Toast Red Wine for a Ripe Old Age?

Corks are undoubtedly popping off merlot bottles a lot faster this week in the wake of a report from Harvard Medical School researchers that found a molecule in red wine extends life spans.

Lead researcher David Sinclair and his colleagues reported in the early online edition of Nature that a class of chemicals that includes resveratrol -- a molecule that's an active ingredient in red wine -- extended life by 70 percent in yeast, worms, and fruit flies.

So dramatic are the life-extension benefits, says Sinclair, that they mimic the life-extending effects of calorie restriction, which most would view as a lot less palatable than drinking red wine.

Molecules such as resveratrol regulate other proteins, which interfere with the natural process of cell death, the researchers say.

While the news is heralded as exciting and fascinating, other researchers caution that it's a little too soon to depend on vino to get you to your century birthday bash.

"It's too early to say whether this will relate to anything to do with human health," says Dr. Arthur Klatsky, senior consultant in cardiology at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland, Calif., and a pioneer in studying the effects of alcoholic beverages on cardiac health in humans.

While red wine is the best source of the molecule, it's also found in peanuts and grape juice.

Sinclair's team is continuing the research and hopes to test the molecule's life-extending properties on rodents and, eventually, humans.

Sinclair, an assistant professor in Harvard's Department of Pathology, emphasizes that he is not a doctor. But his advice for boosting longevity -- besides waiting for further research results -- would be: "Don't smoke, walk or run at least once a week, keep your cholesterol down, and drink an occasional glass of red wine."

Before you shop, you might want to know that resveratrol is most plentiful in wines from grapes that had harsh growing conditions. That means pick Chilean or Australian red wines and pass up the California varieties, advises Sinclair.

哈佛大学医学院的研究报告说，研究者们发现红葡萄酒中的一种分子可以延长寿命。不出所料，随后本周梅乐葡萄酒开瓶的速度急剧加快。

该研究的主要领导人戴维·辛克莱尔和他的同事在《自然》杂志网络版上公布说一些化学物质能够使酵母、蠕虫和果蝇的生命延长70%，其中包括白藜芦醇，这是红葡萄酒中一种活性成分的分子。

辛克莱尔说，喝红酒有益于延长寿命极富戏剧性，就像控制卡路里的摄入量来延长寿命的效果一样，但是大多数人会认为减少摄入卡路里远没有喝红酒那样惬意。

研究者们说，白藜芦醇这样的分子能够调节其它蛋白质，这些蛋白质会干预细胞自然死亡。

当人们为这则消息激动着迷的时候，一些研究者们则发出警告说想要依靠红酒来实现你的百岁盛会还为时过早。

“现在就说喝红酒是否与身体健康有任何关系还太早，”阿瑟·克拉斯基博士说，他是加利福尼亚州奥克兰凯撒永恒医学中心的心脏病学资深顾问，也是研究酒精饮料对人类健康影响的先驱。

虽然红酒是活性分子的最佳来源，花生和葡萄汁中同样也含有这种分子。

辛克莱尔的研究组正在继续实验，他们希望能够证明这种分子延长寿命的特性对啮齿动物同样有效，最终是作用于人类。

辛克莱尔是哈佛大学病理学系的副教授，他强调自己不是医生。但是除了等待进一步的研究结果，他对于延长寿命的建议是：“不要吸烟，每周至少散步或跑步一次，控制你的胆固醇含量，偶尔喝杯红葡萄酒。”

辛克莱尔建议说：买葡萄酒之前，你也许需要知道恶劣环境下生长的葡萄酿制而成葡萄酒中白藜芦醇的含量最丰富。这就意味着应该挑选智利或者是澳大利亚产的红酒，而不是加利福尼亚的红酒。