Dr. David Sinclair
From the lab research I have done with Professor Hector Valenzuela and his research group examining the age-related changes in T-cell differentiation and function on Jurkant cells (a type of cancer cell line), resveratrol has shown evidence of slowing down cell death thus delaying the process of aging. From my data, you can see that the control and ethanol treatment had high alive cell counts, with the highest being 415 alive cells. This shows that the cells are reproducing and dividing very quickly. However, as the concentration of resveratrol increases the number of alive cells are decreasing, with the lowest being 94 alive cells. This shows that resveratrol is slowing down cell replication thus delaying the shorting of telomeres and prolonging the lifespan of the cell.
Even with the positive effects of resveratrol on age-related diseases in rodents and on Jurkant cells, we still don’t know if we’ve found the fountain of youth in resveratrol. Among the unanswered questions are what are the longterm side effects, if any, of taking resveratrol?
Even so, manufacturers have tried capitalizing on resveratrol potential by selling supplements. So far, the Food and Drug Administration does not regulate resveratrol supplementation. (Nature, 2010). This means that there is no recommended dosages, concentrations or quality control for the available supplements.
With all this uncertainty, it can make it difficult for consumers to know whether the productive is effective or not. Usually, the dosages in most resveratrol supplements are typically much lower than the amounts used in research. While there is not enough data to say anything definitive about resveratrol supplements, there are some indications supplements can have some benefits. (Beckerman, 2016). And taking a supplement would certainly be easier drinking enough red wine to gain a benefit.
“You would need to drink hundreds of glasses of red wine a day.” — David Sinclair
In the U.S., there are 46.2 million people 65 years or older. (Aging Statistics, 2016). That’s 14.5 percent of the population — one in every seven American. By 2060, that number will increase to 98 million! As older people become a growing demographic in our society, the questions of how to support and sustain them grow, too.
In this regard, resveratrol may be a mixed blessing. If it staves off age-related diseases, it could lower healthcare costs for the elderly, costs which younger people will be increasingly called upon to pay for as more and more people are in retirement. On the other hand, if it extends the average lifespan, it very well may increase the percentage of people who are dependent on age-related services and benefits. And while resveratrol may delay the onset of certain diseases associated with aging, it doesn’t cure them.
Whether or not resveratrol turns out to be something like the magic elixirs sought by ancient emperors or not, one thing we can probably count on is that humans will keep looking for that fountain of youth.
