Resveratrol see I told you it was good!
Don’t you just love scientists? They get so enthusiastic about their work. Take David Sinclair , co-founder of Sirtris, a company now owned by GlaxoSmithKlein. They have produced a drug, which mimics the action of Resveratrol, the natural compound formed, for example in the skins of organic black grapes, to ward off the attentions of yeasts and moulds.
As we have been telling you, Resveratrol is a terrific natural compound which has a surprising number of benefits from effects against brain cancers, to cancers in general, to controlling weight gain, diabetes, dementia and Alzheimers. It is included in my book ’The Rainbow Diet and how it can help you beat cancer’ where I named important natural compounds which were offering real benefits to cancer patients and told you how the drugs companies were poised to launch synthetic versions. We also have an extensive report on Resveratrol on our web site only recently Harvard led a team of worldwide Universities in studies on its human benefits.
So back to Mr Sinclair, who has developed a concentrated form of resveratrol in a pill. The research report covered in November’s Cell Metabolism, describes this man-made drug (SRT1720) as being made up of chemicals that affect the body in a similar way to resveratrol. SRT1720 fools the body into thinking it is hungry, thus stimulating hormones called sirtuins, which start burning off fat so the body can survive. Quote Mr Sinclair in the UK’s Daily Mail, ’The excitement here is that we are not talking about red wine anymore. We are talking about real drugs’.
Says the Daily Mail, ’However, the new drug could be even more powerful and have fewer side-effects’. Of course, you may be like me and wonder how a concentrated, synthetic version could have fewer side effects, but ours not to question.
In the research, mice were given SRT1720 and put on no weight despite being fed a fat filled diet. The drug talking mice had more stamina and were able to run twice as far. Unfortunately the drug seemed to cause laziness and the mice had to be ’persuaded to exercise’. A positive side effect was that the drug afforded some protection against diabetes.
Now all this seems wonderful really. Here we have a drug that you can take and you can eat as much as you like and still get thin. It will undoubtedly be given out free at all fast food chains. Of course, if the research is correct, you won’t feel like exercising much. But no problem. Because the Salk institute in California are at work right now developing a pill that makes the body fit without the need for exercise (No, this isn’t April 1st).
But what of the other wonderful benefits like maybe curing some cancers, or preventing Dementia or Alzheimers? Over to researcher Professor Johan Auwerx of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland: ’Unlike resveratrol, these new chemical entities target only the SIRT1 pathway (the one involved in fat metabolism) making them more selective and potent for achieving these metabolic benefits’.
Brilliant. A new drug which delivers something no-one knew they needed, but which cuts out all those nasty side-effects you might well have needed.
Of course, you can still supplement with the natural compound resveratrol. But expect to hear reports of suspicious side-effects in the coming months. And don’t be surprised to see the EU ban it as soon as the synthetic version is available.
Plus ca change.
Other articles you might like to read: Resveratrol