Take a Pill, Live Longer?  Maybe, Scientists Say
Auburn, Sept. 16, 2003 --- Just as Ponce de Leon searched for a fountain of youth, scientists 
have worked for decades to identify chemicals that may prolong human life.

Now, they think they have found one, and it may be as close as the nearest bottle of red wine, 
though they’re among the first to caution that drinking red wine is no guarantee you will get 
adequate amounts of this substance.

“We already know that maintaining body weight and doing other things such exercising daily will 
probably help you live longer, but you won’t live past the normal lifespan of about 110 years,” said 
Dr. Robert Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutritionist and Auburn University 
professor of nutrition and foods who has been closely following the issue.

But the substance isolated in red wine, known as resveratrol, may offer humans something more: 
the chance to live beyond the normal human lifespan. 

Scientists have discovered that resveratrol could possibly prolong the normal human lifespan by 
mimicking the effects of a calorie-restricted diet, a regimen that has already been tried with 
smaller mammals, such as mice and rats, with stunning effects.  Laboratory animals placed on 
this diet, which restricts calories to between two-thirds and three-fourths of what they normally 
would receive in the course of their lives, though intakes such as vitamins and minerals remain 
the same, have lived as long as 50 percent beyond their normal lifespan.  In human terms, this 
amounts to about 160 years.

“There have been various theories and guesses as to how this happens,” Keith observed.  “One 
is that it slows down metabolism.  Scientists have known that damage from substances known as 
free radicals is one of the causes of aging.  But if you slow down metabolism and take in less 
oxygen, you produce fewer free radicals and live longer.”

This may be one contributor, Keith said, though scientists also suspect that the stress associated 
with lack of calories may activate genes that enable animals, possibly including humans, to live 
longer.  It is a process that apparently was hardwired into various species in the course of 
evolution.  The specter of starvation appears to trigger certain genes in the body that produce a 
chemical effect that increases lifespan so that reproduction is more likely to occur.

“They found the genes being turned on in response to this stress were shared by all of the 
organisms tested, from yeast all the way to mice and rats,” Keith said.  “And through these 
observations, they have been able to construct a model that shows which genes within these 
organisms’ bodies are turned on when this restriction occurs.”

Once scientists isolated the cluster of genes affected by caloric restriction, they then began 
identifying the specific chemicals that activate them.

“What they’re finding is that some of the compounds found in fruits and vegetables we’re already 
urging people to eat may be associated with this process,” Keith said. 

Resveratrol, from a class of chemicals known as polyphenols, is one of the most promising of 
several chemicals associated with this genetic process.  Resveratrol is commonly found in grape 
skins, though the amounts in red wine tend to be almost 10 times higher than those found in 
white wine.  Resveratrol appears to be especially abundant in red wines produced in cooler 
regions with heavier disease pressure, such as Burgundy and New York, rather than in drier 
climates, such as Australia and California, where pressure is not as intense. 

Polyphenols and other plant compounds are produced by plants under stress, which may account 
for why red wines produced in areas of heavy disease pressure possess more abundant amounts 
of reservatrol than wines produced within less challenging conditions, Keith said.

Scientists have also discovered that flavones, found abundantly in olive oil and other vegetables, 
also  produce the same effect.

Researchers involved in resveratrol studies are hopeful the chemical eventually can be 
synthesized and sold as a life-expanding drug.   Even so, they contend that there is no guarantee 
the results already observed in lower animals can be produced in humans.  Red wine 
consumption is no guarantee either.

And besides, Keith said, even if scientists come up with a magic bullet in the form of a pill, there 
is no proof that it alone will prolong life significantly. 

“One thing they’ve learned about caloric restriction is that in addition to turning on certain genes 
that prolong life, it also results in smaller bodies.  Animals on these calorie-restricted diets are 
smaller and possess far less body fat.

“So it may be that having smaller bodies and possessing less fat is just as critical a factor as 
genetic effects in prolonging life.”

(Source: Dr. Robert Keith, Extension Nutrition and Auburn University Professor of 
Nutrition and Foods, 334-844-3273.)