Resveratrol, often touted as adding a health benefit of red
wine, may not be as good for you as once believed, according to
a meta-analysis published today (June 19) in Biology Letters.
The effectiveness of resveratol, which has been associated with
the life-extending effects of dietary restriction, was assessed
by analyzing studies covering 6 species over 19 research papers,
and was found to display highly variable results. In particular,
while the life-extending capability of resveratrol seemed to
hold true for yeast and nematodes, the same could not be said
for flies and mice. Dietary restriction has been shown to work
well in extending the lifespan of these animals, however, so
resveratrol’s inability to produce such results on its own
indicates there is more at work in elongating life. One notable
exception was the turquoise killifish, which in one study had a
500 percent decrease in risk of death. Killifish are known to
have short lifespans due in part to a high incidence of age
dependent neoplasias in