THURSDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- Resveratrol, a compound
found in grapes, red wine, pomegranates and certain other foods,
may protect the heart and slow the effects of aging, a new study
suggests.
Tests in mice revealed that low doses of resveratrol mimic the
effects of caloric restriction, diets with 20 percent to 30 percent
fewer calories than a typical diet that have been shown to extend
life span.
Previous research has shown that high doses of resveratrol
prevent early death in mice fed a high-fat diet. This new study
adds to those findings, showing that receiving low doses of
resveratrol in middle age offers many of the benefits as a
calorie-reduced diet.
"This brings down the dose of resveratrol toward the consumption
reality mode. At the same time, it plugs into the biology of
caloric restriction," co-senior author Richard Weindruch, a
professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said
in a prepared statement.
"Resveratrol is active in much lower doses than previously
thought and mimics a significant fraction of the profile of caloric
restriction at the gene expression levels," co-senior author Tomas
Prolla, a professor of genetics at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, said in a prepared statement.
The researchers found that resveratrol affected age-related gene
expression changes in the heart tissue of mice. The study was
published online this week in the
Public Library of Science One.
"There must be a few master biochemical pathways activated in
response to caloric restriction, which in turn activate many other
pathways. And resveratrol seems to activate some of these master
pathways as well," Prolla said.
DSM Nutritional Products of Switzerland and the U.S. National
Institutes of Health funded the study.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more
about
healthy
aging.
